JUSTICE
The Keys To The White House
Yesterday, Monica Goodling, the former Justice Department liaison to
the White House, finally testified before Congress about her role in the firing of nine U.S. attorneys
last year. Expectations were high for Goodling, who had negotiated immunity after invoking her Fifth Amendment rights, with some saying she held "the keys
to the kingdom" of the scandal. But her appearance before the House
Judiciary Committee resulted in more of the same -- yet another Justice
official deflecting responsibility for the firings while pointing
fingers at others. Goodling is the fifth Justice
official involved in the firings to speak before Congress about the
scandal, but after all the testimonies -- including two appearances by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales -- no one has offered an
explanation for where the list of potential targets came from and why
particular attorneys were placed on it. Though her testimony did not
answer such key questions, Goodling's remarks did shine a bright light
on the careless disregard for the law at the Gonzales Justice
Department and raised new questions about how deeply involved the White
House was in the firing process.
IT WASN'T ME: Following the
lead of the attorney general, Goodling pointed to Gonzales'a former
chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, as the person who "compiled the
list," claiming that "at different times he talked to different
people about it. He never told me exactly who recommended which name
and at what time they did that." "I know that he did speak to the
Deputy Attorney General [Paul McNulty] about it," she added. Goodling's
passing of the buck echoes every other high-ranking Justice Department
official who have denied that
they personally named attorneys to be dismissed. "Michael
Battle, the former Director of the Executive Office of United States
Attorneys, Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, Kyle Sampson, and
William E. Moschella, the principal associate deputy attorney general,
all have told Congress that they did not put any names on the list." The only two other principals who were supposedly
consulted about the firings -- Michael Elston, Paul McNulty's chief of
staff, and acting Associate Attorney General William Mercer
-- have yet to publicly comment on their roles, but they have
privately spoken to congressional investigators; Rep. John Conyers
(D-MI) has said that they "deny making the
actual decision to place these names on the list."
AN 'UNCOMFORTABLE' CONVERSATION: The most damaging revelation
in Goodling's testimony was her disclosure that just before she took a
leave of absence from the Department of Justice, Gonzales personally
attempted to shape her future testimony to Congress about the U.S.
attorney purge. Describing it as an "uncomfortable" conversation,
Goodling claimed that in a personal meeting with Gonzales, he "laid
out...his general recollection...of some of the process...regarding the
replacement of the U.S. attorneys." After he had "laid out a little bit
of it," Gonzales asked Goodling if she "had any reaction to his
iteration." "I didn't know that it was, maybe, appropriate for us to
talk about that at that point," she added. The conversation took place on either March 14 or 15, a week after "the House Judiciary Committee requested that Goodling testify before the committee." Her testimony indicates
that the Attorney General may have crossed "into a borderline area of coaching
a likely witness before the eventual testimony," which could
potentially be viewed as obstruction of justice under 18
USC section 1505. Goodling denied that Gonzales was trying to "shape" her "recollection," though she
acknowledged that the conversation was not "appropriate." Even if the
conversation was not an attempt to influence her future testimony,
"lawmakers said her disclosure was important nonetheless because it
seemed to contradict
Gonzales's testimony to Congress under oath the he couldn't answer
some details about the firings because he had to avoid discussing
details with his staff in order to avoid any perception that he was
compromising congressional and two internal investigations."
PARTISAN HIRINGS: In
March 2006, in a highly
confidential order, Gonzales delegated to Goodling and
Sampson extraordinary authority over the hiring and firing of
most non-civil-service employees of the Justice
Department. In her opening
statement yesterday, Goodling admitted to abusing that power
by taking "inappropriate political considerations into account" while
hiring career employees at the Department. Later during the hearing,
Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) asked whether her
actions had broken the law. She first tried to dodge the question,
saying "that's not a conclusion for me to make" and "I don't believe I
intended to commit a crime." But Scott persisted, listing the various
types of laws that may have been broken, again asking, "[W]ere there
any laws that you could have broken by taking political considerations
into account, quote, on some occasions?" Goodling finally relented,
admitting, "I crossed the lines, but I didn't mean to." "I don't
think that I could have done it more
than 50 times, but I don't know," she also stated. Goodling's
actions, which included questioning applicants about their political
preferences and even
researching their past political donations, were against the law,
as "federal law and Justice Department policies bar
the consideration of political affiliation in hiring of personnel for non-political, career jobs."
