Goodling In Private Email: ‘Send Directly Up To Me, Outside The System’
Goodling In Private Email: ‘Send Directly Up To Me, Outside The System’
New Justice Department communications released tonight include an email from Monica Goodling, former counsel to Alberto Gonzales, directing another official to draw up a directive giving her unprecedented authority to hire and fire political staffers. Goodling tells the official, assistant attorney general Paul Corts, to “send [it] directly up to me, outside the system.”
Read the exchange:
The authority Goodling was requesting in this January 2006 exchange was first reported by Murray Waas last month in the National Journal. Waas detailed how Alberto Gonzales had “signed a highly confidential order in March 2006 delegating to two of his top aides” — Goodling and then-chief of staff Kyle Sampson — “extraordinary authority over the hiring and firing of most non-civil-service employees of the Justice Department.”
The memo suggested “a broad effort was under way by the White House to place politically and ideologically loyal appointees throughout the Justice Department, not just at the U.S.-attorney level.” During testimony last month, Goodling admitted that she had “taken inappropriate political considerations into account” while hiring career employees at the Department.
In his article, Waas quoted a senior Justice Department official “who did not know of Gonzales’s delegation of authority until contacted by National Journal” but who “said that it posed a serious threat to the integrity of the criminal-justice system.” Now we know why the senior official didn’t know about it — because Goodling sought to keep it “outside the system.”
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Our Mizz Goody is gonna lose her immunity deal. Boo hoo….
June 6th, 2007 at 9:28 pmMonica is NOT exempt from prosecution.
If they find that she has done things that she did NOT testify about,
she may STILL be going to the SLAMMER…
June 6th, 2007 at 9:29 pmYepper, Gonzo’s little Monica may still spend some time in the gray bar hotel. She can’t plead the “5th” on this one.
June 6th, 2007 at 9:37 pmActually, the TP title is a bit misleading. She did not instruct Paul Corts to send it outside the system, she merely said it was OK to.
That being said, Monica and Paul both had to know that it was most assuredly not OK to send such official White House correspondence “outside the system. This is written proof that Monica advocated circumventing the official WH record archiving system – a clear violation of the Hatch Act.
Not sure if her original immunity deal covers this sort of thing…anyone have the skinny on the actual terms of her immunity?
June 6th, 2007 at 9:40 pmDisbar Monica, try her, convict her and send her directly to jail (do not pass go).
June 6th, 2007 at 9:43 pmNotice how you don’t hear about this…
http://icons.wunderground.com/data/images/na200702_5day.gif
June 6th, 2007 at 9:49 pmTMM – I think her immunity only had to do with her testimony before Congress. I could be wrong. The Honorable John Conyers explained what was convered in the immunity agreement. The Gavel should have the details in its archives.
“And the papers wouldn’t even print…
Coffins draped with flags.”
June 6th, 2007 at 9:57 pmOops.. “The Honorable John Conyers explained what was covered etc…
June 6th, 2007 at 9:59 pm#4 — TMM
All I could find was an article with a few details, no actual text of the deal.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/05/11/national/w084418D83.DTL&type=politics
June 6th, 2007 at 10:01 pmOoopsy!
June 6th, 2007 at 10:04 pmWell, CDWF, Zooey, I guess we’ll all find out soon enough.
June 6th, 2007 at 10:11 pmTMM,
I expect so. :-)
June 6th, 2007 at 10:14 pmGoodling is a small fish in the Bush Regime, so go after the big fish.
June 6th, 2007 at 10:20 pmNow, correct me if I’m wrong, but does this line outside the system reveal that they were deliberately keeping a second set of books –to use fraud jargon. That is, there has be some pretense up until now that the RNC emails were meant for “partisan” activity and not as an evasion of the offical records act. However, this lineoutside the system would indicate that they were evading the official records act and were in fact hiding what they were up to because they knew it was wrong.
June 6th, 2007 at 10:23 pmWas it just me, but I thought Goodling said she couldn’t hire anyone, she was just an innocent bystandard?
Is my recollection wrong?
June 6th, 2007 at 10:23 pmhttp://www.politicstv.com/blog/?cat=153
3rd video – Goodling takes the 5th.
We need a lawyer to translate. Not sure what it all means. This memo may expose Goodling as having lied to Congress in which case her immunity is null and void.
June 6th, 2007 at 10:28 pmDrain this swamp and kill all the fish big or small
June 6th, 2007 at 10:30 pmJay, the big fish are caught by catching the small fry. It’s the small fry –such as Scooter Libby– who protect the big fish from nets. However, not every small fry wants to spend 2 1/2 years in jail for the cause. Remember John Dean? He didn’t want to be the fall guy –and he knew they were setting him up to be the fall guy– so he sang. And a young White House lawyer brought down the entire Nixon administration. Or as Ben Franklin said, “For want of a nail the war was lost!”
