FBI Director Suggests Goodling’s Fifth Amendment Decision Unprecedented
FBI Director Suggests Goodling’s Fifth Amendment Decision Unprecedented
FBI Director Robert Mueller testified today before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the FBI’s improper use of National Security Letters. At one point, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) asked Mueller about the decision by Monica Goodling, counsel to Alberto Gonzales, to invoke her Fifth Amendment protections against self-incrimination.
Mueller said that while he has not been “focused on thinking back to circumstances where it may have happened in the past,” he could not ever remember a time when a Justice Department official had taken the Fifth Amendment to avoid testifying.
Watch it:
As the Justice Department’s White House liaison, Goodling appears to be “squarely in the middle of what appears to have been improper directions from the White House to politicize the hiring and firing of United States attorneys.” As the New York Times wrote today, her refusal to testify takes the scandal to a “new level” and compounds need for Mr. Gonzales to testify “without delay in full public view.”
– Ryan Powers
Transcript:
WHITEHOUSE: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Welcome, Director. Thank you for your visit the other day, by the way.
You’ve had a very long and distinguished history in and around the Department of Justice.
Just as a matter of personal reference, can you ever recall a circumstance in which an employee of the Department of Justice has exercised their fifth amendment rights with respect to their official conduct as an employee of the Department of Justice, and remained an employee of the Department of Justice?
MUELLER: I wouldn’t have — I cannot recall, but that is because I am not certain — I am not familiar with the circumstances under which this may have come up in the past.
I know what you’re referring to, quite obviously, and I just can’t answer that.
WHITEHOUSE: I’ve never imagined that would happen. I’ve never heard of it happening before. And I was just testing your recollection.
You can’t think of it ever happening before, either, at this point?
MUELLER: I cannot. But I must say I have not focused on thinking back to circumstances where it may have happened in the past.
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46 Responses to “FBI Director Suggests Goodling’s Fifth Amendment Decision Unprecedented”
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I thought it doesn’t matter what Clinton and other past Administrations had done?
March 27th, 2007 at 7:54 pm(Also, if it has happened in the past, are you guys going to go after Mueller for perjury?)
March 27th, 2007 at 7:55 pmGo Mueller! FU Jake!!
March 27th, 2007 at 8:05 pmOnly if you have evidence that he knew if statement was false and that he intended to mislead. I assume you would apply the same standard to DOJ and WH officials.
March 27th, 2007 at 8:05 pmFor the latest news, email archives, hearings, legal filings and other essential documents on the Bush DOJ prosecutor firings, see:
March 27th, 2007 at 8:08 pm“The U.S. Attorney Scandal Documents.”
Jake = unpaid troll
March 27th, 2007 at 8:10 pmI love those trolls. Wonder why he came out from his damp, dark place under the bridge?
March 27th, 2007 at 8:17 pmWhat’s the holdup?!
March 27th, 2007 at 8:18 pmFor crying out loud Americans wants ANSWERS!!!!
NOW!!!
I love those trolls. Wonder why he came out from his damp, dark place under the bridge?
Comment by Jesse
Trolls don’t get any attention if they’re under the bridge.
March 27th, 2007 at 8:19 pmJake and his buds are committed to taking over as many posts as regularly as possible. They try to set the tone and lead the direction. Time to put the ignore button on Jake
March 27th, 2007 at 8:26 pmJake the rape-jokester gets way too much attention here.
March 27th, 2007 at 8:27 pmWhat’s the holdup?!
For crying out loud Americans wants ANSWERS!!!!
NOW!!!
Comment by jeff
You said it, brother. Shout it loud.
