McNulty, central to AIPAC case, quits

The deputy U.S. attorney general who indicted two former AIPAC staffers on classified information charges resigned. Paul McNulty was the U.S. attorney in eastern Virginia in August 2005 when he indicted Steve Rosen, the former foreign policy chief for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and Keith Weissman, its former Iran analyst, under a never-used 1917 statute that criminalizes the receipt of classified information. Within weeks he was promoted to deputy attorney general. McNulty resigned Monday after being embroiled in weeks of controversy over the firing of at least eight U.S. attorneys. McNulty testified in February that the White House was not involved in the firing of the attorneys. When it was revealed that senior White House staff had indeed played a role, McNulty said he had not been adequately prepared by Justice Department staff. In his resignation letter Monday, McNulty said he wanted to enter the private sector to fund his children’s college education.