Former Gonzales aide agrees to testify.
Kyle Sampson, the former aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales who resigned last week, has agreed to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the firings of eight U.S. attorneys last year. “His appearance will mark the first congressional testimony by a Justice Department aide since the release of thousands of documents that show the firings were orchestrated, in part, by the White House.” “He was right at the center of things,” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY said. “He has said publicly that what others have said is not how it happened. … He contradicts DOJ.”
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29 Responses to “Former Gonzales aide agrees to testify.”
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For the latest news, email archives, hearings, legal filings and other essential documents on the Bush DOJ prosecutor firings, see:
March 23rd, 2007 at 8:05 pm“The U.S. Attorney Scandal Documents.”
Under oath? With transcript? In public? This should be good…
March 23rd, 2007 at 8:06 pmThe Astoria paper broke this?!!! Oh, wait, just an AP wire piece. I thought maybe some of the salmon have been digging into the story.
March 23rd, 2007 at 8:07 pmTHE END IS NEAR….THE END IS NEAR……of this Anti-American Administration!!!!!
March 23rd, 2007 at 8:14 pmHoo boy….this is gonna break things wide open.
Based on Kyle’s testimony, a lot more subpoena’s are going to get cut. This whole thing is going to snowball rather quickly.
March 23rd, 2007 at 8:14 pmmake your mom proud, kyle…
March 23rd, 2007 at 8:16 pmit’ll do ya good… your country will appreciate it also…
Tell the truth and save your soul, Kyle.
March 23rd, 2007 at 8:18 pmLet’s hope Kyle is safe until he gets the chance to testify. The Bush team is backed in the corner now and who knows what they’ll do to save themselves. I hope Kyle is in protective custody. There were so many crimes committed in the past 6 years God only knows. I just feel the Bush team should be charged with crimes against humanity. Plus charged with thief of the US Treasury as Trillions was given to Halliburton for doing nothing. Now Halliburton has moved out of the US and will no longer pay US taxes.
March 23rd, 2007 at 8:18 pmMr Sampson, be very careful between now and the hearings. No airplane, no trains, no crossing busy streets. M’kay?
March 23rd, 2007 at 8:22 pmJackie Rawlings sez:
I hope Kyle’s family is in protective custody. I doubt he’ll be suicided…way too obvious, even for this administration. But if Kyle suddenly decides to clam up because someone got to him through his loved ones, it would be a lot harder to prove.
March 23rd, 2007 at 8:24 pmI’m not pinning my hopes on this one guy too much. He might have a deal to lie in exchange for a pardon.
March 23rd, 2007 at 8:26 pmKyle will probably be fine but something else will be pulled soon. He’s too high profile…. but weren’t 15 British taken into custody by Iran today?
March 23rd, 2007 at 8:29 pmHere’s some breaking news.
CNN
Front page
Breaking:
A Pentagon investigation will recommend nine officers, including up to four generals, be held accountable for missteps in the aftermath of the friendly fire death of Army Ranger Pat Tillman, AP reports citing senior defense officials.
March 23rd, 2007 at 8:34 pmComment by Spudge_Boy — March 23, 2007 @ 8:34 pm
Ah yes…Pat Tillman. Turns out that the military knew that his death was due to friendly-fire from the beginning, but deliberately withheld this information in order to portray Tillman as a ‘fallen hero’ and stir up public support for the war.
Are you outraged yet? You ought to be…
March 23rd, 2007 at 8:41 pm“be held accountable” in this administration means being given the medal of freedom award.
March 23rd, 2007 at 8:43 pmCool, Spudge & TMM.
Thanks for the heads-up.
March 23rd, 2007 at 8:44 pmit was not hard to spot that White House and Justice Department officials, and members of Congress, may have violated 18 U.S.C. §§ 1501-1520, the federal obstruction of justice statute.
1. Misrepresentations to Congress. The relevant provision, 18 U.S.C. § 1505, is very broad. It is illegal to lie to Congress, and also to “impede†it in getting information. Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty indicated to Congress that the White House’s involvement in firing the United States attorneys was minimal, something that Justice Department e-mail messages suggest to be untrue.
