Senate Democrats indicated Tuesday they intend to challenge the stated intention of Monica Gooding, a top aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to take the fifth rather than testify about the events leading up to the firing of eight U. S. attorneys.
Some of those commenting on this blog have said Ms. Gooding is absolutely right to take the Fifth to keep from being charged, as Scooter Libby was, with lying under oath or some similar crime.
I wonder if the idea of having Ms. Gooding tell the truth has ever been considered.
One of the eight attorneys fired was Bud Cummins of Arkansas, whose office was in the middle of an investigation into the awarding of lucrative license fee offices by Governor Matt Blunt's administration when he was told to step down.
2 comments:
Yes, I have considered it and I have stated in the past that if the “truth” is what you are interested in then grant her immunity.
As I read Title 18 U.S.C. § 6002 & 6005, a witness can be compelled to testify before Congress by granting her “use immunity” (which only protects the witness against the government's use of her immunized testimony in prosecution her -- except in a subsequent prosecution for perjury or giving a false statement). So, by doing this Congress can easily force her to testify and still have the possibility of getting her for perjury if she lies.
So, why doesn’t Congress do this? Could it be they are not interested in getting to the “truth” but rather are interested in creating a scandal? BTW, what crime is being investigated?
Probably something along the lines of attempting to subvert the Federal prosecutors into officially becoming an arm of the republican party. Some things should be party neutral. The Federal prosecutor position is one of them. They shouldn't lose their job because either they're
a. refusing to speed up prosecutions of members of the opposing party in order to tilt the election or
b. refusing to stop investigations and possibly prosecutions of members of your own party.
If democrats had engaged in half the stuff Bush has, I would be opposing them too. Fact is, so far they haven't.
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