Ex-Justice liaison to White House says deputy attorney general 'not candid' on firings

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department's former White House liaison denied Wednesday that she played a major role in the firings of U.S. attorneys last year and blamed Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty for misleading Congress.

McNulty's explanation about the dismissals, on Feb. 6, "was incomplete or inaccurate in a number of respects," Monica Goodling told a packed House Judiciary Committee inquiry into the firings.

She added: "I believe the deputy was not fully candid."

McNulty and other Justice officials had no immediate comment.

Goodling, 33, quit the department last month and initially pleaded the Fifth Amendment on Wednesday. After being granted court-approved immunity, she read a statement and began answering question from committee members.

Justice Department documents show Goodling attended numerous meetings over a year's time about the plans to fire the U.S. attorneys and corresponded with the White House and at least one of the ousted prosecutors before the dismissals were ordered.

The furor, in part, has threatened Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' own job as Democrats and even some Republicans have called on him to resign.

Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, the House committee's senior Republican, noted the suspense surrounding Goodling's testimony but said there has been little evidence so far that the firings were improper or politically motivated.

"The accusations don't seem to have legs," Smith said.

Goodling initially refused to answer committee chairman John Conyers' first question — about who drew up the list of prosecutors who were fired last year. Conyers responded by granting Goodling immunity, as approved earlier by the judge.

"You are obligated to answer each question completely and truthfully," Conyers, D-Mich., replied sternly.

Goodling told the House committee that she and others at the Justice Department fully briefed McNulty, who is resigning later this year, about the circumstances before his Feb. 6 testimony in front of a Senate panel. Goodling also said that Kyle Sampson, who resigned in March as Gonzales' chief of staff, compiled the list of prosecutors who were purged last year.

She said she never spoke to former White House counsel Harriet Miers or Karl Rove, President Bush's top political adviser, about the firings. But she admitted to have considered applicants for jobs as career prosecutors based on their political loyalties — a violation of federal law.