Conyers, Sanchez Question Whether Monica Goodling Can Take the Fifth
House Judiciary Chair John Conyers and subcommittee Chair Linda Sanchez have written Monica Goodling's lawyer saying they don't think she has a good faith basis for invoking her 5th Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. First off, they say Goodling has to appear and invoke the privilege on a question by question basis.
Then, they write,
The fact that a few Senators and Members of the House have expressed publicly their doubts about the credibility of the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General in their representations to Congress about the U.S. Attorneys' termination does not in any way excuse your client from answering questions honestly and to the best of her ability. Of course, we expect (as we are sure you do) your client to tell the truth in any interview or testimony. The alleged concern that she may be prosecuted for perjury by the Department of Justice for fully truthful testimony is not only an unjustified basis for invoking the privilege and without reasonable foundation in this case but also so far as we know an unwarranted aspersion against her employer.
More...
The references in your letters to Mr. Libby and Mr. Safavian are particularly unwarranted and inappropriate. Both of those individuals, former high-ranking officials in the Bush Administration, were found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt by juries of their peers, in cases brought by Presidentially appointed U.S. Attorneys, of knowingly and intentionally lying or providing false information primarily to Executive branch agents or officials. Neither matter involved truthful testimony by the defendants. Both of them were found to have deliberately misrepresented facts, which we are confident you do not expect Ms. Goodling to do. If her testimony is truthful, she will have nothing to worry about in terms of a perjury prosecution, which, of course, rests in the exclusive control of the Department.
[hat tip Raw Story.]
| < Is Alberto Gonzales Putting Federal Executions on Hold? | U.S. Interrogates Terror Suspects at Secret Ethiopian Jails > |
