This is big news. It's been clear for some time now that Monica Goodling, as liaison between DoJ and the White House, is at the crux of the scandal. Indeed, David Iglesias is on record saying that she holds the "keys to the kingdom." Now that she's been given immunity and is being forced to testify, the hope is that she will implicate Rove and Miers to the point where their testimony will become inevitable (although it will certainly be met with strong resistance from the Bushies).
Congressional investigators checking for political motive in the Justice Department's dismissal of selected U.S. attorneys last year now have a federal court order to hear from a former high-level government attorney, Monica Goodling.
In a request for immunity from prosecution filed and granted within hours Friday at U.S. District Court, the House Judiciary Committee said the protected testimony could shed light on circumstances "surrounding recent terminations of certain United States attorneys, representations to Congress regarding those circumstances, and related matters."
The panel's leadership believes Goodling took part in "crucial discussions" leading to a "termination list" that was then "refined and finalized," according to a letter last month from committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., that was sent to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
Republicans and right-wing sympathizers have been insisting for weeks now that there is "no evidence of a crime." Leaving aside the reams of circumstantial evidence that's piled up, the primary reason there has been no "smoking gun" is because Congress hasn't had access to the most crucial aspects of the potential crime -- Goodling and the millions of missing emails. Well, they have Goodling now.
