CNN’s John Roberts: Gonzales’ Aide Pleading the Fifth is 'Another Monica Scandal'

Photo of Matthew Balan.

Less than two hours after NBC's Pete Williams made a Freudian slip on Tuesday's "Today" while reporting on Monica Goodling, CNN's John Roberts made a deliberate comparison between the graduate of evangelical Messiah College and the loose young intern who was at the center of the Clinton impeachment scandal, saying, "It's just what Washington needs, isn't it, another Monica scandal."

An excerpt from Roberts' exchange with A.B. Stoddard of The Hill on "American Morning:"

STODDARD: Well, at this point the problem, of course is the cover-up and not the crime. Monica Goodling was the liaison for the White House and the Justice Department. If there was some serious meddling here and the decisions were made for political purposes, she's going to know the most how much the White House was involved. And so, you know, I can see why, if something is up here, she needs to plead the Fifth. But for the purposes of the committee, at this point, it just couldn't -- it couldn't fire them up more. They're going to be looking, of course, to talk to Kyle Sampson, and then, of course, the attorney general later.

But there are so many confusing, conflicting facts about why they came to this decision, it continues to look worse and worse for the Department of Justice."

ROBERTS: It's just what Washington needs, isn't it, another Monica scandal. And as you said, Kyle Sampson, he's testifying on Thursday. He was the chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. He has since resigned in the heat of this whole scandal. He was the one who was in heavy contact with the White House about which attorneys they were thinking of pulling the trigger on. So he's going to be up there testifying and, yet, she's not. So, I mean, the perception game again here is just not looking good.

Roberts' "perception game" was the focus of the entire segment. In his first comment to Stoddard, Roberts quipped that "Maybe she didn't do anything wrong, and people are allowed to take the Fifth, but in a town, and particularly, an issue where perception is nine-tenths of what is going on, it just can't help but look bad."

That was actually an inadvertent admission on the part of Roberts, since it is the perception that Karl Rove, Harriet Miers, and ultimately, the Bush Administration might have fired 8 U.S. attorneys for political reasons that is driving the media's coverage of the issue.

A transcript of the full segment:

ROBERTS: An aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales says she is going to take the Fifth Amendment and refuse to testify about her role in the firings of eight U.S. attorneys. For a look at the potential political fallout, A.B. Stoddard, associate editor of "The Hill" newspaper joins us now from Washington.

Hey, A.B.

A.B. STODDARD, ASSOC. EDITOR, "THE HILL": Hi, John.

ROBERTS: The White House is encouraging Department of Justice employees to cooperate with congressional investigations, and yet here Monica Goodling, who was the DOJ liaison with the White House, is saying I'm taking the Fifth here. Maybe she didn't do anything wrong, and people are allowed to take the Fifth, but in a town, and particularly, an issue where perception is nine-tenths of what's going on, it just can't help but look bad.

STODDARD: I can't think of anything that will charge the engines of Senator Chuck Schumer and chairman Pat Leahy more than this. I mean, we're talking to the top aide to the top law enforcement officer in the nation admitting that she fears legal jeopardy if she tells the truth about her conduct in her job. And I think at this point, you just can't -- the Justice Department itself knew this wouldn't look good. That's why they said they'd have everyone comply fully.

ROBERTS: Yes, I mean, the fact that she is saying she doesn't want to implicate herself in a criminal investigation when there isn't a criminal investigation going on would seem to suggest that that there's a lot more behind the curtain than people have been alluding to.

STODDARD: Well, at this point the problem, of course is the cover-up and not the crime. Monica Goodling was the liaison for the White House and the Justice Department. If there was some serious meddling here and the decisions were made for political purposes, she's going to know the most how much the White House was involved. And so, you know, I can see why, if something is up here, she needs to plead the Fifth. But for the purposes of the committee, at this point, it just couldn't -- it couldn't fire them up more. They're going to be looking, of course, to talk to Kyle Sampson, and then, of course, the attorney general later.

But there are so many confusing, conflicting facts about why they came to this decision, it continues to look worse and worse for the Department of Justice.

ROBERTS: It's just what Washington needs, isn't it, another Monica scandal. And as you said, Kyle Sampson, he's testifying on Thursday. He was the chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. He has since resigned in the heat of this whole scandal. He was the one who was in heavy contact with the White House about which attorneys they were thinking of pulling the trigger on. So he's going to be up there testifying and, yet, she's not. So, I mean, the perception game again here is just not looking good.

STODDARD: And also, just if you take a look at -- this is the perfect probe for the Democrats, John. If you take a look at this. This is not a retroactive fishing expedition about the CIA leak case and a Libby trial. This is not looking at which companies got rich off of reconstruction efforts in Iraq. This is about the integrity of the Justice Department, and the Democrats have sunk their teeth in, and they're not going to let go until they have a bite.

ROBERTS: Hey, just before we go, take a look, quick couple of poll numbers -- Americans by a margin of 3-1 think Congress would be right in subpoenaing officials from the White House to testify under oath.

But take a look at this, as well, the Democrats risk getting dinged by this. Nearly the same number, nearly 60 percent, rather, of Americans believe that the Democrats are doing this all for political advantage, to which any Washington veteran would say, no kidding. But let's say it looks like they have some people on their side, but also a little bit of skepticism as well.

STODDARD: It's a fine line to balance.

