nevadamedic
05-23-2007, 05:28 PM
(CNN) -- The Justice Department's former White House liaison testified Wednesday that she never discussed the hiring or firing of U.S. attorneys with White House officials.
"I did not hold the keys to the kingdom, as some have suggested," said Monica Goodling, who was Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' senior counsel and White House liaison until resigning in April.
"To the best of my knowledge, I never had a conversation with Karl Rove or Harriet Miers while I served at the Department of Justice, and I'm certain I never spoke to either of them about the hiring or firing of any U.S. attorney," Goodling said in her opening statement to the House Judiciary Committee.
The committee is investigating whether the firings of eight U.S. attorneys was politically motivated and has questioned whether Rove, President Bush's chief political adviser, and Miers, former White House counsel, were involved.
The Justice Department has said the attorneys were fired because of poor job performance, but critics allege the attorneys were fired for political reasons.
The investigation has led to calls for Gonzales' resignation.
Goodling initially invoked her Fifth Amendment right to protection from self-incrimination, but the committee granted her immunity in return for her testimony.
Goodling testified she had no significant role in determining which attorneys were to go on a list of those to be fired.
"I was responsible more for what happened after the plan was implemented rather than maybe the plan itself," Goodling testified.
Other Justice officials have said the list was compiled by then-Justice Department Chief of Staff Staff Kyle Sampson, who resigned in March.
Gonzales gave Goodling and Sampson wide authority over hiring and firing of political appointees in a March 2006 order.
Goodling revealed she had screened applicants for Justice career posts based on political affiliation.
"In every case I tried to act in good faith," she said.
"I do acknowledge I may have gone too far in asking political questions of applicants for career positions, and I may have taken inappropriate political considerations into account on some occasions, and I regret those mistakes."
She told committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Michigan, "I was not the primary White House contact for purposes of the development or approval of the U.S. attorney replacement plan."
Goodling testified that she didn't recall meeting with then-White House counsel Harriet Miers or President Bush's chief political adviser, Karl Rove, while she was a Justice employee.
"And I'm certain that I never spoke to either of them about the hiring or firing of any U.S. attorney," she added.
Rove and Miers have been accused of having a role in the dismissal process.
Goodling said she first learned about the possibility of replacing some U.S. attorneys in mid-2005, and believed she saw a list of potential candidates for replacement in January 2006. The list was in a draft memo from Sampson to Miers, she said. Goodling said she did attend a key November 27, 2006, Justice meeting on the plan.
"Although I'm prepared to tell the committee what I know about the eight replaced U.S. attorneys, the truth is that I do not know why Kevin Ryan, John McKay, Carol Lam, Paul Charlton, Daniel Bogden, David Iglesias and Margaret Chiara were asked to resign in December of 2006."
The eighth attorney, Bud Cummins from the Eastern District of Arkansas, was dismissed in June 2006.
Goodling also disputed allegations by Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, who is to resign from the Justice Department later this year, that she did not provide him with enough information before his Senate Judiciary Committee testimony in February.
In that appearance, McNulty said all but one of the eight U.S. attorneys who were fired last year were fired for performance reasons. The fired prosecutors and their supporters disputed that statement.
Judiciary committees in both houses have held hearings to determine whether Gonzales approved the firings solely on the basis of partisan concerns -- instead of performance, as officials have claimed.
There are allegations that the prosecutors either were not doing enough to prosecute Democrats on voter fraud charges or doing too much in bringing corruption charges against Republicans.
The Bush administration has been accused of trying to restrict voter turnout in key states to shift November 2006 election results in favor of Republicans.
The White House, which has the authority to replace the U.S. attorney appointees at will, has denied the charges.
Asked what should have been done differently in the attorney firings, Goodling said each lawyer should have been interviewed before being let go.
Before Goodling testified, Conyers stressed that giving Goodling immunity did not mean she was guilty of wrongdoing.
He informed Goodling that information she provided the committee could not be used against her in any criminal proceeding, so long as she was truthful. He also told her she could consult at any time with her lawyer.
"I would hope that the facts of her testimony would encourage others to come forward and cooperate with our inquiry, and that includes personnel in the White House itself, whose role in these firings appears to grow more central every day," Conyers said in his opening statement.
Congress has been unsuccessful in getting Rove or other White House officials to testify.
Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, the committee's ranking Republican, said he didn't see the need for more hearings.
"We and our investigators see ever more clearly that the accusations of wrongdoing in these eight U.S. attorney dismissals don't seem to have legs," he said.
A ninth U.S. attorney, Todd Graves of Kansas City, Missouri, was let go early last year, but has not formally been grouped with the other U.S. attorneys.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/05/23/goodling.testimony/index.html
This was not politically motivated, they were horrible Attorneys.
