Lawyer: DoJ Release “Smacks of Retribution”

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Many were suspicious of the timing yesterday of the Justice Department’s announcement that Monica Goodling was under investigation for possible criminal wrongdoing. So, apparently, is Goodling’s lawyer, John Dowd.

In a letter today to the heads of the two internal Justice Department offices that are reportedly investigating Goodling, Dowd let it be known that he didn’t appreciate learning that his client was under investigation from a press release. There was “no justification for publicizing this information in a press release before notifying us,” Dowd wrote, calling it a “lack of professional courtesy.”

The timing of the release, Dowd also wrote, was suspicious:

What disturbs us most is that the Department chose to make its announcement about Ms. Goodling in the midst of Congress’s ongoing investigation into the Department’s affairs, and less than two weeks after the House Judiciary Committee passed a resolution authorizing the House General Counsel to apply for an order of immunity for Ms. Goodling. The timing of your release smacks of retribution and intimidation.

But that intimidation isn’t likely to work, Dowd wanted them to know: Congress’s approval of Goodling’s immunity is “in no way subject to approval by the Department,” he wrote, adding that “the Department may not delay the issuance of an order of immunity by instituting a parallel investigation.”

You can read the entirety of Dowd’s letter to Glenn Fine, the Justice Department’s inspector general, and H. Marshall Jarrett, Counsel at the Office of Professional Responsibilty, here.

Note: It seems worth noting that Dowd has a history of inflammatory rhetoric. When he was battling with the House and Senate judiciary committees, he compared Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) to Sen. Joe McCarthy.

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