Leahy Asks For More Goodling Cooperation
This is so much fun. Monica Goodling, who is at the center of the Senate’s investigation of the US Attorney purge publicly stated [through her own lawyer] that she would invoke the 5th amendment if asked questions by the Judiciary Committee. The speculation has been rife ever since about what it is she would prefer not to say since the only reason anyone can invoke their 5th amendment rights is to prevent prosecution for perjury with respect to prior statements. Goodling’s attorney seems to have been fishing for an offer of immunity. But my new hero Patrick Leahy isn’t having any of it. Instead he has sent this nice letter to Ms Goodling’s lawyer: The TPM DOCUMENT COLLECTION – Letter from Senators Leahy and Whitehouse of the Judiciary Committee to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
How delicious is that!
We have entered new consitutional territory: Leahy says he’d normally seek advice from the Justice Department about how to proceed against soemone invoking the 5th, but in this instance he notes: “The office of the Attorney General appears to hopelessly conflicted.” He then wonder whether Goodling is cooperating with the Attorney general’s internal investigation [that Gonzales started in an attempt to appease Leahy et al], because if she is she has probably compromised her 5th amendment rights.
There’s a big “gotcha!” there.
But there’s more: Leahy also points out his concern that despite Goodling’s lack of cooperation with the Senate she remains on the DoJ payroll.
That’s another “gotcha!”
As I said this is fun. I had never heard of Goodling before this scandal, but what I have subsequently found out really ticks me off: she has no legal experience, she is a ideologue, she is in a position of huge influence, and she is a religious zealot. Strange that someone reportedly so devout and pious doesn’t want to do something simple like help the legal process get at the truth.
But it gets even better!
The House committee is on her trail too! They sent a letter today asking that she appear before them. This is where you can read their letter: House Democrats Letter to Goodling’s Lawyer. The best part of this is the following: “The alleged concern that she may be prosecuted for perjury by the Department of Justice for fully truthful testimony is not only an unjustified basis for invoking the privilege and without reasonable foundation in this case but also so far as we know an unwarranted aspersion against her employer.”
That’s called putting the knife in.
Maybe she is worried about talking because she’s been told they’ll prosecute her if she does?
Hold on people this one’s big, and it’s getting better.