"I did not hold the keys to the kingdom, as some have suggested," said Monica Goodling, who was Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' senior counsel and White House liaison until resigning in April.
"To the best of my knowledge, I never had a conversation with Karl Rove or Harriet Miers while I served at the Department of Justice, and I'm certain I never spoke to either of them about the hiring or firing of any U.S. attorney," Goodling said in her opening statement to the House Judiciary Committee.
The committee is investigating whether the firings of eight U.S. attorneys was politically motivated and has questioned whether Rove, President Bush's chief political adviser, and Miers, former White House counsel, were involved.
The Justice Department has said the attorneys were fired because of poor job performance, but critics allege the attorneys were fired for political reasons.
The investigation has led to calls for Gonzales' resignation.
Goodling initially invoked her Fifth Amendment right to protection from self-incrimination, but the committee granted her immunity in return for her testimony.
Goodling testified she had no significant role in determining which attorneys were to go on a list of those to be fired.
"I was responsible more for what happened after the plan was implemented rather than maybe the plan itself," Goodling testified.
Other Justice officials have said the list was compiled by then-Justice Department Chief of Staff Staff Kyle Sampson, who resigned in March.
Gonzales gave Goodling and Sampson wide authority over hiring and firing of political appointees in a March 2006 order.
Goodling revealed she had screened applicants for Justice career posts based on political affiliation.
"In every case I tried to act in good faith," she said.
"I do acknowledge I may have gone too far in asking political questions of applicants for career positions, and I may have taken inappropriate political considerations into account on some occasions, and I regret those mistakes."
She told committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Michigan, "I was not the primary White House contact for purposes of the development or approval of the U.S. attorney replacement plan."
Goodling testified that she didn't recall meeting with then-White House counsel Harriet Miers or President Bush's chief political adviser, Karl Rove, while she was a Justice employee.
"And I'm certain that I never spoke to either of them about the hiring or firing of any U.S. attorney," she added.
Rove and Miers have been accused of having a role in the dismissal process.
Goodling said she first learned about the possibility of replacing some U.S. attorneys in mid-2005, and believed she saw a list of potential candidates for replacement in January 2006. The list was in a draft memo from Sampson to Miers, she said. Goodling said she did attend a key November 27, 2006, Justice meeting on the plan.
"Although I'm prepared to tell the committee what I know about the eight replaced U.S. attorneys, the truth is that I do not know why Kevin Ryan, John McKay, Carol Lam, Paul Charlton, Daniel Bogden, David Iglesias and Margaret Chiara were asked to resign in December of 2006."
The eighth attorney, Bud Cummins from the Eastern District of Arkansas, was dismissed in June 2006.
Goodling also disputed allegations by Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, who is to resign from the Justice Department later this year, that she did not provide him with enough information before his Senate Judiciary Committee testimony in February.
In that appearance, McNulty said all but one of the eight U.S. attorneys who were fired last year were fired for performance reasons. The fired prosecutors and their supporters disputed that statement.
Judiciary committees in both houses have held hearings to determine whether Gonzales approved the firings solely on the basis of partisan concerns -- instead of performance, as officials have claimed.
There are allegations that the prosecutors either were not doing enough to prosecute Democrats on voter fraud charges or doing too much in bringing corruption charges against Republicans.
The Bush administration has been accused of trying to restrict voter turnout in key states to shift November 2006 election results in favor of Republicans.
The White House, which has the authority to replace the U.S. attorney appointees at will, has denied the charges.
Asked what should have been done differently in the attorney firings, Goodling said each lawyer should have been interviewed before being let go.
Before Goodling testified, Conyers stressed that giving Goodling immunity did not mean she was guilty of wrongdoing.
He informed Goodling that information she provided the committee could not be used against her in any criminal proceeding, so long as she was truthful. He also told her she could consult at any time with her lawyer.
"I would hope that the facts of her testimony would encourage others to come forward and cooperate with our inquiry, and that includes personnel in the White House itself, whose role in these firings appears to grow more central every day," Conyers said in his opening statement.
Congress has been unsuccessful in getting Rove or other White House officials to testify.
Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, the committee's ranking Republican, said he didn't see the need for more hearings.
"We and our investigators see ever more clearly that the accusations of wrongdoing in these eight U.S. attorney dismissals don't seem to have legs," he said.
A ninth U.S. attorney, Todd Graves of Kansas City, Missouri, was let go early last year, but has not formally been grouped with the other U.S. attorneys.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/05/23/goodling.testimony/index.html
This was not politically motivated, they were horrible Attorneys.