June 6th, 2007 at 10:30 pmHere is the statute….if anyone is interested…
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/usc_sec_18_00006005—-000-.html
June 6th, 2007 at 10:33 pmThey love those good Christian lawyers in prison.
June 6th, 2007 at 10:35 pmDisbarment. They have disbarred a lawyer once in Maryland for putting a slug in a parking meter. She has done far worse than 25 cents of damage to the administration of justice.
June 6th, 2007 at 10:39 pmThis entire pile of manure is being to stink so bad, it’s making my stomack turn. Ms. Goodling sat there before the house commitee and acted like she did nothing wrong, but that was all an act. She is up to her armpits in manure and she’s trying to come out smelling like a rose. I’m sorry Monica your’re no rose. The cowardly Democrats gave you immunity too quick, they should have asked for a Special Counsel who would have put you where you belong, in jail. You stink and so does that idiot you were trying to protect. Any fool who trys to turn our justice system into a third world system that breaks the law in the name of one person, even a President or party should be jailed for life without parole. Any two bit law school should have taught you that fool. No one should want a system to prosecutes people because of what they believe in or what party they belong to. I’m sure you could have worked for Aldolf Hilter, because his followers change the German laws to reflect this sick thinking and they then said they were just following orders right before they were tried and hung.
June 6th, 2007 at 10:39 pmjustmy2–
I have a similar recollection.
I also recollect remembering that she testified to the effect that she didn’t have any knowledge about how the order of delegation came to be. And here she seems to be directing the process back in January — it took effect in March, I think.
June 6th, 2007 at 10:39 pmdavid & Jay — Mizz Goody is a pilot fish.
June 6th, 2007 at 10:40 pmdavid > that is true, but Goodling appears to be someone who will not sing on exposing the bigger fish in the Bush Regime.
June 6th, 2007 at 10:40 pmRep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) later pressed her on whether she had committed a crime. “I don’t believe that I intended to commit a crime,” she said at first. Then, when he pressed, “I know I crossed the line of civil service rules.” Did that mean she crossed the line of breaking the law, he asked? “I believe I crossed the line, but I didn’t mean to,” she said.
Uh huh.
June 6th, 2007 at 10:41 pmdoes this line outside the system reveal that they were deliberately keeping a second set of books –to use fraud jargon.
I think ‘outside the system’ meant deliberately to hide it from the attention of DAG McNulty, a topic discussed in other emails.
What’s remarkable about this? The blatant power grab. La Goodling knew who ran the DOJ: it was her and Kyle Sampson, while Gonzo presided as absentee landlord.
June 6th, 2007 at 10:45 pmThis woman needs to pay for her crimes. I saw lock her up.
June 6th, 2007 at 11:22 pm#27, yer all over it. Good call.
She’s guilty.
Little fish or no, they all MUST do time in order to honor the system they usurped . . . NO fish shall go unpunished, regardless of the amount of meat on their bones.
Harumph.
June 6th, 2007 at 11:29 pmwhile Gonzo presided as absentee landlord.
Comment by ahem
That’s not true. Gonzo was not an absentee landlord. The use of the word “landlord” implies ownership, and Gonzo didn’t own anything here. He was more like Bush’s handpuppet, which makes me wonder, where was Bush sticking his hand when he wanted to make Gonzo’s lips move?
June 6th, 2007 at 11:34 pmI think you missed another detail…look here:
June 6th, 2007 at 11:38 pmspecific dump page where it specifically states that the cover memo is not to go through ODAG or OASG
One cannot threaten the security of our nation and at the same time expect to defend one’s self using national security as one’s protection. National security extends to all citizens (who are the Nation that is being protected), and is not the property of any individual to be used as a get-out-of-jail-free card. Nail this bastard, and hang him after the water boarding!
June 7th, 2007 at 12:01 am‘Fredo is an Auto-Pen. Does he sign whatever some lowly clerk gives to him? Or does he blindly agree with whatever the flying monkeys pledged to Big Dick and KKKarl say they want him to do? Or does he just stand in front of the WH with his lantern and cap, helping the guests out of their carriages?
Whatever Faustian bargain he made with himself to ride Mr. Bush’s coattails, it wasn’t worth it, and he has aided and abetted seriously damaging the United States.
June 7th, 2007 at 12:05 amI say jail the witch. The sooner the better. Then the rest of the Bush lemmings can follow, along with him.
