Paul J. McNulty is the former Deputy Attorney General

United States Deputy Attorney General

United States Deputy Attorney General is the second-highest-ranking official in the United States Department of Justice. In the United States federal government, the Deputy Attorney General oversees the day-to-day operation of the Department of Justice, and may act as Attorney General during the...

 of the United States, having previously served as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. He held the position until July 26, 2007.

He was nominated as U.S. Attorney by President

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 George W. Bush

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

 and confirmed on September 14, 2001. McNulty was nominated to the position of Deputy Attorney General on October 20, 2005, following the withdrawal of Timothy Flanigan

Timothy Flanigan

Timothy Elliott Flanigan is an American lawyer and politician.On May 24, 2005, President George W. Bush nominated him as Deputy Attorney General of the United States, the #2 position in the Department of Justice. On October 7, 2005, his name was withdrawn from consideration...

's candidacy. McNulty was sworn into office on March 17, 2006. He replaced acting Deputy Attorney General Robert McCallum, Jr.

Robert McCallum, Jr.

Robert D. McCallum. Jr. was the United States Ambassador to Australia. He was sworn into this position on 21 July 2006, after his appointment by President George W. Bush was confirmed by the United States Senate. He arrived in Australia on 18 August and presented his credentials to the...

  McNulty graduated from Grove City College

Grove City College

Grove City College is a Christian liberal arts college in Grove City, Pennsylvania, about north of Pittsburgh. According to the College Bulletin, its stated three-fold mission is to provide an excellent education at an affordable price in a thoroughly Christian environment...

, a small Christian school in western Pennsylvania, in 1980. He received his Juris Doctor

Juris Doctor

Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...

 (J.D.) from the Capital University School of Law

Capital University Law School

Capital University Law School is an ABA-accredited private law school located in downtown Columbus, Ohio. The law school is affiliated with Capital University, the oldest and largest independent college in Central Ohio...

 in 1983.

As United States Attorney, McNulty is most noted for overseeing the prosecution of a number of high-profile cases, including those against terror suspects John Walker Lindh

John Walker Lindh

John Phillip Walker Lindh is a United States citizen who was captured as an enemy combatant during the United States' 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. He is now serving a 20-year prison sentence in connection with his participation in Afghanistan's Taliban army...

, Ahmed Omar Abu Ali

Ahmed Omar Abu Ali

Ahmed Omar Abu Ali is an American who was convicted of providing material support to the al Qaeda terrorist network and conspiracy to assassinate President George W. Bush.-Background:...

 and Zacarias Moussaoui

Zacarias Moussaoui

Zacarias Moussaoui is a French citizen who was convicted of conspiring to kill citizens of the US as part of the September 11 attacks...

. Before becoming U.S. Attorney, McNulty directed President Bush's transition team for the Department of Justice

United States Department of Justice

The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...

 and then served as Principal Associate Attorney General. From 1990 to 1993, under President George H. W. Bush

George H. W. Bush

George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...

, McNulty was the Justice Department's director of policy and its chief spokesman.

On July 30, 2007, McNulty announced that he would be joining the law firm of Baker & McKenzie LLP as a partner in their Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 office.

Career before Department of Justice

McNulty started his public career in 1983 "as a Democrat and counsel to the House Ethics Committee, [before] eventuall bec[oming] a Republican...."

McNulty served the United States Congress

United States Congress

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

 for 12 years. He was Chief Counsel and Director of Legislative Operations for the Majority Leader

Majority leader

In U.S. politics, the majority floor leader is a partisan position in a legislative body.In the federal Congress, the role differs slightly in the two houses. In the House of Representatives, which chooses its own presiding officer, the leader of the majority party is elected the Speaker of the...

 of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was also Chief Counsel to the House Subcommittee on Crime where he served for eight years. During those years he was a principal draftsman of many anti-terrorism, drug control, firearms and anti-fraud statutes. He also served as chief counsel and communications director for House Judiciary Committee Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

s during the impeachment

Impeachment of Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton, President of the United States, was impeached by the House of Representatives on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice on December 19, 1998, but acquitted by the Senate on February 12, 1999. Two other impeachment articles, a second perjury charge and a charge of abuse of...

 of President Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

.

Career at Department of Justice

McNulty has played a significant role in shaping criminal justice

Criminal justice

Criminal Justice is the system of practices and institutions of governments directed at upholding social control, deterring and mitigating crime, or sanctioning those who violate laws with criminal penalties and rehabilitation efforts...

 policy in the Commonwealth of Virginia. He was a primary architect of the "Parole Abolition and Sentencing Reform" initiative in 1994, and he served on the board of the Department of Criminal Justice Services and the Advisory Committee of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

The Washington Post noted: "He helped shepherd John D. Ashcroft through a contentious confirmation as attorney general

United States Attorney General

The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. The attorney general is considered to be the chief lawyer of the U.S. government...

 in 2001 and was appointed the U.S. attorney in Alexandria three days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. McNulty, who had no trial experience, presided over a dramatic expansion of that office over the next four years before taking over as Gonzales's second-in-command."

As Deputy Attorney General, McNulty reported to the Attorney General

Attorney General

In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...

, and served as Chairman of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales

Alberto Gonzales

Alberto R. Gonzales was the 80th Attorney General of the United States. Gonzales was appointed to the post in February 2005 by President George W. Bush. Gonzales was the first Hispanic Attorney General in U.S. history and the highest-ranking Hispanic government official ever...

' Advisory Committee and as Chairman of the Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.

