Why The Tears?

Tomorrow morning at 10:15 AM, Monica Goodling will testify before the House Judiciary Committee.

Goodling, remember, was the Justice Department’s liaison to the White House and the last of the Department officials involved in the U.S. attorney firings to talk to Congress. Every other official has told Congressional investigators that they had nothing to do with putting any of the six U.S. attorneys at the center of the controversy on the list. So that leaves Goodling. What will she say?

And why, lawmakers will want to know, was she so upset on March 8th, when it finally became apparent within the Justice Department that Goodling, along with Kyle Sampson, had failed to tell others about the extent of White House involvement in the firings? Here’s what David Margolis, a career DoJ official, told Congressional investigators:

“She came down about 8:00 and she started by saying, “Has Kyle talked to you?” And I said, “Yeah, he came by earlier.” And then she proceeded for the next, it seemed like forever but it was probably only about 30 or 45 minutes, to bawl her eyes out and say, “All I ever wanted to do was serve this President and this administration and this department,” and then cry more, and more, and more, and more, and talk about — talk about how she came to Washington, you know. Personal stuff….”

Margolis said Goodling never told him why she was so upset: “And I wasn’t anxious to hear, so I did not probe.” But Congress will want to know why.

You can read more from Margolis’ testimony here.