March 27th, 2007 at 8:27 pmI M P E A C H
March 27th, 2007 at 8:29 pmthe arrogant turd . . . with his blossum.
trolls KEEP BRING UP CLINTON BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO WAY OF DEFENDING CHIMPya and Bushland Uber Allies—RESULT, SWIFT-BOAT SMEAR AND ATTACK THE PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATION, “TRY” UNSUCCESSFULLY TO SHIFT THE BLAME TO SOMEONE ELSE LIKE CLINTON OR FALL-GUYS IN Bushieland WHO ARE EXPENDABLE, LIE, LIE, LIE, LIE, LIE, LIE, DISTORT, SMEAR, PREVARICATE, OBFUSCATE AND HOPE NOBODY NOTICES—–WELL, I AND OTHERS DO NOTICE, STUPID BOMBASTIC IMBECILE trolls THAT YA ARE, AND AT LEAST Robert Mueller, STOOGE OF Bushland THAT HE IS, ADMITTED THE CRIMINALITY AND ILLEGALITY, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE AND TRUTH, THAT TAKING THE FIFTH ENTAILS IN THIS CASE!!!!!
March 27th, 2007 at 8:30 pmWhoa, Raymond. A little more decaf in that diet :) But you’re correct in what you say.
March 27th, 2007 at 8:35 pm/jakeoff
March 27th, 2007 at 8:35 pmTo semi-quote Patrick1, “Well Said Mueller”
Calling Whitehouse, “Hullo”
Zep, “Dubya, dat yew”
\/\/, “Yup, President Dubya Here”
Zep, “Hey would you mind bringing Mueller up on perjury charges?”
\/\/, “Why hell no, Ahm gonna give him a medal of freedom”
Sorry Jake, I tried, thats Politics for ya.
Hehx4
March 27th, 2007 at 8:39 pmHow can she plead the 5th to unknown questions? Are all the questions Congress has for her incriminating?
March 27th, 2007 at 8:39 pmtrolls KEEP BRING UP CLINTON BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO WAY OF DEFENDING CHIMPya
Everytime they bring up Clinton just bring up Newts affair. =)
March 27th, 2007 at 8:41 pmA Justice Department official pleading the fifth is like a chef who won’t eat his own food.
March 27th, 2007 at 8:47 pmIt is so offensive I don’t think it has really set in yet with Americans.
Oh what a tangled web they have weaved, because they have practiced to deceive. Now that web has spun out of control, they can’t remember which lie they told to cover the previous lie. This requires people to take the 5th even before they have had a single question asked of them.
It’s so much easier when you tell the truth.
March 27th, 2007 at 8:50 pmOh man “Central Scrutinizer” brings back some wild times from college.
Zappa was way on to this crap a long time ago.
March 27th, 2007 at 8:52 pmAkaDad:
If she doesn’t invoke her 5th Amendment rights at the start of questioning, there could be an argument she waived it when they get to the objectionable questions.
March 27th, 2007 at 8:53 pmtrouble,
That sounds good but it’s wrong. They have been caught. The fifth is the only option regardless of whether they track their lies. They are actually pretty good at tracking their lies.
March 27th, 2007 at 8:57 pmThey obstructed justice-even went so far as to sneak a provision into the Patriot Act to do so-and they got caught. It’s stunning their level of denial and stupidity.
Jake,
The only way the Fifth Amendment can be asserted as to testimony is on a question-by-question basis. Rendahl, 746 F.2d at 555, citing with approval U.S. v. Bell, 448 F.2d 40, 42 (9th Cir.’71) (Fifth Amendment challenge premature on appeal from enforcement order; appellant must present himself for questioning after enforcement and as to each question elect to raise or not to raise the defense).
March 27th, 2007 at 8:57 pmLuckily Jake, the bleeding has stopped. BushCo has been stripped of sneaky provision to obstruct justice.
March 27th, 2007 at 9:01 pmYeah for the balance of powers! It was almost unanimous!
Surely you don’t think this is going to turn out well for Bush?
For the record, if the witness answers the first couple questions, the argument could be made at a hearing that any subsequent questions have to be answered because the witness did not assert her Fifth Amendment rights to the prior questions — I know how the game works ; )
March 27th, 2007 at 9:05 pmI read somewhere that this Goodling woman is the current/ex? girlfriend of someone indicted/convicted? for political shenanigans at someother Federal Dept. Can someone help a forgetful old man.?
