The Honorable Alberto Gonzales Dear Attorney General Gonzales: As you are aware, Monica Goodling has indicated that she will assert her Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination before the Senate Judiciary Committee rather than testify. You must know that her testimony would be important to the Judiciary Committee, since you offered her as a Department witness and agreed in your meeting with Judiciary Committee Senators on March 8 that the Department would cooperate with the Committee in providing her testimony along with that of others. In the ordinary course, the Committee would discuss this with your Department to determine the best course of action with respect to a witness who has asserted Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination, so as not to unwittingly hinder a prosecution by the Department. While it is premature to presume that any criminal prosecution will result from this inquiry now, it is also premature to presume one will not. It therefore seems advisable to have discussions between the Committee and the Department regarding how to proceed with regard to Ms. Goodling. Our question to you is: Who do we talk to at the Department of Justice? The office of the Attorney General appears to be hopelessly conflicted. We would appreciate hearing from you whether a special counsel is necessary for us to speak with, or how you suggest creating appropriate firewalls so that a non-conflicted person with appropriate knowledge and authority can have the customary discussions with the Committee regarding Ms. Goodling’s testimony. On a related matter, we understand that you initially ordered an investigation by the Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility and that a joint Office of Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility investigation is now under way. Is Ms. Goodling cooperating with that investigation? It is our understanding that career Department employees are required to cooperate with OIG and OPR investigations. We are told by the Department that despite Ms. Goodling’s unwillingness to testify, she nonetheless remains on your payroll. Has it ever happened in the history of the Department of Justice that an attorney has refused to cooperate with OIG or OPR or asserted Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination and remained an employee of the Department? Please provide information regarding any precedent for these extraordinary circumstances. We would appreciate hearing from you promptly on these matters. Sincerely, |
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| PATRICK LEAHY Chairman |
SHELDON WHITEHOUSE United States Senator |
This isn’t at all funny to me. The situation that Monica Goodling, Senior Counsel to the Attorney General and White House Liason for the Department of Justice, creates with her refusal to testify [see her lawyer’s letter] is so ludicrous that one is tempted to make jokes about it. She remains employed by the government and is "on leave." The Administration is so into their take-over of government that they feel no obligation to even participate in our Constitutional Democracy.
Among the myriad of scandals swirling around the Bush Administration, the active subversion of the Department of Justice for political gain trumps all the rest. We can get over a bad war, we can unelect bad officials, but it the judicial system become an arm of a political Party, there is no Democracy. There is more than enough evidence that the Justice Department itself mounted a campaign to influence elections. Now high ranking officials are developing epidemic amnesia and refusing to testify.
So, to me, this letter is more than a Democratic political ploy. It goes to the heart of the matter at hand. How can we investigate the very Agency that regulates investigations, particularly when a central figure in the investigation, an ongoing employee, refuses to testify. If you read her lawyer’s letter, it says that the Congressional Investigation might lead to a criminal investigation, so Ms. Goodling doesn’t want to talk to Congress, and she wants to keep her job, and, by the way, nobody did anything wrong.
Not funny at all. Tragic…
Just sent emails to my Senators and Representative.
“It is not uncommon for witnesses who give testimony before Congress to face criminal investigations and even indictments for perjury, false statements, or obstruction of congressional proceedings.”
Well, if you do the crime you do the time. How does this woman think that she can plead the 5th Amendment when she isn’t the one currently being charged with anyything? She has an obligation to tell what she knows and if it brings about a criminal investigation where she ends up being charged she can plead the 5th. Until then she needs to stop falsely using the law to protect those who are being investigated. Another case of the American people needing to call bullshit!
I weep for our country at this point. Lady Justice has left the building.