Monica weeps for herself, screw the others

No steel magnolia she, Monica Goodling is said to have broken into sobs over the impending loss of her career, according to career DOJ attorney David Margolis. This was in 'private' testimony to House and Senate investigators on March 8, which is just being leaked.

As she prepares to face interrogation now that immunity has been offered, her attorney suggests that the DOJ cannot block her.

[Doggie Diamond**: Margolis says he was stunned to learn of the depth of the White House involvement in the attorney firings -- especially since he had prepared his boss, Deputy AG Paul McNulty, for testimony which now turns out to be incomplete and misleading.]

Meanwhile, AG Alberto Gonzales has yet to answer for the secret delegation of hiring and firing authority to Goodling, a relative nouveaux, and a political and not career appointee. This politicization of the hiring process went against prior practice.

Is there a case for OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE in the attorney firings?

Michael Elston, chief of staff to DAG McNulty told Congressional investigators on March 30 -- in testimony just coming to public view -- that McNulty had ordered him to call four of the fired attorneys.

Three of them have testified and given statements to the media that they felt 'threatened' and that a 'quid pro quo' was being offered: Their silence in exchange for Gonzales not 'trashing' their reputations.'

Some in Congress are now questioning whether there was obstruction of justice in the attempts to stifle public discussion of the firings.

But wait, there's more!!!

You may recall that a proposed investigation into the highly contentious domestic surveillance program devised by Gonzales when he was Bush's counsel and implemented by him as Attorney General was headed off at the pass when Bush refused security clearances to the attorneys assigned to pursue the matter.

Now questions arise as to whether Gonzales, who spoke with Bush about the matter, asked for the favor -- or whether Bush took the action as a favor to his pal the AG.

Would that be a 'high crime and misdemeanor'?

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Read on --

• Bloomberg News: "Goodling Shed Tears Before Revelations About Firings"
  
  
• National Journal:
• "Justice Official Says He Was Directed To Call Fired Prosecutors"
  
• "Secret Order By Gonzales Delegated Extraordinary Powers To Aides"
• "Aborted Domestic Surveillance Probe Probably Would Have Targeted Gonzales"

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**Doggie Diamonds: A friend who grew up in Pennsylvania's anthracite coal fields once told me that her family gathered 'doggie diamonds' -- dried dog droppings -- during the Great Depression of the 1930s. These were sold in bulk to agents of the Armstrong Cork Company, which used them in manufacturing linoleum. A case of little things, which might be thought to have no value whatsoever, contributing to larger things whose value is self-evident.

-- Dan Damon

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