A graphic with a May 24 Page One article about Monica M. Goodling, former senior counsel to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, incorrectly attributed remarks from a February Senate hearing to Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty. It was Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) who said at the hearing: "In the summer of 2006, my office was told by reliable sources in the Arkansas legal and political community that then-U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins was resigning and the White House would nominate Mr. Tim Griffin as his replacement. I asked the reasons for Mr. Cummins's leaving and was informed that he was doing so to pursue other opportunities. ..... [By August, it was] becoming clear that Mr. Cummins was being forced out, contrary to what my office had been told by the administration." McNulty made remarks on the same subject at the hearing. In response to inquiries about how Tim Griffin, an aide to Karl Rove, President Bush's chief political adviser, was put in the job on an interim basis, McNulty said, "I don't know the answers to those questions." Goodling told Congress this week that she had kept McNulty informed about Griffin.
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Goodling Says She 'Crossed the Line'
"I do acknowledge that I may have gone too far in asking political questions of applicants for career positions," Monica Goodling testified.
(By Chip Somodevilla -- Getty Images)
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Gonzales told the House Judiciary Committee earlier this month that he had not discussed the details of the firings with other potential witnesses, "in order to preserve the integrity" of ongoing investigations by Congress and by the Justice Department.
The meeting occurred after the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility launched an investigation into the firings on March 14, officials said. Later that month, the OPR was joined by the department's inspector general.
"The attorney general has never attempted to influence or shape the testimony or public statements of any witness in this matter, including Ms. Goodling," spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said. "The statements made by the attorney general during this meeting were intended only to comfort her in a very difficult period of her life."
Goodling alleged that McNulty provided Congress with "incomplete or inaccurate" testimony on several points in February despite being briefed about the issues beforehand. She also alleged that McNulty barred her from attending a closed-door Senate briefing because he feared that her presence would cause lawmakers to question whether the White House was involved in the firings.
"Despite my and others' best effort, the deputy's public testimony was incomplete or inaccurate in a number of respects," Goodling said. "I believe the deputy was not fully candid about his knowledge of White House involvement in the replacement decision."
McNulty, who will leave Justice this summer, disputed the allegations in a statement: "I testified truthfully at the Feb. 6, 2007, hearing based on what I knew at that time. Ms. Goodling's characterization of my testimony is wrong and not supported by the extensive record of documents and testimony already provided to Congress."
McNulty and Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General William E. Moschella have told lawmakers they did not receive adequate information from Goodling, who participated in briefings before they each testified to Congress.
Goodling's testimony about hiring practices amounts to a dramatic public admission that she and other Justice aides routinely used potentially illegal criteria in deciding whom to hire as career prosecutors, immigration judges and those in other nonpolitical government jobs.
"I do acknowledge that I may have gone too far in asking political questions of applicants for career positions and may have taken inappropriate political considerations into account on some occasions," she testified. "I regret these mistakes."
Under questioning from Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), Goodling repeatedly declined to estimate how many times she had considered political affiliations in career hiring decisions. Johnson finally asked whether it was more or fewer than 50 cases.
"I don't think that I could have done it more than 50 times, but I don't know," she replied.
Goodling, a former opposition researcher for the Republican National Committee, revealed that prospective hires for the immigration courts, which are administered by Justice, were among those who may have been subjected to political litmus tests.
