Monica Goodling is taking the Fifth.
That never looks good. Her defense lawyer cites the Libby case as reason for refusing to testify even though she has nothing to hide, and accuses Congressional Democrats of having already made up their minds about her guilt. But lines like that rarely work, because it doesn't really explain why she is unable to safely explain herself. If nothing else, the perception will be that she does have something to hide.
Who is Goodling? Gonzales senior counsel and White House liaison, who was up to her eyeballs in the prosecutor firings.
Goodling was one of five senior Justice Department aides who met with Gonzales for that Nov. 27 discussion. Department documents released Friday to Capitol Hill show she attended multiple meetings about the dismissals for months.
She also was among aides who on Feb. 5 helped Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty prepare his testimony for a Senate hearing the next day — during which he may have given Congress incomplete or otherwise misleading information about the circumstances of the firings.
Additionally, Goodling was involved in an April 6, 2006, phone call between the Justice Department and Sen. Pete Domenici (news, bio, voting record), R-N.M., who had complained to the Bush administration and the president about David Iglesias, then the U.S. attorney in Albuquerque.
More specifically, Goodling says senior Justice officials have privately fingered Goodling as providing misleading information to McNulty prior to his testifying. Similar accusations have been made against -- and disputed by -- Kyle Sampson, Gonzales' former chief of staff. So we are facing the prospect of two senior Justice officials accusing two other senior Justice officials of lying.
When they start to eat their own, you know the end is near.
Goodling, Gonzales, politics, midtopia
3 comments:
I don't blame them. All the Democrat leadership is trying to do is to get some kind of inconsistency---however small---to prosecute. And with this group, it could be something as insignificant as who you told what to and when exactly. Virtually EVERYONE can be caught in such immaterial inconsistencies---even Sen Patrick Leahy who has claimed that what he is doing is not political and he would do the same to Democrats. Oh yeah, right, that's not an immaterial inconsistency; that's a bold-faced lie!
JP5
While I think this issue is being played up a bit too much by the Democrats, it's good this stuff is finally being exposed. The Bush regime has pushed its right-wing political agenda way too far into the foundation of our government. As for Goodling, looks like she's caught betweena rock and a hard place.
JP, catch yourself on. The era of ask no questions, no oversight rule is over.
- Caracarn
Hey, Caracarn. Good to see you!
If Goodling is between a rock and hard place, it would appear to be one of her own making.
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