McNulty Gets Knife in the Back

* He could no longer tolerate working for Gonzales;

* His public-service career goals -- the attorney generalship or a federal appeals court appointment -- were no longer attainable;

* He knew the next attorney general would fire him.

Dan Eggen writes in The Washington Post: "Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty announced his resignation yesterday after 18 months on the job, becoming the fourth senior Justice Department official to quit amid the controversy surrounding the dismissal of nine U.S. attorneys last year. . . .

"McNulty became a central figure in the furor after he told the Senate Judiciary Committee in February that the White House played only a marginal role in the dismissals -- a characterization that conflicted with documents later released by Justice and with subsequent testimony.

"He also said most of the prosecutors were fired for 'performance-related' reasons. That statement angered many of the former U.S. attorneys, most of whom had sterling evaluations and had remained largely silent about their departures. . . .

"McNulty has told congressional investigators that D. Kyle Sampson, then Gonzales's chief of staff, and Monica M. Goodling, then the department's White House liaison, did not brief him fully before his testimony.

"Sampson and Goodling have resigned. Michael A. Battle, the senior Justice official who carried out the prosecutor firings, has also quit. . . .

"'Mr. McNulty's resignation is a sign that top-level administration at the Justice Department may be crumbling under the pressure of ongoing revelations, and what is yet to be disclosed,' said House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.). 'With this news and as we press on with our investigation, we look forward to his cooperation.'"

David Johnston writes in the New York Times: "The departure of another senior aide at the Justice Department appeared to leave the attorney general in a somewhat more isolated position. But with President Bush's support, Mr. Gonzales has so far fended off demands by Democrats and some Republicans who have called on him to resign. . . .

"[F]riends said that Mr. McNulty had long chafed in his role as second in command under Mr. Gonzales and had realized that the furor over the prosecutors had probably ended his hope to be named to a seat on a federal appeals court.

"Mr. McNulty, whose affable presence was said by friends to conceal an aggressively conservative approach to legal issues, had been shaken by the intensity of the storm over the removals and the sometimes sharp personal criticism directed at him from the White House and former Republican allies.