Attorney-General’s Deputy Resigns

US Deputy Attorney-General Paul McNulty, second-in-command to Attorney-General Alberto Gonzales and caught in the firestorm over the firing of federal prosecutors, resigned on Monday citing family financial reasons.

In a letter to Gonzales, who faces his own calls to resign for the scandal over last year’s controversial firings, McNulty said he was stepping down “on a date to be determined in the late summer.”

McNulty is the latest senior Justice Department official to resign since March as the Democratic-controlled Congress investigates a controversial department decision to fire eight of the country’s 93 US attorneys last year. A ninth federal prosecutors said last week he was pushed out as well.

McNulty told The Washington Post that the political tumult over the prosecutor dismissals, including his role in giving inaccurate information to Congress, did not play a part in his decision to resign after 18 months on the job.

“It’s been a big issue for the past few months, but the timing of this is really about other things,” McNulty told the paper. He also said he wanted to leave enough time for an orderly transition before his departure, the newspaper reported.

The administration has insisted the decision to dismiss the prosecutors was justified, though mishandled. Congressional investigators are attempting to determine if the firings were politically motivated.

According to documents released by the Justice Department, Gonzales aides said that the attorney-general was upset by McNulty’s testimony on Capitol Hill in February.

McNulty testified that only the federal prosecutor in Arkansas was let go so the job could be given to a former White House aide, with the others fired for performance-related issues.

Democratic Senator Charles Schumer, who has been among those pressing the Senate Judiciary Committee investigation of the firings, used McNulty’s resignation to criticize the administration.

“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. This administration owes us a lot better,” he said.

Agencies

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