Key Figure in U.S. Attorney's Row Takes the Stand

WASHINGTON, May 23, 2007 — -- Former Justice Department White House liaison Monica Goodling testifies before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday on the Justice Department's firing of eight U.S. attorneys.

Before she resigned last month, Goodling helped senior Justice officials prepare for congressional testimony. She also worked closely with Kyle Sampson, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' chief of staff, who resigned March 12 as a result of the controversy.

Thousands of pages of internal Justice Department e-mails show that Goodling was intensely involved with the plan to fire the prosecutors, closely coordinating with Sampson and the White House.

Goodling originally told Congress that she would invoke her Fifth Amendment rights and refuse to testify about her activity as a Justice Department official. However, the Justice Department and a federal judge granted her immunity, and she agreed to talk.

Testimony provided by David Margolis, the associate deputy attorney general, has also provided a dramatic look at the pressure Goodling was under as it became clear the U.S. attorney scandal was about to engulf the department.

During an interview with congressional investigators earlier this month, Margolis described a March 8 encounter with Goodling, four days before Sampson resigned.

In that encounter, Margolis said, Goodling suffered an emotional breakdown in his office.

"It seemed like forever but it was probably only about 30 or 45 minutes," the seasoned prosecutor and 42-year Justice department veteran said. He recalled her saying, "All I ever wanted to do was serve this president and this administration and this department."

Margolis told investigators, "I knew she must think everything was unraveling. And, you know, she was right about that." Margolis told investigators that she did not offer much explanation as to why she was so upset.

In addition, transcripts released Tuesday include portions of testimony from Kyle Sampson about bypassing Arkansas senators in efforts to replace Bud Cummins as the U.S. attorney in Arkansas.

Cummins was fired and replaced by Tim Griffin, a former aide to Karl Rove.

According to the transcripts, Sampson said in an April 15 interview that while Attorney General Gonzales was opposed to bypassing the senators, he and Goodling remained in favor of the plan.

Goodling is the subject of an internal Justice Department investigation for her role in the firings of the eight U.S. attorneys.

The Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility, an internal watchdog on Justice Department lawyers, and the Office of the Inspector General are conducting a joint investigation into allegations that Goodling was involved in the hiring of career prosecutors.

Goodling allegedly asked assistant U.S. attorneys about their political affiliation and opinions on political issues.

Portions of the transcript released by the committee also suggest that Principal Assistant Deputy Attorney General William Moschella believed Goodling and Sampson misled him when preparing for his testimony before the House and Senate Judiciary Committees earlier this year.

Margolis specifically characterized Moschella's feeling as being "misled," not "let down."

"He was the one who went out there and put his name on the line, and he's the one who will be accused of giving inaccurate, false information, and he deserved better," Margolis said.

Margolis described how the work of the attorney general's aides began to create tension among senior officials at the Justice Department.

"The Goodling and Sampson disingenuousness," Margolis said. "I don't think he used those words, 'they ought to leave,' but they were dead to him. They had burned their bridges with him."