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House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) wants more information than Monica Goodling, a former senior aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, is willing to provide when she testifies before Conyers’s panel Wednesday. John Dowd, Goodling’s attorney, said his client refuses to hand over unredacted documents related to the firings of U.S. attorneys last year because they are official Department of Justice (DoJ) documents and she does not have the department’s permission to do so. That response was not sufficient for Conyers, who demanded in a follow-up letter that Goodling, who has resigned in the wake of the U.S. attorney scandal, comply fully with the committee’s subpoena. Dowd wrote Conyers to let him know that Goodling will only provide CDs that the department has given her. He cited federal law that limits the ability of government employees and former employees to hand over official documents in response to subpoenas. “Accordingly, to the extent the Committee wishes to take issue with the limited production Ms. Goodling intends to make on Wednesday, we respectfully request that the Committee address its concerns, if any, to the Department of Justice,” Dowd wrote. “Ms. Goodling will of course produce any records that the Department of Justice authorizes her to produce.” In his response, Conyers disagreed with Dowd’s assessment, arguing that those protections apply only to information asked for in connection to a state or federal court proceeding and “by their own terms would not apply to the production of material to a Congressional committee conducting an authorized oversight investigation.” Conyers also took issue with Dowd’s contention that federal law prevents former officials from handing over government documents, arguing that it only applies to current employees. He also argued that the House subpoena power should trump any internal agency regulations. “We are aware of no authority that permits an internal Department administrative regulation to allow a former employee of the Department of Justice, or any other person, to avoid the subpoena power of the House of Representatives,” Conyers wrote. In closing, Conyers called on Dowd and Goodling to reconsider her “stated intention not to comply with this Committee’s subpoena.” The House Judiciary Committee previously negotiated an immunity deal with Goodling that would allow her to testify and prevent any legal recourse for information provided during that testimony. |
