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Allegations of McCarthyism in U.S. Atty Probe
Yesterday we told you how the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to a key figure in the congressional investigation into whether politics improperly played a role in the firing of eight U.S. attorneys.
Today, the attorney for Monica Goodling, the Justice Department’s liaison with the White House, accused Congress of playing the McCarthy card by pressuring her to publicly testify after she has already asserted her Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate herself.
“Contrary to what your April 3 letter suggests, Ms. Goodling’s exercise of her Fifth Amendment rights can in no way be interpreted to suggest that Ms. Goodling participated in any criminal activity,” wrote John M. Dowd in a letter to House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., and Rep. Linda Sanchez, head of the subcommittee leading the House inquiry.
Comments by Conyers, Sanchez and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy are “unfortunately reminiscent of Senator Joseph McCarthy,” Dowd said.
Dowd said his client should in no way be misunderstood as one of the “Fifth Amendment Communists” for declining to be interrogated on Capitol Hill. It is her right, Dowd said.
Goodling, who is on leave from the department, has been asked by the House committee to answer questions about why eight top prosecutors were fired last year.
While it is the president’s right to fire U.S. attorneys at will, six of the eight were conducting political corruption investigations. Lawmakers question whether they were fired to end the inquiry.
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