ALL ROADS LEAD TO WHITE HOUSE: Though
Goodling denied in her testimony that she was "the primary
White House contact for purposes of the development or approval of
the U.S. Attorney replacement plan," the denials of her own role in the
firings only point more fingers at the White House. "What we have
heard today seems to reinforce the mounting
evidence that the White House was pulling the strings on this
project to target certain prosecutors in different parts of the
country," said Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) yesterday. Goodling indicated
that the
purge may have arose from a group of select White House advisers,
known as the White House Judicial Selection Committee. She explained
that she had never attended a meeting of the group, but Gonzales and
Sampson did. She also described how the White House attempted to avoid
the appearance of its involvement by telling her not to show her face
before congressional investigators because "if someone recognized me as
the White House liaison, the members would be more likely to ask
questions about the White House." Ultimately though, Goodling admitted
she "can't give" the "whole White
House story." As the Washington Post wrote in an editorial
today, "Lawmakers
need to hear from those who can," such as Harriet Miers and Karl
Rove.
HEALTH CARE -- FDA REITERATES BAN ON GAY MEN DONATING BLOOD,
DESPITE RED CROSS OBJECTIONS: Gay men are still banned for
life from giving blood, "leaving in place -- for now -- a
1983 prohibition meant to prevent the spread of HIV through
transfusions." The Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) ban prevents an estimated
62,300 gay and bisexual men per year from donating blood, despite
the Red Cross calling the policy "medically
and scientifically unwarranted." On its website, the FDA attempts
to justify the 24-year-old rule by arguing that current HIV testing
cannot always pick up right away when someone is HIV positive: "The
'window period' exists very early after infection, where even current
HIV testing methods cannot detect all infections. ... For this reason,
a person could test negative, even when they are actually HIV positive
and infectious." Yet last year, the Red Cross, the international blood
association AABB, and America's Blood Centers all called on the FDA to
reverse the ban. They explained that such "window period" risks have
been negated by modern blood tests, which "can
detect HIV-positive donors within just 10 to 21 days of infection."
To ensure such risks were minimized further, their proposal included a
"one-year deferral following male-to-male sexual contact." More
information about donating blood is available HERE.
ENVIRONMENT -- POLLUTERS FLOURISH
UNDER THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION: "Environmental enforcement
efforts by the U.S. EPA and the Justice Department have plummeted over
the last five years, resulting in a 38
percent decline in criminal fines and a 25 percent drop in civil
penalties, according to a new report from the nonprofit
Environmental Integrity Project (EIP)." Through examination of ten
years of federal data, the group concluded that enforcement was
much stronger under the Clinton administration but has lacked since
President Bush took office. The EIP's analysis revealed that the EPA's
effectiveness has dropped in four
of five categories: cases filed, number of civil penalties,
criminal fines, and criminal investigations. The only category which
did not decline was "value of enforcements," but the EIP adds that even
this is "endangered" because the Bush administration continues to "try
to weaken or eliminate New Source Review" rules, which are designed to
ensure that power plants meet
pollution guidelines under the Clean Air Act. Reflecting the
dismal enforcement under Bush, the EIP reports that the Justice
Department files, on average, only
16 lawsuits per year "against polluters who refuse to settle,"
whereas the Clinton administration prosecuted an average of 52 per
year. The Bush administration was quick to deny the claims. "Any
suggestion that the Justice Department is not enforcing the nation's
laws is utterly false," said Matthew J. McKeown of the Department of
Justice. "The bad news here is that it
now costs less to pollute," said Eric Schaeffer, executive director
of the EIP and a former top official at the EPA. "A good environmental
program needs to make polluters pay for their violations."
ETHICS -- JUSTICE OFFICIALS CONFIRM WHITE HOUSE INSTIGATED PLAN TO
BYPASS SENATE ON U.S. ATTORNEY: Both Attorney
General Alberto Gonzales and his former
chief of staff Kyle Sampson approved a plan to bypass the Senate
and install Karl Rove-protege Tim Griffin as U.S. attorney in Arkansas.
