Questions Congress Can Ask Monica Goodling that WON'T VIOLATE HER 5th Amendment Right

[berni_mccoy]

Monica Goodling has a 5th Amendment Right to not incriminate HERSELF. However, questions could be asked of her such that she can not reasonably invoke the 5th Amendment because answering the question would not put her in legal jeopardy.

For example, "Ms. Goodling, did you at any point discover that Gonzales was perjuring himself during his Congressional Testimony Under Oath?".

Let's craft a list and send it to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees.

[LynneSin]

1. Would you like to Supersize that order?

:shrug:

[Gabi Hayes]

2. I'm pretty sure that if she invokes the fifth, she can't answer any questions.

if she answers one, she has to answer them all.

all or none

I saw it in a movie, so it has to be true, doesn't it?

who knows the answer to this?

[kiahzero]

5. Not true at all.

In fact, you have no Fifth Amendment right to refuse to answer questions that couldn't possibly be used against you in the context of a Congressional hearing.

You might be thinking of a criminal trial, where defendants can only be cross-examined by the prosecution if they decide to take the stand.

[AllegroRondo]

6. not only that, but if Congress offers her immunity

then she can no longer plead the 5th, and must testify under penalty of contempt.

[Gabi Hayes]

12. I'm well aware of that. I posted elsewhere that I hope they give her said

immunity, she still refuses to talk, then ends up in the same series of shitholes as Susan MacDougal

[Gabi Hayes]

13. you sure? I know they can offer her immunity, but I don't think she has the

right to pick and choose which questions to answer.

[kiahzero]

15. The privilege doesn't cover questions that don't incriminate.

It's not a matter of her "picking and choosing" which questions to answer, it's a matter of her not having a Fifth Amendment right to avoid answering certain types of questions.

[Gabi Hayes]

16. point taken, but, aside from obvious questions, who/what determines the likelihood

of whether a question could lead to a self-incriminatory response?

slippery slope sort of thing

[Toots]

26. Any question she would have to lie to answer

A Lie is incriminating

[Gabi Hayes]

31. that's a given. any answer that she would truthfully answer, as in, "I used the offices...

of the WH in conspiring to clog the phone banks of a New Hampshire Democratic Senatorial candidate" are the sorts of questions covered under the fifth amendment.

answers that are not true would be prosecutable under perjury standards.

[EVDebs]

3. Regent Univ. .... is there an agenda that Regent Law grads are expected to follow ?

is this the same Monica Goodling at the alumni DC picnic ?

http://www.regent.edu/alumni/chapters/washington_dc/DCPicnicPhotos.htm

What, exactly, IS 'Christian' leadership ? Does deception in any form play a part ?

(BTW, I'm a Christian)

[Marie26]

4. Regent LAW??

Ugh. That's one of the worst schools in the country.

[EVDebs]

19. Pat Robertson and Wolf Blitzer's career. Is seeding the govt. with Regent

http://www.yuricareport.com/Media/OnPatRobertsonWolfeBlitzerAndDavidCorn.html

and other fellow-traveller like-minded fascists part of the GOP's anti-democratic agenda ? Sure looks that way.

[Marie26]

27. I'm sure it is

Regent U. is probably the perfect credential for this Administration & I have no doubt they recruit heavily there. It's another example of valuing loyalty/ideology over competence.

[karlrschneider]

10. We mostly respect Christians. The hypocritical fundy liars are the ones that piss us off.

:D

[Critters2]

33. Thanks, karl, for making the distinction

It often gets lost in the hyperbole.

[karlrschneider]

34. Yeah, I often wonder where the Jesus the fundies claim to worship came from.

It sure isn't the same guy who gave the Sermon on the Mount. :eyes:

[Critters2]

35. All that "love your neighbor" stuff

Really gets in the way of building a one party system.

[karlrschneider]

37. I loved my neighbor once at a party...

oh, wait...you meant something else. :rofl:

[Morgana LaFey]

39. Yes, deception is a key tool for righteous Christians to use against

well, whoever they need to use it against. There is no sin in using deceit to promote (their version of) God's work.

[onenote]

7. you're right that questions can be formulated, but your example isn't a good one

Since it would be asking her to offer a "legal conclusion"-- whether "perjury" had been committed. Any lawyer worth his salt would object.

