Hearing Committee on the Judiciary
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CONTINUING INVESTIGATION INTO THE U.S. AT- TORNEYS CONTROVERSY AND RELATED MAT- TERS (PART I) HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION MAY 23, 2007 Serial No. 110–56 Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://judiciary.house.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 35–603 PDF WASHINGTON : 2008 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate 0ct 09 2002 16:15 Jan 29, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 H:\WORK\FULL\052307\35603.000 HJUD1 PsN: 35603 COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY JOHN CONYERS, JR., Michigan, Chairman HOWARD L. BERMAN, California LAMAR SMITH, Texas RICK BOUCHER, Virginia F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, JR., JERROLD NADLER, New York Wisconsin ROBERT C. SCOTT, Virginia HOWARD COBLE, North Carolina MELVIN L. WATT, North Carolina ELTON GALLEGLY, California ZOE LOFGREN, California BOB GOODLATTE, Virginia SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas STEVE CHABOT, Ohio MAXINE WATERS, California DANIEL E. LUNGREN, California MARTIN T. MEEHAN, Massachusetts CHRIS CANNON, Utah WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts RIC KELLER, Florida ROBERT WEXLER, Florida DARRELL ISSA, California LINDA T. SA´ NCHEZ, California MIKE PENCE, Indiana STEVE COHEN, Tennessee J. RANDY FORBES, Virginia HANK JOHNSON, Georgia STEVE KING, Iowa LUIS V. GUTIERREZ, Illinois TOM FEENEY, Florida BRAD SHERMAN, California TRENT FRANKS, Arizona TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin LOUIE GOHMERT, Texas ANTHONY D. WEINER, New York JIM JORDAN, Ohio ADAM B. SCHIFF, California ARTUR DAVIS, Alabama DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Florida KEITH ELLISON, Minnesota PERRY APELBAUM, Staff Director and Chief Counsel JOSEPH GIBSON, Minority Chief Counsel (II) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 16:15 Jan 29, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 H:\WORK\FULL\052307\35603.000 HJUD1 PsN: 35603 C O N T E N T S MAY 23, 2007 OPENING STATEMENT Page The Honorable John Conyers, Jr., a Representative in Congress from the State of Michigan, and Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary ..................... 1 The Honorable Lamar Smith, a Representative in Congress from the State of Texas, and Ranking Member, Committee on the Judiciary ......................... 3 WITNESSS Ms. Monica M. Goodling, former Senior Counsel to the Attorney General and White House Liaison, U.S. Department of Justice Oral Testimony ..................................................................................................... 7 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 11 LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING Order Immunizing the Testimony of, and Other Information Provided by, Monica Goodling, May 11, 2007 .......................................................................... 6 Article from Newsweek, May 14, 2007, submitted by the Honorable Linda T. Sa´nchez, a Representative in Congress from the State of California, and Member, Committee on the Judiciary ......................................................... 29 Article from The New York Times, May 11, 2007, submitted by the Honorable Linda T. Sa´nchez, a Representative in Congress from the State of Cali- fornia, and Member, Committee on the Judiciary ............................................ 30 Order for the Delegation of Certain Personnel Authorities, Office of the Attor- ney General, March 1, 2006, submitted by the Honorable Chris Cannon, a Representative in Congress from the State of Utah, and Member, Com- mittee on the Judiciary ........................................................................................ 72 APPENDIX MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING RECORD Prepared Statement of the Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee, a Representative in Congress from the State of Texas, and Member, Committee on the Judiciary ............................................................................................................... 114 Questions Submitted for the Record by the Honorable John Conyers, Jr., a Representative in Congress from the State of Michigan, and Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary, and the Honorable Robert C. Scott, a Rep- resentative in Congress from the State of Virginia, and Member, Committee on the Judiciary ................................................................................................... 123 Letter to the Honorable John Conyers, Jr., dated June 28, 2007, from John M. Dowd, Attorney for Monica Goodling regarding Answers to Questions Submitted for the Record .................................................................................... 