This just in, from today's release of the Department of Justice Inspector General/Office of Personal Responsibility Report on “An Investigation of Allegations of Politicized Hiring by Monica Goodling and Other Staff in the Office of the Attorney General.” The report concludes that, among other things, Goodling discriminated against an assistant US Attorney on the basis of her sexual orientation. Click the photo, left, to read the conclusion of the Dept of Justice Inspector General report pertaining to this matter. More on the report generally from Chairman Conyers.
UPDATE: The hearing is live on C-SPAN3 and there's a live webcast on the House Judiciary Committee site (that I can't get on my MacBook).
The most (in)famous graduate of Pat Robertson's law school will testify before the House Judiciary Committee today at 10:15 a.m.:
After taking the Fifth Amendment to avoid detailing her role in the Justice Department ouster of eight U.S. attorneys, Monica Goodling finally appears ready to talk.
Goodling, who resigned last month as the department's White House liaison, is set to testify Wednesday about the firings that have resulted in lawmakers' demands for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' own resignation.
Her appearance before the House Judiciary Committee is part of Congress' investigation into whether last year's firings were politically motivated.
What do they teach the law school students at Pat Robertson's law school? Looks like the Robertson's most notorious graduate, Monica Goodling, had free rein to undermine the justice and the rule of law at the Department of Justice:
Two years ago, Robin C. Ashton, a seasoned criminal prosecutor at the Department of Justice, learned from her boss that a promised promotion was no longer hers.
“You have a Monica problem,” Ms. Ashton was told, according to several Justice Department officials. Referring to Monica M. Goodling, a 31-year-old, relatively inexperienced lawyer who had only recently arrived in the office, the boss added, “She believes you’re a Democrat and doesn’t feel you can be trusted.”
Ms. Ashton’s ouster — she left the Executive Office for United States Attorneys for another Justice Department post two weeks later — was a critical early step in a plan that would later culminate in the ouster of nine United States attorneys last year.
Ms. Goodling would soon be quizzing applicants for civil service jobs at Justice Department headquarters with questions that several United States attorneys said were inappropriate, like who was their favorite president and Supreme Court justice. One department official said an applicant was even asked, “Have you ever cheated on your wife?”
Ms. Goodling also moved to block the hiring of prosecutors with résumés that suggested they might be Democrats, even though they were seeking posts that were supposed to be nonpartisan, two department officials said.
In "The Fix" today, Chris Cilizza highlights Mitt Romney's "inner circle" including one, Barbara Comstock:
Barbara Comstock: Comstock is a household name inside the Beltway as a former head of the Justice Department's Office of Public Affairs and research director at the Republican National Committee. Comstock rose to prominence as a master of the art of opposition research; in a 2001 profile of Comstock, Post reporter John Mintz wrote that Comstock had "done more than any other GOP operative to skewer Bill Clinton, Al Gore and their congressional allies."
Ms. Comstock's was the boss and mentor to Monica "Fifth Amendment" Goodling, we learned from "The Next Hurrah" (thanks to Atrios):
" 2002 ... 2002 ... What happened in 2002? Well, for starters, that's when Monica Goodling came over to DOJ with Barbara Comstock:
Goodling quickly won Comstock’s trust for her hard work and talent for digging up information on tort litigation and judicial nominations. And when Griffin left in 2001, Goodling became Comstock’s deputy. They helped prepare Ashcroft and Theodore Olson for their confirmation hearings to be attorney general and solicitor general, respectively.
When Comstock became Ashcroft’s spokeswoman in 2002, she brought Goodling along as her deputy. Goodling stayed for three years. In no time, Goodling became “indispensable” to the office, says Corallo, who became Ashcroft’s spokesman in 2003. “I have never known anybody that works harder or does better work than her.”
What does Mitt Romney's top adviser, Barbara Comstock, know about the U.S. Attorneys firings? And, what did Comstock do to politicize the Department of Justice? Maybe Mitt should explain how he'll run the DOJ.
