Counselor to Gonzales,Monica Goodling Resigns

A surprise? Yes and no. I suspected that Monica might resign. The surprise was that she did it today, late in the day on a Holiday weekend. This woman does not want to talk!

Here what happened from CNN:

Justice Department official Monica Goodling resigned her position as counselor to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Friday afternoon.

Goodling had invoked the Fifth Amendment, which protects witnesses from self-incrimination, in refusing to testify before Congress regarding the firings of eight U.S. attorneys.

Goodling was among the senior Justice Department officials who participated in meetings and e-mail exchanges about the planned dismissals. She went on paid leave as the controversy grew.

In a brief letter to Gonzales, Goodling gave no reason for her resignation but said it would be effective Saturday.

"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," Goodling wrote.

"May God bless you richly as you continue your service to America," she wrote in the letter.

The resignation came abruptly, just as the Justice Department was closing for the Easter weekend.

There was no warning. Officials had said hours earlier that Goodling remained on paid leave of absence from the department.

The Justice Department said Friday it would have no comment on Goodling's decision to resign. However, it did acknowledge her resignation in a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.

Gonzales' former chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, resigned March 13.

"Attorney General Gonzales' hold on the department gets more tenuous each day," said Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-New York.

I'm curious how this will effect her invocation of the Fifth Amendment. Christie Hardy at firedoglake.com will most likely have more about this soon. What next?

UPDATE: And this is a good one. Talking Points Memo put together a video about Monica Goodling's involvement with Tim Griffin in the RNC oppo research war room on debate night in 2000. Take a look here.

UPDATE II: Raw Story reports that Chairman Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) would still seek to question Goodling.

"The Chairman remains committed to questioning Monica Goodling, especially with this new development. Her involvement and general knowledge of what happened makes her a valuable piece to this puzzle," the spokesperson said in an e-mail.