1 Boring Old Man

Throughout February, the people at the DOJ were apparently optimistic that they would weather the growing outrage at the firing of the U.S. Attorneys. Attorney General Gonzales and his Deputy Attorney General, Paul McNulty, had both testified, assuring the Senate Judicial Committee that the firings were routine personel issues. Many of the emails were about the newspaper articles and deliberations over various Talking Points for responses. Then came Monday, March 5th – the day before four of the fired Attorneys and William Moschella, Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General were to testify. The DOJ was humming as various versions of Moschella’s Opening Statement and Talking Points were emailed back and forth for editing. Then, after lunch, William Kelly called a White House meeting about "what we are going to say about the proposed legislation and why the US Attorneys were asked to resign." They met at 5 PM. The people from DOJ are on this email. William Kelly, Fred Fielding, and Karl Rove were also there. Who knows who else?

While Kyle Sampson and Monica Goodling knew that the firings had been initiated and masterminded from the White House, as did the White House participants, apparently Paul McNulty and William Moschella didn’t know that. In fact, Paul McNulty had already testified that the White House was not involved. In the meeting, Karl Rove said, "you all need to explain what you did and why you did it." That sounds like a simple point, except that the principles didn’t actually know the answer. They were "in the dark."

Goodling Shed Tears Before Revelations About Firings

A former U.S. Justice Department official and central figure in the firing of eight U.S. attorneys tearfully told a colleague two months ago her government career probably was over as the matter was about to erupt into a political storm, according to closed-door congressional testimony.

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Margolis testified in private that he tried to console Goodling and listened to her discuss her personal life, a congressional aide said. He recalled telling a colleague that he was concerned about Goodling’s emotional state, the aide said.

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Three hours before Goodling visited his fourth-floor office, Margolis told House and Senate investigators that Sampson dropped by to say he had information Margolis needed to know, one congressional aide said.

Margolis recounted that Sampson read his e-mail exchanges with White House aides that showed the decisions on firing the prosecutors were closely coordinated with members of the president’s staff, the aide said.

Margolis recalled that he was stunned to learn the extent of White House involvement in the dismissals, congressional aides said. Margolis testified that preparation for McNulty’s Senate testimony — which took place more than a month before his meetings with Goodling and Sampson — was based on the assumption that the White House only became involved at the end of the firing process, the aide said.

McNulty told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Feb. 6 that the White House’s only involvement was that presidential aides were informed of the decision before the U.S. attorneys were told. Charles E. Schumer, the New York Democrat leading the Senate investigation into the dismissals, has since said that he believes McNulty may have been misled by Sampson.

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After Sampson left his office, Margolis testified that he went toward McNulty’s office to inform his boss and stopped because Sampson had already gone into the room carrying the binder filled with White House e-mails, the aide said.

We shall not cease from exploration 
And the end of all our exploring 
Will be to arrive where we started 
And know the place for the first time.