June 7th, 2007 at 12:09 amFor the latest news, document dumps, email archives, hearing transcripts and other essential materials in the firings of U.S. attorneys, see:
June 7th, 2007 at 12:12 am“The U.S. Attorney Scandal Documents Center.”
Monica’s use immunity requires that she tell the truth. If she lied under oath in her Congressional testimony, she committed perjury for which she could be prosecuted. If she claimed she couldn’t remember, it’s not perjury.
Neither she nor Dowd are stupid; Monica must surely have remembered this unusual episode, which she almost certainly didn’t think of herself. I don’t think a general, “I may have stepped over the line,” quite explains this. So, let’s have little Miss Breck Girl back in the witness chair one more time, shall we. Perhaps her “daddy dearest” squeaks won’t be quite so distracting the second time round.
June 7th, 2007 at 12:17 amOkay, I’ve seen too many people do this, and I can’t take it any more. Just my2 and everyone else who does this: people are innocent bystanders, not bystandards. They are people just standing by, being all innocent and everything. So, there are probably no innocent bystanders in the Bush administration.
June 7th, 2007 at 12:29 amShe’s guilty.
Little fish or no, they all MUST do time in order to honor the system they usurped . . . NO fish shall go unpunished, regardless of the amount of meat on their bones.
Harumph.
Comment by larue
I didn’t get a Harumph out of that guy…
June 7th, 2007 at 12:51 amI don’t see why we should care whether Ms. Goodling ends up in prison. Her testimony, as this stream of comments demonstrates, is very valuable. I say we should forget about her and focus our energy on Gonzales, that swine, the one who smirked and snickered his way through testimony to Congress, lying every time he opened his mouth, which ought to be sewn shut.
June 7th, 2007 at 1:18 amShe is guilty – they are ALL guilty…we know it, they know we know it and here we sit. Where is the IMPEACHMENT? What has happened to the Dems? You would think they have succumbed to bodily threats made against them.
June 7th, 2007 at 1:51 amCue the tears…
She’s come undone
She found a mountain that was far too high
And when she found out she couldn’t fly
It was too late
It’s too late
June 7th, 2007 at 2:05 amShe’s gone too far
She’s lost the sun
She’s come undone
Waxman wanted truth but all she gave was lies
Came the time to realize
And it was too late
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/02/20010222-7.html
President Bush’s 1st Press Conference (02/22/2001) –
THE PRESIDENT: David, I — as far as this White House is concerned, it’s time to go forward. I have too much to do to get a budget passed, to get reforms passed for education, to get a tax cut passed, to strengthen the military, than to be worrying about decisions that my predecessor made.
I understand there’s going to be some people on Capitol Hill that are going to be asking questions. That’s their right to do so. But I can assure you our White House is moving forward. And to the extent the Justice Department looks into this matter, it will be done in a non-political way. During John Ashcroft’s confirmation process, I said that the Justice Department will conduct its business in a non-political way, and we will do so.
June 7th, 2007 at 2:28 amThe memo suggested “a broad effort was under way by the White House to place politically and ideologically loyal appointees throughout the Justice Department
…and the purpose of this was to make it so that the GOP would have a lock on every election, from now on. This was a conspiracy to use the tools of government to shape our system into a one party system that mirrors every aspect of classical fascism. This attempt is still going on, in spite of some exposure in the Justice Department and will require a thourough cleaning of every level and department of the government in order to clear out the idealogue moles and sleepers. Everyone involved in this coup ought to be rounded up and sent to Gitmo, there to receive “interrogation” that stops just short of permanent organ damage.
June 7th, 2007 at 4:18 am“The cowardly Democrats gave you immunity too quick, they should have asked for a Special Counsel who would have put you where you belong, in jail.” –The Unknown Democrat
You’re utterly wrong. Goodling’s testimony was needed NOW to help move this along as it is going. She will still end up in jail, but going to a special prosecutor means another 2 year grand jury cycle — and that would run out the clock.
I’m AMAZED at how the SUCCESS of Democratic investigations is immediately turned into a turd by so-called democrats who don’t understand the value of limited immunity testimony.
June 7th, 2007 at 4:19 amWe have plenty of info and knowledge about the LIES of our
Attorney General. BushCo WILL sacrifice Ms. Goodling if it buys them time to take the focus off of the criminals at the top of the organization.
Come on Dems, you all can impeach Gonzo fairly fast (if done properly) and ALSO ensure Ms. Goodling gets the treatment she deserves. Lock both of ‘em up and FAST. Then move on to the next. Do it, and do it now!
My God, so many criminals and so little time.