March 27th, 2007 at 9:14 pmZappa was way on to this crap a long time ago.
Comment by ForTruth — March 27, 2007 @ 8:52 pm
Ayep, that’s the zombie truth!
tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis
March 27th, 2007 at 9:21 pmJake, there’s a difference between police interrogations and testimony under oath.
The inference here, by asserting the 5th prior to all testimony, is that she is in up to her ____ in criminal activities, most likely obstruction of justice and conspiring to obstruct justice, and she knows it. To say anything, anything at all, might open her up to criminal liability. My guess is she knows enough about who knew what and when that she wants full immunity from any prosecutions leading from her testimony. Remember, she was a low-level and loyal staffer who just saw her world implode with the release of the emails.
And we still haven’t seen the emails from those critical days.
Of course, I’m just guessing. I could be wrong.
Then again, her Rune is Ansur : Wisdom, the Rune of communication and messages. It represents wisdom in all forms from interviews and examinations to research and personal histories.
March 27th, 2007 at 9:29 pmSUGGESTED WEB SITES AND VIDEOS
http://www.911pressfortruth.com
http://www.copvcia.com
http://www.narconews.com
http://www.okcbombing.org
http://www.unansweredquestions.org
http://www.911inquiry.org
http://www.heatisonline.org
http://www.whistleblowers.org
http://www.zpub.com/notes/fbi-shame.html
VIDEOS:
WACO:RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
SILENCED Jack Cashill
THE GREAT DECEPTION Barry Zwicker
TRUTH&LIES 911 Mike Ruppert
AFTERMATH:UNANSWEREDQUESTIONS
FBI agents arrested or sued in civil court for Pedophilia:
Edward Rodgers former head of FBI Child Abuse Program
John Conditt former head of FBI internal affairs investigations.
March 27th, 2007 at 9:34 pmI know how the game works ; )
I misremembered and I do not recall, its fuzzy and unclear.
March 27th, 2007 at 9:40 pmI have a feeling this could be it for the gang. If you think about it, they had to try something like this. They have done so many wrong things and have so many skeletons to hide that they simply can’t afford to lose power. But they can’t even come close to winning an election fairly anymore. Karl needed to pull every trick in the book and a few more. He had to subvert the entire Justice department. His dream of establishing a corrupt, permanent one-party system is coming apart.
March 27th, 2007 at 9:49 pmfun:
Mcgrain v. Daugherty
A landmark decision of the Supreme Court, McGrain v. Daugherty, 273 U.S. 135, 47 S.Ct. 319, 71 L.Ed. 580 (1927), recognized the implicit power of either House of Congress to hold a witness in a congressional investigation in contempt for a refusal to honor its summons or to respond to its questions.
During the mid-1920s, there were numerous allegations that the Federal Department of Justice was being mismanaged by its administrator, Harry Daugherty, the attorney general of the United States. In response to the charges, the Senate passed a resolution that empowered an investigatory committee to hear evidence as to whether Daugherty failed to prosecute various violations of the antitrust laws. Mally S. Daugherty, who was a bank president as well as the brother of the attorney general, refused to respond to a subpoena that was issued by the committee on two occasions ordering him to appear and to bring designated bank ledgers. The president pro tempore of the Senate issued a warrant to his sergeant at arms that Mally Daugherty be taken into custody. […]
http://www.answers.com/topic/mcgrain-v-daugherty
March 27th, 2007 at 9:49 pmI know how the game works ; )
Comment by Jake — March 27, 2007 @ 9:05 pm
Criminals like you, usually do…
March 27th, 2007 at 10:03 pmI thought it doesn’t matter what Clinton and other past Administrations had done?
Comment by Jake
There you are! I was wondering what happened to you and your insipid…
“WAAAAHHHH!!!! MOMMY, MOMMY… CLINTON DID IT TOO!!! WAAAAHHHH!!!!”
March 27th, 2007 at 10:05 pmSo Jack, Jesus died for Newts sins and not for Bills?
