Goodling dropped a number of bombshells in her opening statement. You can read it here.
First, she threw back the responsibility for the misstatements to Congress to the deputy attorney general, saying that Paul McNulty had not been “fully candid about his knowledge of White House involvement in the replacement decision.” She said that McNulty had even prevented Goodling from being in the same room during a closed door briefing to Congress, because her presence might raise questions about the White House.
She also set the tone for her testimony today by saying that she did not know why the eight U.S. attorneys were fired. “I can describe what I and others discussed as the reasons for their removal, but I cannot guarantee that these reasons are the same as those contemplated by the final decision makers,” she said. The person she says to ask about all this, she says, is Kyle Sampson.
