Gonzales Aide Resigns Amid Hearings

A senior Justice Department aide and White House liaison who refused to testify before a House committee investigating the firings of eight U.S. attorneys has resigned.

Monica Goodling, who worked in the Justice Department for the last five years, most recently as senior counsel to embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, submitted a letter of resignation effective April 7.

The terse text of her letter to Gonzales, which gave no reasons for her departure, expressed her honor at having worked at Justice. "I am hereby submitting my resignation to the office of the Attorney General, effective April 7, 2007. It has been an honor to have served at the Department of Justice for the past five years," it read.

The letter ended: "May God bless you richly as you continue your service to America."

Goodling is at the center of the controversy because, as the liaison between the Justice Department and the White House, she may be best suited to explain how deeply Karl Rove and other members of President Bush's political team might have been involved in the firings. Congress also wants her to testify on Gonzales' role in light of his shifting explanations.

A Senate panel has authorized a subpoena for her, but none yet has been issued.

Goodling took a leave last month amid the uproar over the prosecutors' ousters.

On Wednesday, Goodling refused to submit to a private interview with a House committee.

Her lawyers, who had said she would assert her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination to avoid appearing at congressional hearings, told the House Judiciary Committee that she would neither testify publicly nor submit to private questioning about the firings.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., asked Tuesday that Goodling submit to a closed-door interview on the matter, saying she had nothing to fear if she told the truth.

In a letter Wednesday responding to that request, Goodling's lawyers said her decision not to testify "can in no way be interpreted to suggest that Ms. Goodling herself participated in any criminal activity."

Her lawyers accused Democrats of behaving like the notorious Sen. Joseph McCarthy to intimidate her.

Goodling, 33, is a graduate of Regent University School of Law in Virginia Beach, Va., which was founded by the Rev. Pat Robertson. CBS News correspondent Howard Arenstein reports that, in a scandal which has been about filling legal positions with so-called "loyal Bushies," she has been described as one of the enforcers of that loyalty.

While Goodling is no longer a federal employee, her change in professional status will likely not change her status in the investigation; she still can and probably will continue to invoke her right to remain silent, at least for now, CBS News legal analyst Andrew Cohen said.

"The question everyone will be asking this weekend is whether this career move by Goodling means that she intends to take a different strategy when it comes to the Congressional investigation into the firing of those eight U.S. Attorneys," Cohen said. "My guess is that she won't — that her lawyers already have convinced her that, whether she is a government employee or a private individual, she still can better protect herself by refusing to answer questions before Congress."

Goodling's lawyers have said congressional attempts to get Goodling to testify are essentially a perjury trap for their client. They cite charges that Goodling misled Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty before he testified before Congress about the ousters, causing him to give an incomplete and possibly inaccurate account.

The letter cited several instances in which Congress has let witnesses in high-profile investigations assert their Fifth Amendment rights to stay silent, including the Iran-Contra affair, when Oliver North did so. North was later granted immunity for his testimony, and ultimately absolved of convictions for his misconduct in the arms-for-hostages scheme.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who is leading an inquiry into the firings, said Goodling had "no choice but to resign," and he noted that she was the third Justice Department official involved in the controversy to step down.

"Attorney General Gonzales' hold on the department gets more tenuous each day," Schumer said in a written statement.

Her resignation came less than two weeks before Gonzales' own planned testimony to Congress, which may determine his fate as attorney general. Several Republican lawmakers have joined Democrats in calling for his resignation or dismissal over the firings and other matters at Justice, including the FBI's improper and in some cases illegal prying into Americans' personal information during terror and spy probes.