Libby obstructed justice and you want him off the hook with a pardon.
Haggard was cured and no Democratl can ever be cured for being Gay, Rush is forgiven for his addiction but no Democrat can ever be.
Thats one messed up view of Jesus, HOW did you come to be the one that decides who is forgiven and who is not?
March 27th, 2007 at 10:22 pmKargo X has an interesting piece on “Inherent Contempt”.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/27/113945/241
March 27th, 2007 at 10:28 pmWhat is the rape joke? I must have missed it.
March 27th, 2007 at 11:39 pmI love it when these toads have to lawyer up.
Maybe the good folks at Messiah U. can chip in.
March 28th, 2007 at 8:56 amZep Tepi,
Good questions. They wont be answered though, Christ666ian conservatives never consider grace given to those not like them, it would cause their head to implode.
March 28th, 2007 at 9:48 am[…] Think Progress - Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse continues to lead Democratic inquiries into the US Attorneys scandal and […]
March 28th, 2007 at 12:17 pmThe point of taking the 5th on ALL questions is to avoid giving the questioners any clues as to what crimes you may have committed. If they ask you 10 questions and the only one you refuse to answer is, “Did you steal Farmer Brown’s apples?”, chances are you did.
Regarding the bigger picture here, Gonzo is gone. He may still be on life support, but there is no brain activity. Unfortunately, bu$h is still in denial and refuses to pull the plug - prolonging the agony for all involved … EXCEPT US!
God I love this. They are finally having the mask stripped away to expose their lying and criminal ways to the public at large. I also love the Messiah U / Regent Law School aspect. I wonder how the prospect of their most high profile graduate taking the fifth sits with Jerry and Pat - may they share adjoining suites in hell.
Abu’s problem now is that even if he weaves an interpretation of his words that lets him skate on the perjury issue, what it leaves as a cover story is not very compelling as a testament to his leadership at the Department of Justice. They keep saying that the USAs “serve at the pleasure of the president.” Well if that is so, how is it that Gonzo’s chief of staff and the DOJ-WH liaison get to decide to fire 8 USAs, going to Gonzo and bu$hie only for the final approval of a plan that they apparently never discussed prior to November 27th? Apparently Samson and Goodling just popped this on Gonzo and told him to sign off on it - and he did. Is this any way to administer justice?
This is dereliction of his duties as a minimum. It’s one thing to delegate day-to-day management issues. It’s quite another to “delegate” controversial firings which are virtually unprecedented. Of course, this is all under the premise that Gonzo is telling the truth. A premise which is wearing thinner and thinner.
March 28th, 2007 at 12:43 pmThe most amusing thing is that asserting your fifth amendment right against self-incrimination implies that you did, indeed, do something illegal. Now, legally, (IANAL, but this is how I understand it) you can’t use the fifth amendment assertion to prove anything either way, but as sensible human beings watching or reading about this, it speaks volumes. This is really quite the last ditch effort. I can’t wait until the truth actually comes out. Everybody has a price…
March 28th, 2007 at 12:50 pmThe only logical course is haul Monica Goodling down to Gitmo and keep her in stress positions until she confesses her crimes. Since she is guilty of attending the WhiteHouse training camp, then everyone she ahs had contact with at DOJ and the WhiteHouse should be held and interogated also. I’m sure Alberto would agree.
March 28th, 2007 at 7:09 pmTo correct you all, Monica graduated from Messiah COLLEGE not Messiah U. And as a graduate and classmate who had several classes with her, I can tell you that the idea of her being involved in ANY wrong doing is absurd.
March 29th, 2007 at 5:53 pmI am curious though, you all seem to be near hysterics every time somone says Clinton did this or Clinton did that. (I personally agree, but only because I believe in leaving the past in the past.) How come though, you all are still blubbering over President Bush stealing elections? I am also curious how, if Bush is so stupid you all have not figured out how to nail him? HMMMMMMMM, wait wait I have got it, the great white satan himself KARL ROVE!!!!