The congressional investigation of U.S. attorneygate hit a snag when former Justice Department senior counselor and White House liaison Monica M. Goodling cited her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and refused to testify. On April 25, the House judiciary committee voted 32-6 on a resolution (see below) to ask the feds to immunize Goodling from prosecution for anything she tells the committee, which would compel Goodling to testify before the committee.
The resolution set in motion a complicated procedure. The House Office of General Counsel, the same small office that issues House subpoenas, applied to the Justice Department (where the potential witness recently held considerable sway) to approve the order. The Justice Department normally grants immunity only in cases where no criminal charges or investigations are pending. That was a problem in this instance, because two Justice divisions (the Office of Inspector General and the Office of Professional Responsibility) are jointly probing Goodling’s hiring practices at the agency. A much bigger problem at Justice, however, is that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is holding on to his job by his fingernails and can ill afford to be perceived as stonewalling the investigation. Consequently, the top lawyers from both divisions reluctantly signed off May 7. Congress can now formally petition for Goodling’s get-out-of-jail-free order.
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