[EVDebs]

8. Is she a Federalist Society member ? What is their agenda ?

Drowning democracy in the bathtub ?

http://www.fed-soc.org/

Oh, look, they have an 'ethics' portion ! Corporate law and telling the truth !!!! ROFLOL !!!! Last night on tv Donald Trump just promotes lying to give a contestant an advantage. Hmmm. All's fair in love and war....hey, are they in love with war and are they 'at war' with fellow dissenting Americans ?

Get ALL of them under oath and before this Committee's hearings. I want them to ALL take the fifth. We know that a RICO act against these 'perfectly legal' bastages deserves to be at least filed

I think that Alito and Roberts may both be Federalists. In that context on the SCOTUS, they weren't grilled over their Reagan era help in passage of REX84 and the executive orders that allow for martial law in the US. Alito in the DOJ/WH review of those exec orders and Roberts in a similar positon in the WH counsel's office. Reagan era operations by Ollie North even wanted this martial law ability.

IS THIS BEHIND THESE MOVES ?

[sharp_stick]

9. How about this...

You went to Regent University, how in the name of all that is holy could you possibly feel that an "education" at Pat Roberson U qualifies you to do anything.

Also.. Are you surprised that a Tsunami has not yet destroyed the decadent Pacific Northwest or that God has not yet decided to purify the town in PA that disallowed the teaching of intelligent design?

[EVDebs]

11. By their fruits ye shall know them. Who said that Monica ?

BTW, a question was asked in the non MSM re what's behind all of these scandals. What do you make of this ?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=506213&mesg_id=506213

[BeHereNow]

28. What do I make of this?

Nothing surprises me when it comes to the
Nazi party.

BHN

[EVDebs]

14. Is politicization of federal agencies part of the GOP's agenda ? What do you know about this ?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x503905

[Gabi Hayes]

18. It's what they've been doing at least since Nixon, on a scale unheard of before then,

and accelerating ever since.

that's why most of the members of the Reagan admin who were indicted/convicted/investigated/resigned did so.

think Iran/Conta applied to EVERY government agency

[annabanana]

17. I see Fox and ABC when I google her on this story....

Why only them among the biggies?

[EVDebs]

20. See post 19 too. Let's see how CNN handles this w/Blitzer nt

[Bake]

21. In practice, you don't answer ANYTHING other than name

To do otherwise is to risk waiving the privilege, precisley because people will try to craft questions that she would "have" to answer that would lead to other questions, and so on.

If they really want her to testify, they'll give her immunity.

Bake, Esq.

[onenote]

22. yep

In theory, you could try to formulate a question that wouldn't be self-incriminating, but then again, its almost impossible to know what would or wouldn't be and the questioner doesn't get to decide. (They could try to claim the privilege is inapplicable and demand a response under the threat of a contempt citation, but in reality that simply doesn't happen.)

Typically, the debate is whether to force the witness to invoke the privilege over and over again or to accept a witnesses statement that he/she intends to invoke the privilege for every question and then move on to the next witness or pursue a grant of immunity approach.

[EVDebs]

30. Bushco can get 'Contempt of Congress' charges, but that would be redundant ! nt

[Gabi Hayes]

32. that's basically what I said upthread, and was told it's not true. who's

right?

[Generator]

23. Bush: Great president or greatest president ever?

Colbert could refine the softballs for the repukes to ask.

[Justice Is Comin]

24. I agree.

The fifth amendment cannot be subjective to selectivity.

It is a blanket coverage. An answer to a question opens you to waiving the privilege. No lawyer would allow it.

[Rex]

25. They can give her immunity and she can sing like a bird.

She can still incriminate herself later if she is under oath. She knows of criminal activity. That much is now on record. She should have thought about it first, special conference with key people, but now made a move that places the WH in only one position.

This is where it all starts to get interesting.

[EVDebs]

29. Like Ralston, Goodling will soon be in hiding in the Caribbean nt

[Rex]

36. They can join Kenny Boy on his secret island.

I bet they all have escape plans.

[SalmonChantedEvening]

38. Is it true you wash your hair in clam broth?

Is it true you used to dance in a flea circus?

Is it true you're getting a divorce as soon as your husband recovers his eyesight?


:)