House Grants Goodling Immunity
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
WASHINGTON (AP) – A House committee voted Wednesday to grant immunity to Monica Goodling, a key aide to Attorney General Gonzales during the firings of eight U.S. attorneys. She had refused to testify, invoking her Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.
The 32-6 vote by the House Judiciary Committee surpassed the 2/3 majority required to grant a witness immunity from prosecution. A separate vote to authorize a Ms. subpoena for Goodling passed by voice vote.
Democrats said the votes were necessary tools to force into the open the story of why the prosecutors were fired and whether they were singled out to influence corruption cases.
The votes instruct a House lawyer to seek an immunity grant from a federal court. The grant would not take effect unless Chairman Representative John Conyers, Democrat of Michigan, chooses to issue Ms. Goodling a subpoena compelling her to testify, Mr. Conyers said.
Ms. Goodling and her lawyer have invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, saying they believe Democrats have set a perjury trap for her. Mr. Conyers said Wednesday he hopes Ms. Goodling changes her mind and voluntarily tells the committee her story.
“I do not propose this step lightly,” Mr. Conyers told the panel. “If we learn something new in the course of our investigation … we can always stop the process s before the court issues an order.”
