Bush's Monica Problem

Legal blogger Orin Kerr writes: "The Fifth Amendment privilege is available if the witness has reasonable ground to believe that her testimony will be used against her to prove an element of a crime. What crime might Goodling have committed? I'm also puzzled by the comparison to the Libby case. Libby was prosecuted and convicted because he lied under oath, not because he admitted to criminal activity. Is Goodling taking the Fifth because if she testifies under oath she would lie and face perjury charges rather than tell the truth? If so, that's not a valid basis for the privilege. . . .

"[T]he Fifth Amendment issue is whether a person has substantial reason to fear that their truthful testimony will help lead to them being prosecuted. Goodling's letter doesn't give a legally valid reason for that fear, at least as far as I can tell."

Opinion Watch

The New York Times editorial board writes: "The news that Monica Goodling, counsel to the attorney general and liaison to the White House, is invoking her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination takes the United States attorney scandal to a new level. . . .

"As the liaison between the White House and the Justice Department, Ms. Goodling seems to have been squarely in the middle of what appears to have been improper directions from the White House to politicize the hiring and firing of United States attorneys. Mr. Gonzales has insisted the eight prosecutors were let go for poor performance, and that the dismissals are an 'overblown personnel matter.' But Ms. Goodling's decision to exercise her Fifth Amendment rights suggests that she, at least, believes crimes may have been committed."

Gonzales Watch

Richard B. Schmitt writes in the Los Angeles Times: "Saying he wanted to be 'more precise' about what he had done, Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales acknowledged Monday that he had a role in approving an aide's recommendation to dismiss several U.S. attorneys last year, but he denied that he was involved in the process of identifying which individual prosecutors should be replaced.

"Gonzales' remarks, in an interview with NBC News, were his first seeking to reconcile his public statements about his involvement in the firings with internal e-mails released by the Justice Department on Friday."

Here is the video and transcript of the entire interview, conducted by a deeply solicitous Pete Williams (first question: "Mr. Attorney General, what is it that you would like people to know about this controversy?")

Gonzales tap-dances around all the central issues, insisting that he's got nothing to hide -- at least as far as he recalls.

In fact, the attorney general would have you believe that he was not involved in any discussions of why the attorneys were fired -- but nevertheless is completely confident that he decided to fire them for legitimate reasons. Why the confidence? Because there's no way he would ever have done so for inappropriate reasons -- and so far, he is eager to point out, there's no documentary evidence definitely proving the contrary.

At the same time, Gonzales left wiggle room all over the place.

"I wasn't involved in the deliberations as to whether or not a particular United States Attorney should or should not be asked to resign," he said, then quickly added: "I don't recall being involved."

And he set the stage for some possible future finger-pointing at his staff: "If I find out that, in fact, any of these decisions were motivated, the recommendations to me were motivated for improper reasons to interfere with the public corruption case, there will be swift and -- there will be swift and decisive action. I can assure you that."