Goodling admits ‘crossing line’ on hirings

Goodling admits ‘crossing line’ on hirings
By Edward Luce in Washington and Brooke Masters in New York
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Published: May 23 2007 19:29 | Last updated: May 24 2007 04:31


Monica Goodling, a former Justice department official, said on Wednesday that she “crossed the line” in using political criteria to help decide who should be hired as career federal prosecutors.

Ms Goodling’s testimony to the House of Representatives judiciary committee is also likely to create new problems for Alberto Gon z ales, the attorney-general, and Paul McNulty, his outgoing deputy, who are under fire for the sacking of at least eight US attorneys.

Ms Goodling told Congress that Mr Gonzales was “inaccurate” and Mr McNulty “not fully candid” in testimony to Congress on the removals. The former White House liaison officer for the Justice department, who was testifying under partial immunity from self-incrimination, also said Mr Gonzales had made her “uncomfortable” in March by asking her to give him her recollections of how the firings occurred.

“I did not know if it was appropriate for us to both be discussing our recollections of what had happened, and I just thought maybe we shouldn’t have that conversation,” she said.

During her day-long appearance at the committee, Ms Goodling minimised her input in the firing process and claimed to have little memory of the roles played by Karl Rove, President George W. Bush’s chief political strategist, and Harriet Miers, the former White House counsel.

Ms Goodling said she had “no knowledge” of why particular prosecutors were targeted for removal, even though Justice department e-mails show she was involved at many stages in helping Kyle Sampson, then Mr Gonzales’s chief of staff, draw up the various lists.

“I never had a conversation with Karl Rove or Harriet Miers while I served at the department,” said Ms Goodling, who resigned in March. “I never recommended to them that a specific US attorney be added to or removed from Mr Sampson’s list, and I do not recall that they ever communicated any such recommendation to me.”

Leading Democrats allege the Bush White House ordered the firing of the attorneys because they were either too zealous in prosecuting political corruption involving Republicans or insufficiently enthusiastic about voter-fraud cases that would have benefited the party.

Ms Goodling, a law graduate of Regent University, a leading conservative Christian institution, gave more detailed answers on her role in screening applicants for lower-level Justice department positions, which are by law supposed to be non-partisan civil service jobs.

Ms Goodling’s testimony comes in advance of an expected Senate vote of no confidence in Mr Gonzales this week.