Defying President Bush, a House Judiciary subcommittee Wednesday morning voted to authorize subpoenas for top White House aides, including top adviser Karl Rove, to testify on the firings of eight U.S. attorneys last year.

The panel approved subpoenas for Rove, former White House counsel Harriet Miers, their deputies and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’s former chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, who resigned last week.

The subcommittee, however, stopped short of issuing subpoenas. Top Democrats on the panel explained that having the authority to subpoena gives them leverage in negotiations with White House Counsel Fred Fielding over the terms of administration officials’ testimony before Congress.

In televised remarks Tuesday evening, President Bush agreed to make Karl Rove and other senior officials available for private interviews with congressional investigators. Democrats are objecting to the terms of the proposed conversations, because interviewees would not be placed under oath and there would be no transcript of the testimony. Bush pledged to invoke executive privilege to fight any congressional subpoenas for testimony, indicating that he would take the matter to court.

The committee authorized the subpoenas by voice vote with all Democrats present voting “yes” and at least three Republicans voting “no.” Before the vote, Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) said the terms of the White House’s testimony offer were “disappointing” and “off the mark” because the aides would not be under oath and there would be no transcript.

“Well, we could meet at the local pub to have that kind of conversation … but in my judgment, it would not advance us to uncovering the simple truth in this matter,” Conyers said.

Conyers also implored his GOP colleagues to trust he was not conducting a political witch-hunt, but rather moving to authorize the subpoenas only as a “cautionary” measure should the negotiations with the White House break down.

Republicans on the panel agreed that the committee had the right to issue subpoenas, but supported Bush’s right to invoke executive privilege, as President Clinton did several times during his tenure in the White House.

Rep. Chris Cannon (R-Utah) called the motion to authorize subpoenas “just another act of political theater” designed to “fan the flames of partisan controversy for partisan gain.”

He said the White House has “fairly offered testimony” and argued that there was no way to find out if subpoenas are necessary until the committee finishes sifting through the 3,000 documents the administration released Monday night.

The right to issue subpoenas is a “prerogative we want to protect,” Cannon said. “It’s simply a matter of timing.”

Florida GOP Reps. Tom Feeney and Ric Keller also objected to the motion, calling it “premature.”

Feeney said he would vote “yes” on the motion if Conyers or Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.), who chaired the subcommittee hearing, could assure him that the subpoenas would only be issued if the committee found evidence of improper conduct, and not just political motivations for the firings of people in political positions.

But Conyers’s plea to Republicans was unsuccessful; Feeney voted against the motion.