Goodling to Sampson: Have DOJ pick Griffin for political position, then detail him in as an interim.

[seafan]

Filling in more details on the fresh and perky Ms. Goodling, with particular regard to Tim Griffin:

.....

As White House liaison, Goodling was part of a small cadre of senior Justice officials responsible for vetting U.S. Attorneys, a position that became far more significant after the 2006 reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act, which gave Justice authority to install interim U.S. Attorneys without congressional approval. She played a central role in the appointment of her one-time boss J. Timothy Griffin, who replaced ousted U.S. Attorney H.E. "Bud" Cummins III in Arkansas. Beyond that, she wielded significant power in determining which U.S. Attorneys would go -- or stay.

.....

Her tenure at Justice, which began in 2002 in its press operations under then-Attorney General John Ashcroft, tracked what some have seen as a growing politicization of the department, from the purge of career attorneys in the Civil Rights Division to the appointment of young party loyalists, often with little or no prosecutorial experience, to Justice's top levels. ..... But talk to current and former U.S. Attorneys about political appointments, and Goodling's name is often front and center. One former U.S. Attorney, asked several weeks ago for his reaction to the then-breaking scandal, said Goodling was the first name that came to his mind.
"I know from the way she interacted with my district. I sense her hand all over what we're seeing right now," he said at the time. "She's gotten way out ahead of her office, and now they're having to deal with the consequences."

.....

In spring 2005, Goodling returned to Main Justice, this time in the Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys, where she worked for Mary Beth Buchanan, the U.S. Attorney in Pittsburgh, who knew Goodling from her days in the press shop.
A few months later, she moved into Gonzales' office as a senior counsel and soon took on the responsibilities of White House liaison. In that post, Goodling served as the gatekeeper for the White House for all 400-some political appointees in the Justice Department, from U.S. Attorneys and marshals to secretaries.

Interviews for U.S. Attorney replacements took place with only a handful of people: David Margolis, the department's top-ranking career official and a 40-plus year veteran; a member of the White House Counsel's Office; the head of the Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys; and Goodling.

.....

These interviews took on new meaning after the renewal of the Patriot Act; Goodling was one of the first to push the attorney general's new authority to choose replacements, and she pushed particularly hard for Griffin.
Griffin was slated to take over the slot in Arkansas, but by August 2006, the White House had hit trouble with home state Sen. Mark Pryor, D.-Ark. In an Aug. 18 e-mail to Sampson, Goodling proposed a solution: Have Justice pick Griffin for a political position, and then detail him in as an interim.

"Tim knows nothing about my idea for a solution at this point -- wanted your sign-off, and a home for him, before I called him," she wrote in the e-mail. The idea paid off: The Criminal Division agreed to take Griffin on upon his return from his post as a judge advocate general in Iraq in late September.
Goodling continued to work closely to coordinate Griffin's assignment to Arkansas, organizing his formal December interview with Gonzales.

When the ultimate plan for the firing of the other seven U.S. Attorneys went into effect, Goodling rode the point, directing the public-relations team. It was a perfectionism, no doubt, driven by her loyalty to the administration, something she displayed prominently, even in the tag line in her e-mail. It was a quote from President George W. Bush's 2005 Independence Day speech.
Throughout American history, the quote read, "there were many chances to lose our heart, our nerve, or our way. But Americans have always held firm, because we have always believed in certain truths. ... And we know that when the work is hard, the proper response is not retreat; it is courage."

And Ms. Goodling claims she doesn't remember how all those attorneys got on the list....



This is from page 2 of her prepared statement before the House Judiciary Committee 2 days ago:

The Deputy (Mc Nulty) testified that he "(did not) know anything about" allegations that Tim Griffin "caged" black votes in Arkansas during the 2004 presidential election. In fact, I informed the Deputy that this issue could arise on February 5th. To help him prepare to answer the question, I requested and received information on the issue from Tim Griffin and forwarded this information to the Deputy's Chief of Staff that night.

With this statement before the Committee, Goodling opened the door to the caging lists as they involve Tim Griffin and herself. WHY didn't John Conyers follow up on this in his questioning?


Did this go completely over the heads of the rest of the Democrats on that panel?

[Kagemusha]

1. Oh, so Gooding's immunity won't apply to the caging lists in any way now?

Good to know. If something ever comes of it, we'll be glad that no one asked Goodling about it. After all, she testified unsolicited about a bunch of stuff that she hopes she'll have complete immunity for now.

And since it's hard to prove perjury, it's a useful strategy. Even if she appears to have.. stretched the truth some...