Update: It looks like Senate Republicans have shut down this afternoon’s hearing. More soon. Second Update: The GOP’s complaint has been withdrawn and the hearing is back on.
So far, much of Kyle Sampson testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee seems focused on debunking comments from Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales wrongly stated he was not involved in discussions about the firings of federal prosecutors, his former chief of staff told the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday.
“I don’t think the attorney general’s statement that he was not involved in any discussions of U.S. attorney removals was accurate,” testified Kyle Sampson, who quit this month as Gonzales’ top aide. “I remember discussing with him this process of asking certain U.S. attorneys to resign.”
Sampson said Gonzales attended a crucial meeting on the firings Nov. 27, 10 days before they were carried out.
Indeed, Gonzales forcefully insisted two weeks ago, “I was not involved in seeing any memos, was not involved in any discussions about what was going on…. I never saw documents. We never had a discussion about where things stood.” Today, Sampson explained that none of this was true. Gonzales was not only at the Nov. 27 meeting, he was, according to Sampson, involved in “as many as five” discussions on the matter.
Sampson went on to say that Gonzales’ comments blaming him for withholding information from senior Justice Department officials was also a lie.
An exchange with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) stood out.
In a press conference on March 13, 2007…Gonzales specifically faulted his chief of staff Kyle Sampson for not properly informing Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty and Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General William Moschella prior to their testimonies before Congress. Gonzales said:
“I regret the fact that information was inadequately shared with individuals within the department of Justice and that consequently information was shared with the Congress that was incomplete. But the charge for the chief of staff here was to drive this process and the mistake that occurred here was that information that he had was not shared with individuals within the department who was then going to be providing testimony and information to the Congress.”
In their testimonies, McNulty and Moschella attempted to downplay White House involvement or coordination in the attorney firings.
Today, under questioning from Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Sampson said, under oath, that he “shared information with anyone who wanted it.” Specifically, Sampson said he did share information with McNulty and Moschella prior to their testimonies before Congress. Schumer responded: “So the Attorney General’s statement is wrong, is false. How could it not be?” Sampson froze. Ultimately, he acknowledged Gonzales’s statement is “not accurate.”
I’ll have more later, but for now, Sampson is making Gonzales look pretty bad — and there’s no one on the Committee willing to stand up for him.