Paul McNulty
Paul McNulty | |
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Charles P. Rosenberg | |
Personal details | |
Born | Paul Joseph McNulty January 21, 1958 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
Political party | Democratic (before 1987) Republican (1987–present) |
Spouse | Brenda Millican |
Education | Grove City College (BA) Capital University (JD) |
Paul Joseph McNulty
He was nominated as U.S. Attorney by
As a U.S. Attorney, McNulty is most noted for overseeing the prosecution of a number of high-profile cases, including those against terror suspects John Walker Lindh, Ahmed Omar Abu Ali and Zacarias Moussaoui. Before becoming a U.S. Attorney, McNulty directed President Bush's transition team for the Department of Justice and then served as Principal Associate Attorney General. From 1990 to 1993, under President George H. W. Bush, 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
On May 16, 2014, Grove City College named McNulty their ninth president. He also serves on the board of trustees of the Trinity Forum.
Career before Department of Justice
McNulty started his public career in 1983 "as a Democrat and counsel to the
McNulty served the
Career at Department of Justice
McNulty has played a significant role in shaping
As Deputy Attorney General, McNulty reported to the Attorney General, and served as Chairman of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' 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 Memorandum." 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.[5][6]
On May 14, 2007, McNulty announced his resignation in a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.[7] McNulty's resignation took effect July 26, 2007.
U.S. attorneys controversy
Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy |
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Overview |
G. W. Bush administration |
Dismissed U.S. attorneys |
U.S. Congress |
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."[4]
As
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. 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."[8]
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."[9]
Senator
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 "
On May 14, McNulty announced his resignation, which took effect July 26, 2007.
On May 28, 2007, Monica Goodling, 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.
References
- Government Publishing Office. 2 February 2006.
- ^ "Opening Convocation – Grove City College – Hon. Paul J. McNulty '80". Grove City College. 8 September 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
- ^ Jason McLure; Emma Schwartz (May 21, 2007). "At DOJ, a Hard Job to Fill: McNulty's leaving, but the department's problems aren't going anywhere". Legal Times.
- ^ a b c d e Dan Eggen (May 15, 2007). "Justice Dept.'s No. 2 to Resign: McNulty Is 4th to Quit Since Disputed Firings". Washington Post. p. A01.
- ^ "FindLaw: McNulty Memo" (webpage). FindLaw. December 12, 2006. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
- ^ Jones, Ashby (December 12, 2006). "Wall Street Journal Blog: "Thompson Memo Out McNulty Memo In"" (webpage). WSJ. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
- ^ "Paul McNulty's resignation letter" (PDF). Washington Post. May 14, 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-08-09. Retrieved 2007-05-14.
- ^ Karen Tumulty; Massimo Calabresi (May 10, 2007). "Inside the Scandal at Justice". Time Magazine. Archived from the original on May 12, 2007.
- ^ "Gonzales acknowledges mistakes in firings: He brushes aside calls for resignation in case involving 8 attorneys". Associated Press. March 13, 2007.
- ^ Richard A. Serrano, Times Staff Writer (March 18, 2007). "California attorney's firing draws Dems' spotlight". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2007-03-18.[dead link]
- ^ Johnston, David (May 15, 2007). "Gonzales's Deputy Quits Justice Department". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-05-17.
External links
- biography from the U.S. Department of Justice
- Prosecutor Nominated As Justice No. 2[dead link], The Associated Press, October 21, 2005
- Paul McNulty – Alumnus Biography from Grove City College
- "Deputy AG Not Fully Candid," CNN, May 28, 2007
- Appearances on C-SPAN