Wednesday, May 2, 2007 | 7:14 a.m.
WASHINGTON - A Justice Department official who had been uncomfortable about firing U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden now regrets he could not save the Nevadan's job when Justice purged eight prosecutors last year.
In a closed-door interview with congressional investigators last week, Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty said the firing weighs on him heavily, according to an aide familiar with the transcript of McNulty's comments. McNulty said he succeeded in sparing another U.S. attorney whose identity has not been revealed.
McNulty is the latest senior Justice official to tell investigators he was not involved in deciding which prosecutors to fire, and had no idea why the list included Bogden, a career prosecutor. The firing of the eight U.S. attorneys touched off a controversy that has threatened the future of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
The accounts by McNulty and the other officials differ from Gonzales' contention that senior managers were consulted about whom to fire once his chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, was asked to draw up a list.
Sampson has told investigators that his role was only to collect names for the list, not decide which ones should be included. He said he cannot recall where he initially got the names of targeted attorneys.
McNulty told investigators he did not see the list until October, two months before the attorneys were fired.
Bogden surfaced as a candidate for firing in January 2006 in an e-mail between Sampson and White House Counsel Harriet Miers. Given that January exchange, congressional investigators wanted McNulty to explain why a reason cited for Bogden's dismissal - his failing to immediately prosecute an adult obscenity case - did not emerge until last summer.
McNulty conceded that was a fair point, but said he had no knowledge of the circumstances.
Previously disclosed documents and interviews show McNulty tried to engage others about Bogden on three occasions.
McNulty raised concerns about firing Bogden in late November, at the end of a staff meeting about the dismissal plan. A week later - and two days before the attorneys were to be fired - he wrote an e-mail saying he felt skittish about including Bogden, who had been with the department for more than 16 years.
Then a day or two before the dismissal, Justice officials held a meeting where, in 90 seconds, staff assuaged McNulty's concern that the firing would disrupt Bogden's family. They told him the Nevadan was single.
At that point, McNulty caved: That just tipped the scale, he told investigators.
McNulty asked during the interview last week to speak to the whole Bogden affair. McNulty told investigators he had hoped for some explanation for Bogden's inclusion on the list because he saw no apparent reason to fire him.
He said he was told that Justice wanted to bring in someone with more energy for Nevada, a fast-growing district.
As the investigation continues, a House subcommittee on Tuesday subpoenaed former Deputy Attorney General James Comey, who is to testify Thursday.
Also Tuesday, Justice officials released another list of records they are refusing to turn over to congressional investigators, citing privacy reasons.
The records include phone messages and other interaction between the Justice Department and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., who has been critical of Bogden's dismissal.
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