ROBERTS: Yes, all right. A.B. Stoddard, associate editor of 'The Hill' newspapers. Thanks for joining us. Appreciate it -- Soledad.

—Matthew Balan is a news analyst at the Media Research Center.


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Another Monica Scandal

That's funny.  I did not think John Roberts thought the Lewinsky affair was a scandal at all.

The whole exchange between

The whole exchange between Roberts and Stoddard was interesting in that neither of them could cite what crimes were committed. Was the White House involved? Well duh of course they were. This is where the liberals see a "crime"?

The White House staff is suddenly not allowed to communicate with the DOJ? Come on this whole deal reminds of some bad episode of The Dukes Of Hazzard where Boss Hogg tries to frame the Dukes by trumping false charges against them.

I think the message is clear from the dems. "President Bush, don't do anything...anything at all for the rest of your term and then we will get along just fine".

By the way, what the hell happened to Chuck Hagel? Has he lost his mind?

I didn't know that the Cong

I didn't know that the Congress had the right to oversight over the Executive branch, but then again, I'm not a constitutional scholar. I thought it was checks and balances; not a need for approval.

The Democrats apparently intend to "investigate" everything, just like they promised; in other words, stick their noses into every decision the White House makes, demanding justification. In fact, Rep. Conyers has so much planned that he is hiring outside lawyers to take up the overflow. This is from the Washington Times today:

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr., Michigan
Democrat, has drawn up a contract with Washington law firm Arnold &
Porter for help in his investigation of the firing of eight federal
prosecutors last year, according to an unsigned copy of the contract
obtained by The Washington Times.

This, to the tune of $25,000 a month. As bloggers like to say: Read the whole thing

(I finally figured out how to do the link thingie! Yay!!

Official Democrat cousel advised witness on how to take Fifth

Of course, Democrat(ic)s haven’t always been against people taking the fifth when it involves their own.

Here's how the chief counsel for the Democrat(ic)s on the Government Reform and Oversight Committee advised awitness on “taking the fifth”.

Got that???

The official Democrat counsel actually advised a witness on how to 'take the fifth' on the very commitee he was working on ten years ago.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic fund raiser Johnny Chung, a key figure in the 1996 campaign finance scandal, said Saturday Democrats told him how to plead the fifth amendment before he testified to Congress in 1997.

Speaking in an interview to air on the Fox News Channel Monday, Chung said he received a package on "how to plead the fifth" from the chief counsel for the Democrats on the Government Reform and Oversight Committee where he was set to testify.

"At the very beginning of 1997, the Democrat side of the Government Reform Committee sent a package to my office, to my attorney's office," Chung said in the interview, adding that the package, "Tried to teach me how to plead -- take the fifth."

Pleading the fifth amendment allows a witness to avoid answering questions which could lead to self-incriminating responses. Legal experts said it would be highly unusual for counsel to a congressional panel to offer legal advice to a witness such as Chung.

Chung, a Taiwanese-born businessman, appeared before the congressional panel in a five-hour closed session in November 1997. He was called to testify again in May of this year after claims that his account differed from press reports of what he told federal investigators.

Chung has been cooperating with a Justice Department task force probing allegations of illegal Democratic fund-raising in 1996. He told the panel in May that he helped funnel $300,000 from a high-ranking Chinese military officer to President Clinton's re-election campaign. China has denied the charge.

Chung was given five years probation in December after striking a deal with prosecutors and pleading guilty to charges of bank fraud, tax evasion and making illegal contributions to the Clinton-Gore campaign

Then there's always the extreme left-wing magazine Slate, a mere 9 months ago.

Take the Fifth
Reporters are looking to the wrong amendment to protect them.
By Peter Scheer
Posted Thursday, July 6, 2006, at 6:58 AM ET

The Fifth Amendment has gotten a bad rep because of its long association with organized criminals and corrupt public officials—and because of the common perception that, by pleading the Fifth, one is implicitly admitting guilt.

In fact, the Fifth Amendment does not so much imply guilt as it does a refusal to be of assistance to the government in meeting its burden of proving guilt. Why offer to help a prosecutor who is intent on putting you in jail?

But even if the implication of guilt is unavoidable in some cases, one has to ask, guilty of what? In the case of subpoenas to James Risen and Eric Lichtblau, the New York Times reporters who wrote the NSA wiretapping stories, relying on the Fifth Amendment to refuse to testify would imply that they are merely "guilty" of:.

The answer is socialism. But only if the question is:

"What's the fastest way to impoverish, enslave and destroy people?"

THe Answer I'd like to hear

Pat Leahy - "MS. Goodling, why are you pleading the 5th, are you so certain your guilty that you can't answer any of my leading questions."

Ms. Goodling - " Senator, it's a shame this amendment wasn't in place during the Salem Witch Trials, which are the best I can compare this to, it would have saved a few women from a tortured death." 

Everyone in Washington saw what happened to Scooter Libby and feel it's wise to take steps to prevent Senators, on a witch hunt, from matching a prosecutor on a witch hunt. 

Actually, PB, "Plead the

Actually, PB, "Plead the fifth...look at what happened to Libby" is EXACTLY what her personal lawyer told her....still. it would have been fun to hear the Salem remark....

Ted Kennedy

Senator Kennedy was very disappointed when he learned that taking the fifth did not mean Goodling was bringing a fifth to the hearings.