Goodling: U.S. official 'not fully candid'

WASHINGTON, May 23 (UPI) -- A former Justice Department official told a House committee a deputy U.S. attorney general was "not fully candid" in his testimony before Congress.

Monica Goodling, who resigned as senior counsel to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, told the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday she believed Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty "was not fully candid about his knowledge of White House involvement" in the decision to dismiss several U.S. attorneys.

The committee is investigating whether the dismissal of at least eight prosecutors involved obstruction of justice.

McNulty issued a statement Wednesday insisting his Feb. 6 testimony was truthful, "based on what I knew at that time," the Web site Talking Points Memo reported.

"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 said.

Goodling -- answering a question that Gonzales had been unable to answer in previous testimony -- said Gonzales' former chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, prepared the list of U.S. attorneys who were to be dismissed. She said she does not know why the prosecutors were asked to resign.

"However, I'm not aware of anybody within the department ever suggesting the replacement of these U.S. attorneys to interfere with a particular case or in retaliation for prosecuting or refusing to prosecute any particular case for political advantage," she said.

Goodling acknowledged she "may have gone too far" in asking some job applicants about their politics.

"I may have taken inappropriate political considerations into account on some occasions and I regret those mistakes," she said.