But private testimony by Sampson reveals that the idea
was "instigated" by the White House. According to Karen Tumulty of
Time, "Pressure to do it, he suggested, was coming from officials at
the White House -- specifically, White House political director Sara
Taylor, her deputy Scott Jennings and Chris Oprison, the associate
White House counsel. Sampson described himself and Goodling as 'open to
the idea,' which is not the same as instigating it." Taylor reports
directly to Rove. In a Dec. 19, 2006 e-mail, Sampson said that getting
Griffin "appointed was important
to Harriet, Karl, etc." Additionally, according to written
testimony by Bud Cummins -- the
prosecutor Griffin replaced -- Michael Elston, the chief of staff to
former Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty, said that the plan to
install
Griffin and circumvent Senate approval was completely
dictated by the White House. Cummins wrote, "Elston denied knowing
anything about anyone's intention to circumvent Senate confirmation in
Griffin's case. He said that might have been the White House's plan,
but they 'never read DOJ into that plan' and DOJ would never go along
with it. This indicated to me that my removal had been dictated
entirely by the White House." Fortunately, in a 306-114 vote, the House
recently passed legislation "that would curb
President Bush's power to appoint prosecutors indefinitely,"
limiting interim U.S. attorneys' terms to 120 days. The Senate has
already approved the bill, and it now heads to Bush for his signature.
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Iraqi Health Ministry statistics show that sectarian
killings "are rising again." Already, 321 unidentified
corpses, "many dumped and showing signs of torture and execution," have
been found in Baghdad this month -- the
same number found in all of January, before the escalation was
launched.
Congressional leaders say they dropped Iraq timeline
legislation because "White House attacks that they were again on vacation" for
Memorial Day while the troops were fighting on the ground "seemed more
politically threatening to them" than anger "from the left by
bowing to Mr. Bush."
Three more military language specialists have been discharged
for being gay, and the House Armed Services Committee wants
the Pentagon "to explain how it can afford to let
the valuable language specialists go."
"Hoping to subdue a rising wave of resistance" within their ranks,
House leaders "are set to put their long-stalled lobbying
reform package to
a vote today."
Sen.
Hillary Clinton (D-NY) yesterday sent a letter to Defense Secretary
Robert Gates "seeking assurances that military leaders had drawn up 'contingency' plans so that American troops could pull out of Iraq without 'unnecessary danger.'"
"The House approved legislation yesterday to upgrade and expand the
nation's network of health care and benefit outreach centers
for military veterans," one of seven veteran-related bills
"that the House approved yesterday to provide
millions more dollars in benefits."
Watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
has sued the
White House "alleging the administration refuses
to comply with a public records request related to more than 5
million e-mails from administration officials that have gone missing."
And finally: A conservative journalist falls in love with Mitt
Romney's wife.
Newsmax's Ronald Kessler writes, "Ann is warm and very natural. She has
the look of an outdoors woman bred to be an equestrian, which she is -- good
carriage, rosy complexion, square jaw, and blond mane. When she is
not flashing her truly
unbelievable smile,
she may lower her eyes demurely. ... She lowers her eyes, thinking, and
then looks up directly at her interviewer and dazzles him with that
smile." |
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Manufacturing industry lobbyist Michael
Baroody yesterday withdrew
his nomination to head the Consumer Product Safety Commission under strong
opposition from consumer groups.
NEW
JERSEY: New Jersey is the only state in the nation with an average
gas price of under $3 per gallon.
GEORGIA:
Gov. Sonny Perdue (R) signs legislation requiring providers to offer
women an ultrasound of the fetus prior to abortion.
DISTRICT
OF COLUMBIA: Twenty-five percent of the District's fire hydrants
may be broken.
THINK
PROGRESS: Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott (R-MS) falsely claims
President Bush would never declassify intelligence "just for political
purposes."
MIDDLE EAST BULLETIN: The
Center for American Progress has launched a newsletter with the latest
news and progressive analysis on events in the Middle East.
TAPPED:
With seven days still to go, "May 2007 caps the deadliest six-month
period for America of the entire Iraq war."
CAPITOL
BRIEFING: Monica Goodling's lawyers told lawmakers to ask about her
"uncomfortable" meeting with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
"I have not gone back and spoken directly with Mr. Sampson and others
who are involved in this process in order to protect the integrity of
this investigation and the investigation of the Office of Professional
Responsibility and the Office of Inspector General. I am a fact
witness. They are fact witnesses."
-- Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, 5/10/07
VERSUS
DAVIS: Ms. Goodling, did the attorney general have a conversation with
you regarding the terminations of United States attorneys?
GOODLING: Yes, he did.
DAVIS: And when did this conversation happen?
GOODLING: It was in March, before I left the department.
DAVIS: Did you know you might be a fact witness at that point, Ms.
Goodling?
GOODLING: Yes.
-- Former Justice Department liaison to the White House Monica
Goodling, 5/24/07,
in an exchange with Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL)
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