politburo diktat 2.0

Think Progress » Goodling granted immunity.

The House Judiciary Committee voted moments ago to grant immunity to Monica Goodling — former counsel to Alberto Gonzales and the Justice Department’s liaison to the White House — and issue a subpoena compelling her to testify. Yesterday, fired U.S. Attorney David Iglesias said he believes that Goodling holds the “keys to the kingdom” in terms of uncovering the roots of the U.S. Attorney purge:

I think Monica Goodling is holding the keys to the kingdom. I think if they get her to testify under oath with a transcript, and have her describe the process between the information flow between the White House counsel, White House and the Justice Department, I believe the picture becomes a lot clearer.

I infer from this that Monica has made a deal. As I’ve written before, anyone can be given immunity and compelled to testify; if you can’t be incriminated, the Fifth Amendment does not apply. That being said, an uncooperative witness who “does not recall,” and “to the best of her recollection” chooses not to say much would not be of much use. Thus immunity is normally granted as part of a deal; the witness has agreed to be forthcoming. In an ordinary situation of prosecutor and defendant/witness, we could confidently expect this dynamic to apply. It still probably applies here, but with some less certainty. In such high profile and very public case before Congress, it’s conceivable that the Democrats on the Committee might have wanted to force their GOP colleagues to vote on such a matter, or, even absent a deal, they might want Goodling to take the stand, merely to showcase her evasions and allegedly poor memory.

But I’m hopeful that we will get some of the real facts from Ms. Goodling.

Update: from TPMmuckraker

It is likely to be weeks before the committee actually gets to interview Goodling. That’s because the law requires that the Justice Department be allowed an opportunity to provide its views on immunity — i.e. whether it might interfere with an existing or possible investigation. If the DoJ objects to giving Goodling immunity, then the committee would be forced to consider whether to defer or delay conferring immunity. And regardless of what the DoJ says, the local federal court has to approve giving Goodling immunity. All this is likely to take several weeks.

So … I am hopeful that we will get some real facts … eventually.