In December, 2006 McNulty issued Charging Guidelines for Corporate Fraud Prosecutions, which are informally referred to as the "McNulty Memo." The guidelines replaced the Thompson Memorandum, which was issued in January 2003 by then-Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson, and provides guidance to federal prosecutors in deciding whether to charge a corporation, rather than or in addition to individuals within the corporation, with criminal offenses. Under the Thompson memo, in deciding whether a corporation was cooperating with an investigation, prosecutors were allowed to consider two controversial factors: 1) whether a company would agree to waive the attorney-client privilege in regard to conversations had by its employees, and 2) whether a company had declined to pay attorneys’ fees for its employees. The McNulty Memo requires that when federal prosecutors seek privileged attorney-client communications or legal advice from a company, the U.S. Attorney must obtain written approval from the Deputy Attorney General.

On May 14, 2007 McNulty announced his resignation in a letter to Attorney General

Attorney General

In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...

 Alberto Gonzales

Alberto Gonzales

Alberto R. Gonzales was the 80th Attorney General of the United States. Gonzales was appointed to the post in February 2005 by President George W. Bush. Gonzales was the first Hispanic Attorney General in U.S. history and the highest-ranking Hispanic government official ever...

.
McNulty's resignation took effect July 26, 2007.

U.S. Attorneys controversy

In January, 2007, shortly after a number of U.S. Attorneys were fired the same day (December 7, 2006), Congress began investigations. McNulty became a central figure after he told the Senate Judiciary Committee in a hearing on February 6, 2007, "that the White House played only a marginal role in the dismissals," a statement that was contradicted by later testimony and subsequently released documents. He also said most of the prosecutors were fired for "performance-related" reasons. That statement angered many of the dismissed U.S. attorneys, most of whom had very positive evaluations, and who had refrained from criticizing the DOJ about their surprise dismissals, and that personal explanation was not forthcoming from the Department justifying their dismissals."

As Legal Times

Legal Times

Legal Times is a weekly legal newspaper based in Washington, D.C. It is owned by ALM....

explained: "McNulty’s testimony angered three key constituencies in the scandal: the attorney general, Congress, and the fired U.S. attorneys. Gonzales

Alberto Gonzales

Alberto R. Gonzales was the 80th Attorney General of the United States. Gonzales was appointed to the post in February 2005 by President George W. Bush. Gonzales was the first Hispanic Attorney General in U.S. history and the highest-ranking Hispanic government official ever...

, it would later emerge, was upset that McNulty had essentially disclosed the involvement of the White House in the firing of H.E. “Bud” Cummins III

Bud Cummins

Harry Earnest "Bud" Cummins III is a former United States Attorney of five years in the Eastern District of Arkansas.-Career:...

, the U.S. attorney in Arkansas. And members of Congress would note that, in testifying that Cummins had been fired to make way for an acolyte of White House political adviser Karl Rove, McNulty was contradicting an earlier assertion by Gonzales that the firings hadn’t been motivated by political reasons.'...It also spurred most of the fired prosecutors to publicly defend themselves — four of them alleged that McNulty’s chief of staff, Elston, had attempted to discourage them from speaking out."

Cumins was removed "to make room for Tim Griffin, a Karl Rove protégé who had headed the opposition-research operation at the Republican National Committee

Republican National Committee

The Republican National Committee is an American political committee that provides national leadership for the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican political platform, as well as coordinating fundraising and election strategy. It is...

. Gonzales was upset, his former chief of staff Kyle Sampson has told congressional investigators, that McNulty's revelation put "in the public sphere" the uncomfortable fact that the White House helped engineer the dismissal."

On March 13th, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales conceded that McNulty's testimony was inaccurate, "incomplete information was communicated or may have been communicated to Congress."

Senator Charles Schumer

Charles Schumer

Charles Ellis "Chuck" Schumer is the senior United States Senator from New York and a member of the Democratic Party. First elected in 1998, he defeated three-term Republican incumbent Al D'Amato by a margin of 55%–44%. He was easily re-elected in 2004 by a margin of 71%–24% and in 2010 by a...

 said he was told by Justice Department officials that Carol Lam

Carol Lam

Carol Chien-Hua Lam is a former United States Attorney for the Southern District of California. Lam was sworn into office on an interim basis on September 4, 2002. On November 12, 2002, Lam was further sworn in as a Senate confirmed Presidential appointee. She oversaw the Rep. Randy "Duke"...

 and others were terminated because of "performance-related," but Schumer said, Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty later "called me on the phone and said, 'I am sorry that I didn't tell you the truth."'

McNulty, in turn, was said to be angry at being kept out of the loop, and for being misled, telling congressional investigators in private testimony to Congress on April 27, 2007 that "Kyle Sampson

Kyle Sampson

D. Kyle Sampson was the Chief of Staff and Counselor of United States Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. He resigned on March 12, 2007, amid the controversy surrounding the firing of eight United States Attorneys in 2006 and was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing in July 2010...

, 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."

On May 14 McNulty announced his resignation, which took effect July 26, 2007.

On May 28, 2007 Monica Goodling

Monica Goodling

Monica Marie Goodling is a former United States government lawyer and political appointee in the George W. Bush administration who became known in 2007 in the midst of a political controversy surrounding the firings of several United States Attorneys...

, the Department's White House liaison, was summoned under a limited grant of immunity to testify before the House Judiciary Committee, where she was quick to refute McNulty's earlier charges against her by stating that, in fact, it was McNulty who "had not been fully candid" about the 2006 U.S. Attorney firings.

External links

• biography from the U.S. Department of Justice
• Prosecutor Nominated As Justice No. 2, The Associated Press, October 21, 2005
• Paul McNulty - Alumnus Biography from Grove City College
  Grove City College
  Grove City College is a Christian liberal arts college in Grove City, Pennsylvania, about north of Pittsburgh. According to the College Bulletin, its stated three-fold mission is to provide an excellent education at an affordable price in a thoroughly Christian environment...
  
  
• "Deputy AG Not Fully Candid," CNN, May 28, 2007