Live Blogging on Truthout: Goodling's testimony to HJC Part 3.

2:15 PM EDT
The hearing is back on, and we're once again privileged to hear more praise for Regent University. Hopefully, there will be some actual substance brought forth at some point soon. - William Rivers Pitt

2:16 PM EDT
In an interview with C-SPAN prior to this hearing, Rep. Artur Davis (D-Alabama), a member of the House Judiciary Committee, detailed the three firings of US attorneys during the Clinton administration. He said that only three US attorneys were fired: one for punching a reporter, one for using a department credit card at a strip club, and one who demoted two assistant US attorneys in retribution for giving him a bad review. "Those sound like firing grounds to me," Davis said. Davis has not yet questioned Monica Goodling. - Matt Renner

2:30 PM EDT
Monica Goodling testified that she "intends to establish a legal defense fund at some point" to pay her legal fees. - Jason Leopold

2:42 PM EDT
Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Florida.) just said that Goodling's testimony has been a "big disappointment" to the individuals who expected more revelatory or explosive testimony from the former White House liaison for the Justice Department. Feeney then showered Goodling with compliments and said she had "class." - Jason Leopold

2:47 PM EDT
Goodling said Kyle Sampson, former chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, told her she could question applicants' political views and weigh their responses, to determine whether that person should be hired by the Justice Department. Using a political litmus test to hire federal employees appears to violate numerous federal laws. Goodling is under federal investigation and the subject of an internal Justice Department investigation for factoring politics into a final decision to hire DOJ applicants. - Jason Leopold

3:05 PM EDT
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-California) has returned the conversation to the job performance and questionable testimony of Alberto Gonzales. He asked Goodling if she thought Gonzales's testimony was incorrect or deliberately misleading, and she had no answer. He asked what she thought of Gonzales's job performance, and she had no answer. He asked what she thought about GOP members of Congress abandoning Gonzales, and she said "I don't know what I think about that."
Interesting last answer there. How does someone not know what she thinks about the very issue that brought her before a House committee for questioning? - William Rivers Pitt

3:20 PM EDT
Monica Goodling testified that Alberto Gonzales did see the list of US attorneys selected for firing, directly contradicting the attorney general's previous testimony before Congress. Goodling then said Gonzales attended a November 27 meeting last year to discuss the firings. Gonzales testified that he did not recall the details of that meeting. A heated exchange then ensued between Judiciary Committee members about whether Goodling was responding to questions about Gonzales's sworn testimony or whether she was testifying about statements Gonzales had made in another forum about his knowledge of the firings. - Jason Leopold

3:20 EDT
The hearing fell apart as questions by Rep. Artur Davis (D-Alabama) about Goodling's opinions on inconsistent statements made by the attorney general in testimony before Congress and in public statements. Goodling's attorney stood up first and interrupted the proceedings. Members of the committee used parliamentary procedures to stop the hearing temporarily. - Matt Renner

3:30 PM EDT
Rep. Artur Davis (D-Alabama) has completely changed the tenor of this hearing. His questions, offered in a moderated tone of voice, are more pointed than anything put to Goodling thus far today. Two reps have yielded their time to him so far, allowing him to continue. Most of his questions are about Gonzales's inaccurate testimony, along with queries about whether it is appropriate for senators to push for USAG firings.
Goodling, for the first time, appears seriously rattled. The GOP committee members have tossed out two different parliamentary procedures in an attempt to slow or stop Davis's line of questioning. - William Rivers Pitt

3:31 PM EDT
Goodling is having great difficulty verbalizing whether she believes Alberto Gonzales did not testify truthfully before Congress, or had influenced her testimony or statements about the circumstances behind the US attorney firings in any way. She is not denying that Gonzales was not forthcoming during his testimony, but she is also not saying that Gonzales lied or was untruthful. She did say, however, that Gonzales knew more about the firings than he has told Congress during his sworn testimony. - Jason Leopold

3:45 PM EDT
The committee is in recess for a floor vote and will reconvene soon. - Victoria Harper

5 PM EDT
Members of the committee reconvened and distributed fifteen minutes of questioning for both sides, starting with the Republicans. - Matt Renner

5:20 PM EDT
Senate Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy (D-Vermont) has released a reaction to today's Goodling's testimony:
"It is curious that yet another senior Justice Department official claims to have limited involvement in compiling the list that led to the firings of several well-performing federal prosecutors. What we have heard today seems to reinforce the mounting evidence that the White House was pulling the strings on this project to target certain prosecutors in different parts of the country.
"It is deeply troubling that the crisis of leadership at the department allowed the White House to wield undue political influence over key law enforcement decisions and policies. It is unacceptable that a senior Justice Department official was allowed to screen career employees for political loyalty, and it confirms our worst fears about the unprecedented and improper reach of politics into the department's professional ranks.
"As Congress continues its oversight to pull back the curtain on the politicization of the Justice Department, it is abundantly clear that we must do all we can to get to the truth behind this matter and the role the White House played in it." - William Rivers Pitt

5:30 PM EDT
Rep. Artur Davis is absolutely putting the bricks to Gonzales by way of Goodling. He is reading a portion of Gonzales's testimony from a prior hearing, and asking Goodling if that testimony is fully accurate. Goodling is trying to avoid accusing her former boss of perjury, but Davis won't let her slip away: You knew you'd be a witness? Gonzales knew you'd be a witness? The central point Davis is reaching for is simple: It appears Gonzales may have tried to twist her testimony around his own before she appeared, and it appears Gonzales lied during his testimony. - William Rivers Pitt

5:35 PM EDT
A long day of testimony is concluded. In my opinion, much of the day was spent to little gain ... until the last couple of hours. Representatives Schiff and Davis singlehandedly re-created this hearing into a matter of serious import.
Goodling revealed a meeting between Gonzales and herself that appears to have been highly inappropriate at minimum, and his testimony that no such conversation took place smells like perjury. Davis, in particular, was pointedly forceful in advancing this line of inquiry.
All in all, what at first seemed to be a hearing with little impact finished as a hearing that will keep this investigation and line of inquiry moving forward. Goodling held her ground, but was finally cornered because of one simple fact: she was trying to defend a boss who had lied before Congress. It was an impossible task, and she did not complete it. - William Rivers Pitt

5:37 PM EDT
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-California), hit upon a key piece of evidence that could possibly lead to a criminal prosecution of the recently resigned Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty. Schiff pointed out statements made under oath to Congress by McNulty regarding his knowledge of the rationale behind the firings of Bud Cummins. McNulty claimed that he did not have knowledge about who recommended the appointment of Tim Griffin in place of Cummins, Goodling said she believed that McNulty "had some information" on the issue. - Matt Renner