WASHINGTON -- A former top aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales would not say that she did anything illegal but admitted Wednesday she may have crossed a line in questioning prospective U.S. attorneys about their political preference.

"I may have gone too far, and I may have taken inappropriate political considerations into account on some occasions," Monica Goodling said Wednesday in testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. "And I regret those mistakes."

There had been allegations that at the Justice Department, Goodling wanted to only hire career prosecutors who were Republicans. Making hiring decisions based on political affiliation is illegal.

Goodling was Gonzales' counsel and served as the Justice Department's liaison to the White House. She is testifying under a grant of immunity before the House Judiciary Committee.

Goodling told the committee of her role in the firing of eight U.S. prosecutors -- and accused Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty of allegedly misleading Congress about the dismissals.

Congress wanted to know if the attorneys were fired for political reasons.

Goodling said McNulty was not candid with lawmakers in "a number of respects" about the firings of several federal prosecutors last year. She said she and others fully briefed McNulty before his testimony in February to a Senate panel.

Goodling quit last month and invoked her right against self-incrimination in refusing to testify until Wednesday.

"The fact that we are granting limited immunity to Ms. Goodling for her testimony should not be taken as an indication that the committee believes that she is guilty of a crime," said Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., the chairman of the committee in his prepared introductory statement.

Justice Department e-mails show Goodling played a major role in compiling names of prosecutors to fire and was in close contact with political operatives at the White House.

Goodling said she never recommended that any of the eight federal prosecutors be fired. She also said she never spoke to former White House counsel Harriet Miers or to political adviser Karl Rove about the firings.

"I am certain I never spoke to them about the hiring or firing of any U.S. attorney," Goodling said. "Although I did have discussions with certain members of their staffs regarding specific aspects of the replacement plan, I never recommended to them that a specific U.S. attorney be added or removed from (former Gonzales Chief of Staff Kyle) Sampson's list, and I do not recall that they ever communicated any such recommendation to me."