A former senior Department of Justice (DoJ) official acknowledged Tuesday that he initially provided inaccurate testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week.

Schlozman’s letter refers to his office’s decision last October to indict four employees of the Association of Community for Reform Now (ACORN) on voter registration fraud charges despite an “informal” policy of not pursuing voter fraud cases near an election.

Schlozman had testified that he “acted at the direction of the director of the Election Crimes Branch in the Public Integrity Section” in filing the indictments.

However, he stated in the letter to the panel that his initial testimony was inaccurate.

“I want to be clear that, while I relied on the consultation with, and suggestions of, the Election Crimes Branch in bringing the indictments when I did,” Schlozman wrote, “I take full responsibility for the decision to move forward with the prosecutions related to ACORN while I was the interim U.S. Attorney.”

The letter was penned on the same day that saw Senate Democrats fail to clear a procedural hurdle toward a no-confidence vote on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Democratic senators seized on the letter, using it as another opportunity to highlight the problems that DoJ is experiencing under the leadership of Gonzales.

“It is deeply troubling that after weeks of preparation Mr. Schlozman appears to have misled the committee and the public about his decision to file an election-eve lawsuit in direct conflict with longstanding Justice Department policy,” Leahy said. “I asked him repeatedly about this case at the hearing because of concerns that it was done to use law enforcement power improperly to affect the outcome of the election.”

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) joined Leahy in criticizing Schlozman and placed blame on Gonzales for setting a low bar with regard to congressional testimony.

“Mr. Schlozman isn’t the first to be less than forthcoming in his testimony and, sadly, I fear he won’t be the last,” Schumer said. “When the head of the Justice Department is unwilling to be forthright with Congress, it’s not surprising that others would follow suit.”

Despite reneging on his testimony, Schlozman said the indictments did not break with Justice Department policy because the investigation “pertained to voter registration fraud (which examined conduct during voter registration), not fraud during an ongoing or contested election.”

Leahy said that Schlozman’s recanted testimony “does little to restore any of the lost trust or eroding confidence” in a Justice Department that already “suffer[s] from a severe credibility crisis.”