144 (III) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 16:15 Jan 29, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 H:\WORK\FULL\052307\35603.000 HJUD1 PsN: 35603 VerDate 0ct 09 2002 16:15 Jan 29, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 H:\WORK\FULL\052307\35603.000 HJUD1 PsN: 35603 CONTINUING INVESTIGATION INTO THE U.S. ATTORNEYS CONTROVERSY AND RELATED MATTERS (PART I) WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 2007 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:25 a.m., in Room 2141, Rayburn House Office Building, the Honorable John Conyers, Jr. (Chairman of the Committee) presiding. Present: Representatives Conyers, Berman, Boucher, Nadler, Scott, Watt, Lofgren, Jackson Lee, Waters, Meehan, Delahunt, Wexler, Sa´nchez, Cohen, Johnson, Gutierrez, Sherman, Schiff, Davis, Wasserman Schultz, Ellison, Smith, Sensenbrenner, Coble, Gallegly, Goodlatte, Chabot, Lungren, Cannon, Keller, Issa, Pence, Forbes, King, Feeney, Franks, Gohmert and Jordan. Staff Present: Elliot Mincberg, Chief Oversight Counsel; Sam Sokol, Oversight Counsel; Renata Strause, Staff Assistant; Crystal Jezierski, Minority Oversight Counsel; and Daniel Flores, Minority Counsel. Mr. CONYERS. Will the media move from the room and make sure that they are not interfering with the procedures in any way? I am going to ask the camera people to move away. We have got to have a reasonable appearance of a Judiciary Committee hearing here, and this is unreasonable at this point. Mr. SMITH. Mr. Chairman, I would like to insist that they follow your instructions. Mr. CONYERS. I would further like to ask the members of the press, the cameramen, in particular, to please move away from the table. We don’t want pictures taken while the witness is trying to give testimony, if you don’t mind. And I would appreciate it. Mr. SMITH. Mr. Chairman, I do not believe that the folks with the cameras have been listening to what you have been asking them to do; and I would like to ask that we have regular order and ask that you have them move to the side and not be between us and the table. Mr. CONYERS. Thank you very much, Mr. Smith. The fact of the matter is that we have more cameras than this room can accommodate. So, unfortunately, some of you will have to be excused; and we will have to clear the front of the witness table so that there are no cameras in front of it. (1) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 16:15 Jan 29, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 H:\WORK\FULL\052307\35603.000 HJUD1 PsN: 35603 2 I am sorry, but it is the great number of cameras that require that we invoke this instruction. I regret that very much, but please move away from the witness table. All cameras please move away from the witness table. All cameras. That means everybody with a camera please move away from the witness table. Mr. WATT. Mr. Chairman, would you mind lengthening your in- struction to include people without cameras if they are down in the well? Mr. CONYERS. Yes, Mr. Watt. It includes people without cameras that may be in the well in front of the witness table. Let’s see, do we need a Webster’s dictionary? For everybody in front of the wit- ness table, please remove themselves. This is unusual, but I think it is necessary in fairness to every- body. Good morning, Madam Witness and to the Members of the Com- mittee. Today, the House Judiciary Committee continues its inves- tigation into the controversy surrounding the United States attor- neys and related matters. Our sole witness today is Ms. Monica Goodling, who served as senior counsel to the Attorney General and White House Liaison until she resigned on April 7, 2007. As the Members know, 2 months ago, Ms. Goodling informed us that she would assert her fifth amendment right not to incriminate herself if she was called to testify. As a result of that assertion, this Committee, after careful consideration, authorized by a vote of 32 to 6 a grant of immunity to Ms. Goodling, which we have se- cured from the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The Committee also authorized a subpoena to compel the testi- mony as well as the production of documents. Now these are steps that I did not take lightly but only after con- sultation with the Ranking Member, Lamar Smith, and my col- leagues on both sides of the aisle with the Justice Department. I believe that this is an important and necessary step to help us get to the bottom of the U.S. attorney matter and other concerns regarding possible improper politicalization of the Justice Depart- ment. As the White House Liaison and one of the Attorney Gen- eral’s most trusted advisers, Ms. Goodling may well have informa- tion that will help us in our inquiry. Let me observe that the fact that we are granting