June 7th, 2007 at 6:56 amAND EXACTLY HOW MUCH OF THIS OF THIS APPARENT CRONY CORRUPTION in the GOP IS THE MSM COVERING? I picked up a xopy of the L.A. Times only to find a distorted story about Democratic liberal voter registration groups committing voter fraud…They NEVER seem to cover the GOP’s caging lists and voter suppression cases.
June 7th, 2007 at 7:47 amThe MSM is NOT going to give this story the coverage it requires. They are going to emphasize lesser Democratic hypocrisy and wrongdoing from now until election time.
Welcome to totalitarianism, capitalist style.
BTW, the Times also ran a full story on Bernstein’s new hit piece on Hillary Clinton, and conflated Clinton with Nixon and Watergate! Absolutely stunning!
If the AG wants to delegate this within his office staff, he may do so and should do it by position (or, can be by person specific).
Gotta love the way these guys do stuff. The public statement is “We do everything by the book”; the private one is “The book says whatever we want to do is great! Signing statements! Outside channels! Whatever! It’s all good–woo hoo!”
Or in this case, “This power should only be delegated to a position, not a person. Unless you want to delegate it to, um, well, a person. That would be fine too!”
June 7th, 2007 at 8:08 amPurgegate: More Bush/Rove Soviet Style Thuggery
.
Bush/Rove/Cheney/Gonzalez Commissariat
Political appointees oversee science (FDA & global warming) in this administration.
Political appointees botch, bungle and butcher Iraq reconstruction and Katrina relief.
Political appointees are sent into the CIA executive suite for a political cleansing mission.
Political appointees set up a propaganda office in the DOD to deliberately and maliciously mislead the nation into war while refusing to plan for known obstacles ultimately leading to thousand of troop’ deaths and injuries.
The hue and cry over Purgegate is that the Justice Department has traditionally been significantly and honorably immune to rank political interference. Not under our presently governing thugs.
Despoiling democracy and honor while emulating a Soviet/Communist Commissariat model government is the operational and ethical basis of Gonzalez and his handlers.
Good news. If politicizing the Justice Department finally brings out the backbones of our legislators, Republican and Democratic alike, shout hosannas. Citizens of the entire planet sincerely want the America that strives for honor, honesty and equal treatment under the law to reappear.
blog cognitorex
Labels: Bush, Cheney, commissariat, communism, gonzales, Published Letters, Purgegate, soviet
June 7th, 2007 at 8:12 amGawd…when is Congress going to actually do something about these crooks? I am so tired of them “asking” for information. I don’t think they have even subpoenaed anyone. And what about all those missing e-mails? The minute they heard about the missing e-mails on the RNC servers, they should have immediately taken possession of the servers as possible evidence of a crime. But no….they hemmed and hawed and gave the RNC the time it needed to cover up their crime.
At first I was thrilled when the Democrats took power, but now I just want to cry half the time.
June 7th, 2007 at 9:32 amThe entire administration, from the Justice Department, the GAO and who knows what other agency or governmental body is just “eat up with the cancer” of cynical Republican manipulation.
With each player in charge of a single bit of abhorent, unethical behavor no one can pin a prosecutable crime on anyone while the sum of all their efforts builds to a stinking pile of favoritism, stacked juries, unjustified prosecutions and deep systemic disfunction. I honestly don’t know how the various oversight committees can weave the Republicans’ individual behaviors into a comprehensive narrative of criminality the public can understand and prosecutors can pursue.
God help the Republic.
June 7th, 2007 at 9:58 amYou people amaze me. Don’t bother to think what this all means. Don’t bother to think what anything means. Just declare the outcome you want and have at it. Childish. Grow up! You are going to be very surprised if you don’t entertain something else could be going on. The more ‘nutsoid’ you get in these articles, the more it is gonna look like egg all over your face.
June 7th, 2007 at 10:15 amInterested party your comments make no sense in the context of the article or the previous comments. Perhaps you should come up with a coherent thought before you hit POST.
June 7th, 2007 at 10:19 amRep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) later pressed her on whether she had committed a crime. “I don’t believe that I intended to commit a crime,†she said at first. Then, when he pressed, “I know I crossed the line of civil service rules.†Did that mean she crossed the line of breaking the law, he asked? “I believe I crossed the line, but I didn’t mean to,†she said.
Uh huh
-Gee, officer, I know I was going 120 in a 35 mph zone, but I didn’t mean to.
June 7th, 2007 at 10:39 amHate to say it, but this proves nothing. Outside the system could just as easily mean (and given the context, probably does mean) “outside normal bureaucratic channels.” Given that the chain discusses layers of review, this is nowhere near enough to violate her immunity deal. If, however, she had personal (e.g., RNC) emails of all this, that would be a completely different story. But based just on this, it’s the exact same thing that the wingers do.
