WASHINGTON — The two-week congressional recess will not stop the ongoing investigation into the Justice Department's firing of eight U.S. attorneys.

The House Judiciary Committee staff started interviewing department employees Friday, and their continued push to get White House liaison Monica Goodling to participate forced her lawyers to advise them to not bother their client anymore, in a letter sent Friday.

The interviews come a day after D. Kyle Sampson — a Utah native who recently resigned as Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' chief of staff — laid out his role in the firings to the Senate Judiciary Committee in a daylong hearing. The committees are working jointly on these interviews to find out even more facts about the process.

Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, is the top Republican on the Commercial and Administrative Law Subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over the matter. Cannon — like most other members of Congress — has returned to the state while Congress is on a two-week spring recess, but Matt Iandoli, Cannon's legislative director and counsel, will be participating in the interviews.

Michael Elston, chief of staff to the Deputy Attorney General, met with Iandoli and other staff members.

House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., said the department has made at least eight current and former employees available for "transcribed interviews with House and Senate Democrat and Republican investigators."

"The ability to move forward with our investigation with the Justice Department's cooperation is a big step," Conyers said. "If we are going to get to the bottom of this, we must talk to those involved in guiding the decision-making process. This agreement, which involves on-the-record interviews in advance of possible hearings, helps bring us down that path. We still anxiously await further negotiation with the White House."

The White House has offered former counsel Harriet Miers and Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove to be interviewed by lawmakers, but they would not be under oath and would have no transcript. Democrats have rejected this idea and are still contemplating whether to issue subpoenas for the pair — although President Bush has said he objects any use of subpoenas.

In addition to Elston, the staff will interview Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty; Associate Deputy Attorney General David Margolis; Michael Battle, special counsel to the attorney general and White House liaison; William Mercer, U.S. attorney for Montana and acting associate attorney general; and William Moschella, principal associate deputy attorney general, according to a press release.

The committee also included Goodling, former director of the Office of U.S. Attorneys, in its announcement. Goodling served as the Justice Department liaison to the White House and has since invoked her Fifth Amendment rights in talking about anything related to the attorney scandal.