On Tuesday, all eyes will be on Capitol Hill, where members of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations will presumably throw a fusillade of questions toward leaders of Goldman Sachs, as well as Fabrice Tourre, the trader at the center of the SEC’s lawsuit against the bank.

The big news this weekend revolved around a batch of emails penned by Tourre. Many of the emails were sent by Tourre to girlfriends that revealed doubts about some mortgage securities issued by the company and an occasionally dismissive attitude toward the investors buying them. Click here for the WSJ story on the emails.

So why did Goldman release these emails? According to the WSJ, there was widespread speculation that Goldman was seeking to make more-senior executives who also are caught in an uncomfortable political and public-relations spotlight look better by comparison to the 31-year-old trader.

“Although the emails are unfortunate and embarrassing to the firm, we have consistently said and continue to say Tourre did nothing improper in connection to the transaction,” a Goldman spokesman said Sunday. Tourre’s lawyers didn’t respond to requests for comment.

It’s an interesting line for Goldman to walk: to distance itself from Tourre a little bit, but not too much. In other words, he may have been young and a bit brash, but he did nothing wrong.

via In Advance of the Senate Hearing, Eyes Turn to Emails – Law Blog – WSJ.