Paul McNulty
Paul J. McNulty (born January 21, 1958 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is the Deputy Attorney General of the United States, having previously served as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
He was nominated as U.S. Attorney by President George W. Bush 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's candidacy. McNulty was sworn into office on March 17, 2006. He replaced acting Deputy Attorney General Robert McCallum, Jr. McNulty graduated from Grove City College in 1980 and the Capital University School of Law 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, Ahmed Omar Abu Ali and Zacarias Moussaoui. Before becoming 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.
McNulty has over 12 years experience in the United States Congress. He was Chief Counsel and Director of Legislative Operations for the Majority Leader 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 spokesman for House Judiciary Committee Republicans during the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.
McNulty has played a significant role in shaping criminal justice 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. He currently serves as Chairman of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' Advisory Committee and as Chairman of the Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.
U.S. Attorneys controversy
Recently, McNulty faces Congressional scrutiny for his testimony last December concerning the firings of eight U.S. Attorneys. He led other Justice Department officials in assuring legislators, under oath, that the dismissals were based on performance, not politics.
On March 13th, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales admitted that McNulty's testimony was false, saying that "incomplete information was communicated or may have been communicated to Congress."[1]
Senator Charles Schumer said he was told by Justice Department officials that Carol Lam 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."'[1]
References
External Links
- U.S. Justice Department Bio
- Paul J. McNulty, 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