Word: sampson
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Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' future hangs in the balance as his recently-resigned Chief of Staff Kyle Sampson sits down in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee at 10 a.m. Thursday morning in the Hart Office Building. Sampson is the man at the center of the U.S. attorney scandal, the one person who, more than any other, can answer why the eight prosecutors were fired, whether there was any improper political influence from the White House over the process, and just how involved Gonzales was in the whole affair. Gonzales has claimed only passing knowledge of the firings; a slip...
...Senate Democratic investigators worked through the weekend to prepare their lines of questioning for the Sampson testimony, poring over his and Gonzales' written and oral responses to their prior requests for information and comparing them with the thousands of e-mails released by the White House and Justice department relating to the firings. Committee chairman Patrick Leahy and New York Senator Charles Schumer have taken the lead on the investigation and are expected to carry the majority of the attack on Sampson, with freshman Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, himself a former U.S. Attorney, playing a supporting role...
...Sampson and his top-flight lawyer, Brad Berenson, sent through his prepared testimony Wednesday, in accordance with Judiciary Committee rules. In them, Sampson says the distinction between firing U.S. attorney's for "political" or "performance-related" reasons is "largely artificial," according to The Associated Press, which obtained a copy of the remarks. "A U.S. attorney who is unsuccessful from a political perspective ... is unsuccessful," Sampson says, according to the AP. But Samspon also denies that...
...Leahy and Schumer held a briefing for reporters Wednesday afternoon after reviewing Sampson's testimony and said there were no smoking guns expected Thursday. But they will press Sampson on inconsistencies between Gonzales's assertions of ignorance and documents produced by the Justice Department that show the Attorney General approved the firings and was involved in at least some of the deliberations...
...Sampson will also directly address in his testimony the question of White House involvement. Karl Rove, Bush's closest advisor, is as much a target of Democratic interest as Gonzales is, and already it appears Sampson may walk back some of the assertions the Justice Department made regarding Rove's ignorance of the firings. In a surprising move Wednesday, the Justice Department released a new batch of over 200 documents and a correction. Acting Assistant Attorney General Richard A. Hertling said in a letter to the Senate Democratic leadership and top Judiciary committee Senators today that parts...