June 7th, 2007 at 11:56 amWhy are people worrying about prosecuting and convicting the small fry. A fish rots from the head down. I want convictions of the mob bosses, not just the henchmen.
June 7th, 2007 at 12:14 pmOK, Fine. Let’s use Cheney/Bush standards: screw Impeachment, forget Due Process. Toss Cheney and Bush in maximum security solitary confinement, in straightjackets, and shred the keys NOW.
June 7th, 2007 at 12:24 pmThe judge will have to withdraw the immunity deal now.
June 7th, 2007 at 12:30 pmboobs vs bush
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x26idl_wild-war-protest
June 7th, 2007 at 12:56 pmTime to bring-in an independent prosecutor. We have enough of a trail to show that some form of obstruction was committed, as well as violation of the Records Act. There is enough blood in the water.
June 7th, 2007 at 12:58 pmShe, like the rest of the Bush administration, is a traitor. Bottom line.
She put party before loyalty to the United States. I don’t care how many Republican Conservatives line up to make mooney eyes are her because she’s pretty. She’s just as much a damned criminal traitor as Scooter Libby.
June 7th, 2007 at 1:17 pmLike FOX Noise correspondent Col. Oliver North even if Monica Goodling sould be convicted her case would be appealed to a Bush appointed or other Republican judge who would overturn it on the grounds of her immunity.
June 7th, 2007 at 1:28 pmhttp://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/docs/doc-dump-2/?resultpage=1&
These documents are in succession, and CLEARLY show that Monica Goodling and Kyle Sampson were given the authority to HIRE and FIRE
ANYONE, based on their standards of “Bushies”, such as religious, etc.
This is CLEARLY a violation of the Hatch Act.
The fact that Monica wanted the email done OUTSIDE the LEGAL CHANNELS shows that they KNEW that it was ILLEGAL…
June 7th, 2007 at 1:43 pmAs an onlooker to what has been happening in this country since the advent of Reagan, it is hardly surprising that we now find ourselves in the gutter, wallowing in the sh#@. Deceit is killing us. We are unable to take a good look at ourselves and own up to our shortcomings. Instead we cast stones at our neighbors, and spread falsehood far and wide. The advent of this prating criminal occupying the WH, a person too shallow to have so much power, should scare the living daylights out of every thinking human living on the planet. I believe this ghoul is ready to destroy the planet, aided by the likes of fellow suicidel minded such as little Monica the liar. As for the veep, he couldn’t care less. He senses his mortality and it really doesn’t matter to him if the country prospers or becomes totally devastated by events they’ve started. Personally my enthusiasm for this country has been dampened somewhat by this one party regime running things. As a prior Dem voter I have been sickened by the so-called leadership to the extent that I might not bother the next time those scallywags asks for my vote. There apparently is nothing that we can, as the little people, do to change the course of events in the USA. I think the crazy man at the helm, the commander guy, and the decider, has the goods on the opposition and a threat is all it takes to have his way with them.
June 7th, 2007 at 2:34 pmLooks like another Monica will help bring down the white house.
June 7th, 2007 at 2:40 pmI remember waaaaay back in ‘99:
June 7th, 2007 at 3:16 pm“I’m a UNITER, not a DIVIDER”.
So setting up the branches of the federal gov’t to favor Neo-Con philosophy for years to come is uniting?
Yes. It is uniting the nation under borderline fascism against its will. GWB is true to his words. We just didn’t ask “Uniter of what?!?” We assumed he was speaking of bipartisanship.
I am so beyond being disgusted with these lying criminals. Disbar Ms. Goodling, and send her to jail, where most of the Rethugs belong these days.
June 7th, 2007 at 4:25 pm“outside the system” means just what it says.
June 7th, 2007 at 6:06 pmThis wasn’t one deal, it was a scam to avoid getting caught.
Now, Conyers has to find out where all of this evidence ended up.
Obviously, Monica got some mail “outside the system.”
Where is it?
We need to send Monica up the river where her emails used to go. These people have no ethics or morals. And she calls herself a “christian”. HA HA HA
June 7th, 2007 at 7:35 pmIn what state is Monica a member of the bar. Did she pass the bar somewhere or does she simply hold a JD. Can anyone answer? You have to pass the bar to obtain a Law license and practice. I have a bud that holds a JD and can’t pass the bar even here in Ky. He’s working as a paralegal. Point being, here is a woman who hasn’t a clue about courtroom procedures etc…and she is hiring and firing people at DOJ. Pathetic.
June 8th, 2007 at 8:00 am