Justice aide resigns amid prosecutor firings scandal (Roundup)

Apr 7, 2007, 0:39 GMT

Washington - A second aide to the top US law enforcement officer announced her resignation on Friday, after twice refusing to testify before Congress about her role in the Justice Department's sacking of prosecutors last year, the department said.

Monica Goodling said she would step down effective on Saturday, a move that will likely raise new questions about how involved Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was in the dismissal of the eight federal prosecutors.

The department confirmed the resignation in a letter to members of the Senate's judiciary committee, and said steps had been taken 'to ensure that no actual or apparent conflict of interest would arise with respect to Ms Goodling or related matters.'

Gonzales, a close ally to President George W Bush, has rejected mounting calls by Democrats to resign over the affair. Gonzales' former chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, told Congress March 29 that his boss had more knowledge of the firings than he has publicly acknowledged. Sampson testified before the US Senate after resigning.

Goodling has refused to appear before congressional investigative committees, citing the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution, which guarantees a citizen's right to remain silent or against self- incrimination.

'It has been an honour to have served at the Department of Justice for the past five years,' CNN reported that Goodling wrote in her resignation letter. 'May God bless you richly as you continue your service to America.'

The scandal over the unusual midterm firings has added to the bad news for Bush, who has been facing some of the lowest job approval ratings of his presidency, mainly because of the war in Iraq.

Democrats allege that the Bush administration improperly meddled with the judiciary by dismissing the prosecutors. Bush has denied any wrongdoing, insisting the prosecutors were dismissed for poor performance.

Bush has firmly backed Gonzales, whose association with the president goes back to Bush's days as Texas governor in the late 1990s.