Another Justice Department official resigns

Michael Elston, a Justice Department official that helped carry out the firings of nine US Attorneys, resigned on Friday (via TPM):

Mike Elston, chief of staff to Deputy AttorneyGeneral Paul McNulty, is the fifth Justice official to leave afterbeing linked to the dismissals of the prosecutors.

Elston's resignation is effective at theend of next week. Reached Friday afternoon, he confirmed his plans toleave but would not say why....

Other aides who have resigned in the wake of the firings includeformer Gonzales chief of staff Kyle Sampson and White House liaisonMonica M. Goodling. A fifth official, Mike Battle, who ran the Justiceoffice that oversees the U.S. attorneys, left in March.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers responded:

"When yet another significant player resignsin the U.S. attorney scandal, it only deepens the mystery of whotargeted U.S. attorneys for firing, why they did it, and what exactlyis going on in the highest reaches of the Justice Department and who isfilling the vacuum of leadership that has developed there," saidConyers, D-Mich.

And Alberto Gonzales still remains the Attorney General.