Bloomberg.com:
Politics
May 14 18:53
May 14 23:53
May 15 07:53
By Robert Schmidt
May 14 (Bloomberg) -- Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty,
a prominent figure in the political furor over the firing of
eight U.S. prosecutors, will resign.
As the No. 2 Justice Department official, McNulty was
responsible for overseeing the 93 U.S. attorneys. Congressional
Democrats are investigating whether the prosecutors were fired
for improper political motives.
In a letter today to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales,
McNulty said he will leave ``on a date to be determined in late
summer.'' He added that, ``financial realities of college-age
children and two decades of public service lead me to a long
overdue transition in my career.''
McNulty didn't mention the firings in his statement, though
he had come under fire following his testimony before the Senate
Judiciary Committee in February. He told the panel that the
prosecutors were fired for unspecified performance problems,
except for one who was dismissed to give his job to a former aide
to White House political adviser Karl Rove.
His testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee angered
Gonzales, according to a department e-mail released in connection
with the probe.
Gonzales, in a statement today, said McNulty ``is an
outstanding public servant and a fine attorney who has been
valued here at the department.''
`Ironic'
New York Senator Charles Schumer, a Democrat who is leading
the Senate investigation of the firings, said in a statement,
``It seems ironic that Paul McNulty who at least tried to level
with the committee goes while Gonzales who stonewalled the
committee is still in charge.''
McNulty, 49, is the highest-ranking Justice Department
official to quit amid the controversy over the firings. Kyle
Sampson, Gonzales's chief of staff who kept the list of
prosecutors to be fired, quit in March. Another aide, Monica
Goodling, resigned in April.
Gonzales is still fighting to keep his job. Many Democrats
and some Republicans have called for him to step down, while
President George W. Bush has repeatedly expressed his support.
In his testimony to the Senate Judiciary panel, McNulty said
the White House had only limited involvement in the dismissals.
Later, the Justice Department released internal e-mails showing
that top White House staff members initiated the firings and were
regularly consulted about which prosecutors to oust.
Honest Mistake
Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, a Republican, said he
believes McNulty's testimony about the White House involvement in
the firings was an honest mistake because Gonzales's aide
``hadn't told him about'' it.
``I don't see anything that impugns his integrity in the
process,'' Sessions said.
In a private interview with congressional investigators on
April 27, McNulty said he was surprised to learn about plans for
the prosecutor firings in late October and didn't know why they
were targeted for removal, Senate aides said. McNulty said he
never asked Gonzales or Sampson why the U.S. attorneys were
fired, said an aide who spoke on condition of anonymity.
McNulty was the U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of
Virginia before becoming the acting deputy in November 2005. He
was confirmed by the Senate in March 2006.
While at the Justice Department, he led the corporate fraud
task force and issued new guidance to prosecutors that eased the
policy for indicting corporations.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Robert Schmidt in Washington at
rschmidt5@bloomberg.net (Related) .
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