Former Justice official says Congress misled about Griffin

A former Justice Department official testified Wednesday that the No. 2 man at the department misled a Senate panel about his knowledge of Tim Griffin’s hiring as a federal prosecutor, as new correspondence made public showed that Griffin boasted to former colleagues about a published “swipe” at Sen. Mark Pryor.

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Griffin refused to comment Wednesday.

Goodling is a friend of Griffin. Both were opposition researchers for the Republican National Committee during the 2004 election and Goodling said in an e-mail made public Wednesday that “Tim and I speak daily.”

Goodling said she learned of Griffin’s interest in the prosecutor job as early as 2005 when he made a comment to her at a social event.

Previously-released documents show Cummins was on a list for removal in February 2005. The first time Griffin’s name shows up in documents as a possible replacement is January 2006.

“He indicated he was interested in returning to Arkansas as U.S. attorney and that he may have the opportunity to do so if one of the Arkansas U.S. attorneys, such as Bud Cummins, were not retained,” Goodling said in her testimony.

Democrats claim politics were behind the decision to remove the U.S. attorneys, though the Bush administration claims every prosecutor but Cummins was fired for performance reasons.

The administration has acknowledged Cummins was replaced solely to make room for Griffin, a Magnolia native and former military prosecutor.

Teague blasted Griffin for remaining silent as the administration early on in the controversy suggested that Cummins’ ouster was related to performance, also.

“Griffin let Cummins and his family and his reputation twist in the wind when he knew the entire time that he was the reason that Cummins was let go,” Teague said.

It’s “pretty clear” from Goodling’s testimony and newly public e-mails that Gonzales and McNulty both lied under oath, Teague said.

Goodling on Wednesday said McNulty also withheld knowledge of allegations that Griffin had tried to suppress black votes during the 2004 presidential election.

The BBC in 2004 connected Griffin to possible “caging” in Florida, an effort to use direct mail as a method of challenging voter status. He has denied the allegations.