Justice Dept. consents to immunity for Goodling's testimony before Congress
 The Department of Justice on Monday consented to the House Judiciary Committee's plan to grant immunity to former White House Liaison Monica Goodling. The move cleared the major hurdle to Goodling's testimony before the committee on her role in the firing of 8 US Attorneys.
"Today the Department of Justice gave notice that it would not object to the House Judiciary Committee's grant of use immunity for Monica Goodling. I believe obtaining her testimony will be a critical step in our efforts to get to the truth about the circumstances surrounding the US Attorney firings and possible politicization in the Department's prosecutorial function," Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) said in a statement e-mailed to RAW STORY.
Rep. Conyers added that the committee would be quickly seeking a court order to make it possible to schedule a hearing with the former top aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
Goodling was first named in March as a likely target of the Congressional investigation. Before she resigned from her post as White House Liaison, her lawyer said that she would invoke her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. The Judiciary Committee had offered her partial immunity as protection, but the Justice Department reportedly worried that the immunity grant could disrupt its internal investigation.
However, in a letter to Conyers, Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine and Office of Professional Responsibility Counsel H. Marshall Jarret, who are both investigating Goodling's actions, said that "after balancing the significant congressional and public interest against the impact of the Committee's actions on our ongoing investigation, we will not raise an objection or seek a deferral," as is permitted under the immunity statute which the Judiciary Committee has invoked.
In related news, on Monday Newsweek offered details on why Goodling is being investigated internally by the Justice Department.
"Two government officials (not ID'd when talking about an ongoing probe) told NEWSWEEK the inquiry began after Jeff Taylor, the interim U.S. attorney in D.C., complained that Goodling tried to block the hiring of a prosecutor in his office for being a 'liberal Democratic type,' wrote Michael Isikoff in the May 14 edition of the magazine.
He added that when she learned that Justice Department e-mails showed her role in firing the US Attorneys, "Goodling went to see veteran DOJ official David Margolis and 'bawled her eyes out,' saying, 'All I ever wanted to do was serve this president,' and 'everything is unraveling,' according to Margolis's confidential testimony to congressional investigators."
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