The Justice Department's Power Vacuum
By CBS News Justice Department producer Stephanie Lambidakis
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is in San Antonio to meet privately with the US attorneys attending their annual conference. It is a trip designed, in part, to demonstrate that Gonzales has weathered the resignation storms, but Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty's resignation announcement Monday provided new evidence of deep divisions within the Justice Department and a growing power vacuum in the top ranks.
McNulty, the fourth official to resign, cites the financial pressures of putting four children through college as the chief reason for his resignation, but his chief conflicts are with the Attorney General, who was angered by, among other things, McNulty's testimony to Congress that one of the firings was to make way for a political protégé of Karl Rove.
Answering questions before the National Press Club less than a day after McNulty's submitted his resignation, Gonzales dropped the effusive praise in his written statement to signal that McNulty shouldn't try to distance himself from the firings.
"He [McNulty] signed off on the names and he would know better than anyone else... the qualifications and experiences of the United States attorney community, and he signed off on the names," Gonzales said.
McNulty does not plan to leave until later this summer, which means he remains in charge of the day-to-day operations of the Department while having one foot out the door and congressional investigations still at full throttle.
Monica Goodling, the former counsel to Gonzales who resigned her post and invoked her Fifth Amendment protections, has accused McNulty of trying to blame her for the inaccurate testimony provided to Congress. Goodling has been granted immunity and is expected to testify before Congress as early as next week; friends say Goodling is eager to tell her side of the story.
Gonzales told the Press Club audience he will make sure he gets 'the right person" to succeed McNulty, but there is none of the usual internal jockeying for such a prestigious post. In fact, many senior officials have been keeping a low profile and are hoping they don't get tapped to be Gonzales' deputy.