Jeffrey Lord offers a bit of insight into why Monica Goodling recently decided to take the fifth rather than testify in the matter of the eight U.S. attorneys who were let go. Lord was on hand in February of 2002 for the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings for Bush Third Circuit judicial nominee D. Brooks Smith. At that time Smith was Chief Judge of the Western District of Pennsylvania, having been appointed by Ronald Reagan fourteen years earlier, and Ms. Goodling was assigned by the Department of Justice to work on Judge Smith's nomination. Then, as now, the Democratically controlled Senate committee was on the lookout for political ammunition.
Misleading a Witness and Obstruction of Justice: A liberal Pennsylvania doctor, a longtime friend of Smith's, took it upon himself to praise Smith in an e-mail to fervid Smith opponents at the left-wing interest group the National Organization for Women (NOW). To his amazement the Smith supporter was shortly on the receiving end of a phone call from a woman identifying herself as an investigator for Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy. Immediately she told an untruth: that Leahy was looking for "additional grounds to support Judge Smith." The problem? Unbeknownst to the doctor, Leahy had already announced his opposition to Smith. It is a violation of Senate rules, found under a section entitled "Obstruction of Justice," to misrepresent facts to a potential witness. The apparent reason for the call: to falsely represent Leahy's views in the hopes of getting dirt on Judge Smith.
The attempt failed only after a vigorous threat -- including a promise of disbarment proceedings against the investigator -- by a staff member working for Republican Senator Arlen Specter. But launching a Senate investigator on a private citizen -- and then lying to that witness -- as the result of an e-mail to a special interest group was not the only sign of corruption at Leahy's Judiciary Committee...
Also on the day of the Committee vote, Washington Times reporter Audrey Hudson reached out for a press release being handed to her by a conservative in the crowd. A linebacker-sized Leahy aide grabbed Ms. Hudson by the wrist, wrenching it behind her back so hard she was literally doubled-over. Twisting her arm he demanded she give him the release she was clutching, forcing her into the corridor where the incident was spotted by a Capitol police officer. Ms. Hudson reported the incident to her bureau chief. The bureau chief promptly called Leahy's press secretary -- who denied the incident ever happened. The Director of the Senate Press Gallery would later ask if she wanted to file charges of assault. A reporter to the core, she declined.
SO LET'S SAY YOU'RE Monica Goodling, what would you do?
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