Immunity For Goodling Isn't In The Cards

[Demeter]

http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/0307/Immunity_For_Goodling_Isnt_In_The_Cards.html


March 27, 2007

Immunity For Goodling Isn't In The Cards


If the lawyers for Monica Goodling, the Justice Department official who refused Monday to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, think they can cut an immunity deal for their client, they might want to consider Plan B.

Democratic insiders said committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has no desire at all to make such an agreement with Goodling in exchange for her testimony. John Dowd, Goodling's attorney, has not asked for any immunity, but Democrats believe Dowd is angling for it by having Goodling invoke her Fifth Amendment right not to testify. "It's not going to happen, that's for sure," said one Democratic senator close to the issue. "There's not going to be any immunity deal. It's a problem, but we'll work around it."

Dowd wrote to Leahy and Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, the committee's ranking Republican, to inform them of Goodling's unwillingness to testify on her role in the firing of eight U.S. attorneys last year. Goodling, an adviser to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and liaison to the White House, was involved in the internal discussions on the firings. And Dowd told the senators that "it has come to our attention that a senior Department of Justice official has privately told Sen. (Charles) Schumer (D-N.Y.) that (the official) was not entirely candid in his report to the committee, and that the official allegedly claimed that others, including our client, did not inform him of certain pertinent facts."

The Justice official in question is believed to be Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, and Goodling is concerned that she could be placed in legal jeopardy by appearing before the Judiciary Committee to discuss her interaction with McNulty over his Senate testimony.

Leahy's panel will hear from the attorney general's former chief of staff, D. Kyle Sampson, on Thursday regarding the prosecutor purge. Leahy will then decide on his next move, according to Democratic sources. Gonzales himself is scheduled to appear before the Judiciary Committee on April 17 as part of a previously scheduled oversight hearing on the Justice Department.

Dowd's office had no comment on Tuesday, referring a reporter back to his letters to the Judiciary Committee on Monday.




posted by John Bresnahan

[H2O Man]

1. Wow!

I hope you post this in GD, too.

[Lerkfish]

4. does this mean they already have her via mcnulty testimony?

(was it mcnulty? can't remember) the one she instructed to lie?

[H2O Man]

6. McNulty

has reportedly told some democrats that part of his testimony was inaccurate; it was a part related to what Monica & friends had apparently told him.

Intense.

[Lerkfish]

7. oooh. the plot thickens.

[sam sarrha]

2. has she already been before Congress or just saying she will plead cause she feels the 'Democrats'

have already made up their minds.. not really pleading the 5th just saying she wont say anything cause she is 'Pre" judged.. a spinn trick to wiggle out of it

[DeepBlueC]

3. as Tweety said

"I'm taking the Fifth because I MIGHT lie." The remedy for that is not the Fifth Amendment but telling the truth. Sometimes he's right...

[madrchsod]

5. here`s the problem with immunity

Part V <§ 6001 et seq.> of title 18 of the United States Code governs the granting of immunity to witnesses before Federal tribunals.


"It requires the Attorney General or the U. S. attorney to request or to approve any grant of immunity, whether before a court, grand jury, agency, or congressional committee."......

[sam sarrha]

8. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHa.!!

:rofl: