Welcome to Gonzales Watch - Blawging the Ex-Attorney General

Monica Goodling, former Counsel to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, has a smart white collar criminal defense lawyer as her tactition.  John Dowd of Akin Gump’s D.C. office has remained a zealous fighter for Goodling.

Only last week Dowd slammed House and Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats, charging that they’ve engaged in tactics remeniscent of the McCarthy-era hearings in the 1950s.  He told John Conyers, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, that:

“Contrary to what your April 3, letter suggests, Ms. Goodling’s exercise of her Fifth Amendment rights can in no way be interpreted to suggest that Ms. Goodling herself participated in criminal activity. Your and Senator Leahy’s recent suggestions to the contrary are unfortunately remeniscent of Senator Joseph McCarthy, who infamously labeled those who asserted their constitutional right to remain silent before his committee “Fifth Amendment Communists.”

Having tendered notice of her resignation yesterday (it became effective today), Dowd effectively shut-down the March 30, 2007 demand made by Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (Dem. - Vt.) and Sen. Sheldown Whitehouse (Dem. - R.I.) that Goodling couldn’t evade testimony while she remained a Justice Department employee. They slammed Gonzales for permitting this practice to happen under his watch as the country’s top law enforcement officer, asking:

Has it ever happened in the history of the Department of Justice that an attorney has refused to cooperate with OIG or OPR or asserted Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination and remained an employee of the Department?

The answer appears to be no.

The House Judiciary Committee has also been steadfast in seeking public testimony and a private interview with Goodling.

Don’t expect Congress to let Goodling get off the hook so easily.  It is likely that they will still try to subpoena her for testimony about what, if any, knowledge she had about Karl Rove’s role in any firings. E-mails released by the House Judiciary Committee in the U.S. Attorney firings investigation refer to Rove on numerous occasions.

Monica Goodling (inset), a key senior Dept. of Justice aide to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, has officially resigned.

Her resignation is effective today, Saturday April 7, 2007.

Goodling’s testimony has been sought for weeks by the Senate and House Judiciary Committees.  Through her D.C. lawyer John Dowd, a white collar crime specialist, she repeatedly invoked her Fifth Amendment privilege not to testify, fearing that she might incriminate herself if charges were subsequently brought.

According to The New York Times, Goodling was viewed by Democrats in Congress as an important figure who could possibly explain what role President Bush’s key strategist, Karl Rove, may have had in firing U.S. Attorneys for politically motivated reasons.

Goodling’s official duties were acting as Counsel to Gonzales at the DOJ, and working as the Justice Department’s Liasion with the White House.

Technorati: Monica Goodling, Alberto Gonzales, Karl Rove