By Kenneth J. Theisen, 5/23/07
Monica Goodling finally testified before the House Judiciary
Committee on May 23, 2007. Goodling was
the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) former White House liaison who was deeply
involved in the firings of U.S. Attorneys by DOJ. She initially plead the fifth
amendment against self-incrimination and only testified after she was granted
immunity from prosecution for her testimony. She resigned from the DOJ in
April.
The House Judiciary Committee sought to question her because
documents turned over to Congress indicated that she had attended many meetings
regarding the firings of the prosecutors.
She also communicated with the White House about the dismissals
according to the records.
In her testimony she did what all the Bush regime officials
who have testified have done so far – blame someone else. She blamed Deputy
Attorney General Paul McNulty. She
stated that McNulty’s testimony before Congress on February 6, 2007 “was
incomplete or inaccurate in a number of respects. I believe the deputy was not
fully candid.” She claimed that she
and other DOJ employees fully briefed McNulty, about the firings before his
testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. McNulty testified that the decision to fire
the prosecutors was made only by DOJ but it later came to light that the White
House was intimately involved as well.
Goodling testified McNulty “was not fully candid about his knowledge
of White House involvement in the replacement decision.”
During her appearance she also revealed that she considered
applicants for jobs as career prosecutors based on their political loyalties to
the Bush regime. She stated, “I may
have gone too far, and I may have taken inappropriate political considerations
into account on some occasions. And I regret those mistakes.” Those “mistakes” are actually violations of
federal law that bar such political considerations in the hiring of prosecutors. Because of the tremendous powers of U.S. attorneys
they are supposed to be impartial in their enforcement of laws.
But the fact that the Bush regime considers loyalty to its
fascist program over competence in hiring decisions should come as no surprise
even when such factors violate the law.
The list of incompetents in the administration is endless. [Among the
questions asked of applicants for jobs in Iraq
were the applicants” views of Roe v. Wade even though this should have had no
relevance about their qualifications to work in Iraq.] U.S. Prosecutors have a highly political role
to play and it would be surprising to find that the Bush regime did not
consider political loyalty as a major factor in it appointments and in its
firings of these prosecutors. Why should
little things like violations of the law interfere with the operation of the
regime within the Department of Justice?
Ignoring the law is routine in this administration.
Each time a member or former member of the Bush regime
testifies in this attorney firings scandal we learn a little more of the
truth. World Can’t Wait will continue to
follow each revelation and report them to our readers.