Deputy Attorney General Defends Prosecutor Firings

Gonzales told the committee last month that the forced resignations were not politically motivated, but he declined to comment on details of the cases. McNulty went further in some of his testimony yesterday, talking at length about the Arkansas case and defending Griffin's record as a military and civilian prosecutor, in addition to his role as a prominent GOP operative.

In an unusual appearance as a committee witness, Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) complained that Justice Department officials had initially misled him about Cummins's dismissal and said he could not support Griffin's nomination as U.S. attorney.

Griffin declined to comment yesterday.

The other case that has drawn significant ire from Democrats is in San Diego, where prosecutor Carol S. Lam was fired about a year after overseeing the guilty plea by former congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.) for taking $2.4 million in bribes. McNulty declined to comment on why Lam was removed, but he said the Cunningham case was "a very good thing for the American people and the Department of Justice to accomplish."

Justice Department officials say Lam presided over a drop in prosecutions of firearms and smuggling cases, and point to complaints from many lawmakers -- including Feinstein -- about lax immigration enforcement in the San Diego area.

Feinstein said in an interview that her concerns about border enforcement are "unrelated" to the question of whether the prosecutors were dismissed appropriately. "The issues are being confused," she said.

In addition to Cummins and Lam, those forced to resign include Kevin Ryan in San Francisco, John McKay in Seattle, David C. Iglesias in New Mexico, Daniel G. Bogden in Nevada and Paul K. Charlton in Arizona.

Mary Jo White, who was appointed U.S. attorney general for the Southern District of New York during the Clinton administration and then retained for a while under President Bush, told the committee that the firings were "unprecedented" and "troubling."

"The appearance . . . tends to undermine the importance of the office of the United States attorney," White said.

Staff researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.