Gonzales Aide Goodling Resigns

In this Friday, March 30, 2007, file photo, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales appears at a round table discussion with law enforcement officials about his Project Safe Childhood initiative in Boston. Gonzales' top aide abruptly quit on Friday, April 6, 2007, almost two weeks after telling Congress she would not testify about her role in the firings of federal prosecutors. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia) (Stephan Savoia - AP)

Dowd also accused Democrats of trying to intimidate her in a fashion reminiscent of the notorious Sen. Joseph McCarthy. Dowd declined to comment Friday except to confirm Goodling's resignation.

But Democrats said Goodling's resignation would not end their pursuit of her testimony.

House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., "remains committed to questioning Monica Goodling, especially with this new development," said spokeswoman Melanie Roussell. "Her involvement and general knowledge of what happened makes her a valuable piece to this puzzle."

Goodling's resignation is the third by a Justice Department official who helped plan and coordinate the dismissals of the prosecutors, an effort that began shortly after President Bush won re-election in 2004.

Gonzales' chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, resigned under fire March 12 for orchestrating the firings. Additionally, Mike Battle, the former director of the department's executive office of U.S. attorneys, announced several weeks ago that he was leaving to join a private law firm. Battle's resignation has not been linked directly to the controversy, although he helped notify some of the U.S. attorneys that they would be asked to leave.

"While Monica Goodling had no choice but to resign, this is the third Justice Department official involved in the U.S attorney firings who has stepped down," said Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., who was among the first senators to question the firings and the first to call for Gonzales' resignation.

"Attorney General Gonzales' hold on the department gets more tenuous each day," Schumer said in a written statement.

Gonzales is also under fire for the FBI's improper and in some cases illegal prying into Americans' personal information during terror and spy probes.

Goodling's mother, Cindy Fitt of Osceola Mills, Pa., said the resignation had been anticipated. "She told me I'm to say 'no comment' for everything," the mother said in a brief telephone interview.

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Associated Press writers Ron Fournier in Washington and Mark Scolforo in Harrisburg, Pa., contributed to this report.