Gonzales: Paul McNulty was major figure in firings

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales stopped by the National Press Club yesterday to talk about crime-prevention programs like “Don’t Lie for the Other Guy.”

Instead he found himself talking a lot about the continuing imbroglio over his firing of U.S. attorneys. And the “other guy” he found himself talking about the most was his top deputy, who had announced his resignation the day before.

{mosads}Gonzales, fielding a battery of questions from reporters about the firings, stressed that Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty — not Gonzales himself, nor former Chief of Staff Kyle Sampson nor the White House — was the main Justice official in the firings.

“At the end of the day, the decisions reflected the views of the deputy attorney general. He signed off on the names,” Gonzales said. “On the day of Kyle Sampson’s testimony, I asked Paul, ‘Do you still stand by your recommendations? He said, ‘Yes.’”

But he added that, in hindsight, he wishes McNulty had been even more involved.

“I think I would have had Deputy Attorney General McNulty get involved more directly,” he said.

Democrats quickly accused Gonzales of trying to pass the buck on to a subordinate who’s on his way out the door.

“The attorney general is trying to make Paul McNulty into the next Scooter Libby, but we all know the buck stops with the attorney general,” said Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.).

Gonzales’s breakfast speech in the press club ballroom was interrupted at its start by a protester who shouted out, “Resign, please. You dishonored your country.” Two other vocal protesters were removed before Gonzales arrived.

His 23-minute prepared remarks were about partnering with local officials to fight and prevent violent crime.

“I’m committed to doing more to make our neighborhoods safer for this country’s citizens and today I’m pleased to announce a number of new programs and efforts,” Gonzales said.

Among them, he said, is “Don’t Lie for the Other Guy,” a program of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in connection with the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a gun industry trade group.

Gonzales has been beset by calls for his resignation over the firing of eight U.S. attorneys last year, and Democrats have begun demanding answers about a ninth.

It was McNulty’s February testimony that threw gasoline on the simmering scandal when he testified that while most of the local prosecutors were fired for performance reasons, one was pushed out to make room for a Karl Rove protégé.

That angered many of the ousted prosecutors, who had kept quiet until then. In subsequent hearings, some disclosed that political concerns weighed in the process, and most had gotten strong performance reviews.

McNulty has said he had been planning to leave Justice for some time and did not resign because of the U.S. attorney matter.

Gonzales said that McNulty’s departure, anticipated in late summer, will be “a loss.” But he added: “This great institution is meant to withstand the departures of leadership and executives.”

As to whether he should resign, Gonzales said, “That is a decision of the president.”

Gonzales also dismissed the idea that the White House was closely involved in the decision to fire the prosecutors, saying administration officials were not intimately involved in drafting the list of prosecutors to be replaced.

The White House never added or deleted names from the list,” he said, adding that the White House did not push the prosecution of voter fraud. Democrats have charged that some of the U.S. attorneys were ousted for insufficient zeal in bringing voter fraud cases when there was little evidence.

Gonzales reiterated his previous comments that, looking back, he would like to have used a different process that would have discussed with all U.S. attorneys how DoJ was handling the process. But he said U.S. attorneys do not want their jobs to depend on performance evaluations.

“I wouldn’t support a more formal process … I would support a more structured process,” Gonzales said.

Gonzales acknowledged that the ongoing criticism is a distraction, saying it would be “disingenuous” to say that it wasn’t. But he insisted the attacks from Congress will not prevent him from seeking money from that body for the Justice Department.

“I’m not going to be bashful,” Gonzales said. “I’m not going to be timid about getting what we need to protect children.”