If Mr. Sampson withheld the information from Mr. McNulty, who then misled Congress, Mr. Sampson may have violated § 1505.
2. Calling the Prosecutors. As part of the Sarbanes-Oxley reforms, Congress passed an extremely broad obstruction of justice provision, 18 U.S.C. § 1512 (c), which applies to anyone who corruptly “obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so,†including U.S. attorney investigations.
3. Witness Tampering. 18 U.S.C. § 1512 (b) makes it illegal to intimidate Congressional witnesses. Michael Elston, Mr. McNulty’s chief of staff, contacted one of the fired attorneys, H. E. Cummins, and suggested, according to Mr. Cummins, that if he kept speaking out, there would be retaliation.
4. Firing the Attorneys. United States attorneys can be fired whenever a president wants, but not, as § 1512 (c) puts it, to corruptly obstruct, influence, or impede an official proceeding.
Let’s take the case of Carol Lam, United States attorney in San Diego. The day the news broke that Ms. Lam, who had already put one Republican congressman in jail, was investigating a second one, Mr. Sampson wrote an e-mail message referring to the “real problem we have right now with Carol Lam.†He said it made him think that it was time to start looking for a replacement.
http://www.nytimes.com/ 2007/ 03/ 19/ opinion/ 19mon4.html?ex=1331956800&en=ffab854496251b4b&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
March 23rd, 2007 at 8:52 pmRove is a proven liar who cannot be trusted to tell the truth even when he is under oath, unless and until he is directly threatened with the prospect of prison time. Or has everyone suddenly forgotten his exceedingly narrow escape from criminal indictment for perjury and false statements in the Valerie Plame Wilson investigation? Only after four visits to the grand jury convened by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, and a stark warning from Fitzgerald to defense counsel of a possible indictment, did Rove suddenly remember his role in the exposure of Plame as a CIA agent.
http://www.salon.com/ opinion/ conason/ 2007/ 03/ 23/ rove/ ?source=whitelist
March 23rd, 2007 at 8:54 pmThe only thing that distinguishes Carl Rove is that he has more hair on his palm then he does on his head.
March 23rd, 2007 at 9:07 pmThe only thing that distinguishes Carl Rove is that he has more hair on his palm then he does on his head.
Comment by WaltTheMan
OUCH!!
Heh.
March 23rd, 2007 at 9:11 pmNEW DOCUMENTS SHOW GONZALES APPROVED FIRINGS OF U.S. ATTORNEYS, CONTRADICTING EARLIER CLAIMS HE WAS NOT CLOSELY INVOLVED
http://abcnews.go.com/
March 23rd, 2007 at 9:21 pmtick…tick…tick
They used the War on Terror to sneak sham laws into the Patriot Act so that they could obstruct justice. They are Pharisees and their days are numbered.
March 23rd, 2007 at 9:25 pm#20 - Zooey,
March 23rd, 2007 at 11:15 pmAnd I allways thought that that was a men’s thing.
And I allways thought that that was a men’s thing.
Comment by WaltTheMan
As far as I’m concerned, it always will be. :)
March 23rd, 2007 at 11:29 pm#24 Heh, actually it must be a Christian thing. Atheists don’t get hair on their palms no matter how often they abuse themselves :)
March 24th, 2007 at 12:06 amSampson WILL BRING THE Bushland Uber Allies TEMPLE WITH DAGON-GONZO’s IDOL DOWN UPON CHIMPya, FRANKENCheney, Rove and ALL THEIR ROTTEN HEADS TO SQUASH THESE SONS-OF-BITCHES and JEZEBEL-BITCHES!!!!!
March 24th, 2007 at 12:47 amHeh, actually it must be a Christian thing. Atheists don’t get hair on their palms no matter how often they abuse themselves :)
Comment by JPark
Thanks for sharing…… :P
March 24th, 2007 at 1:30 amLooks like Tony Snow is having surgery just in time.
March 24th, 2007 at 3:40 amLet’s see if Sampson has enough cajones to tell people what really happened. I hope he spills his guts.
March 25th, 2007 at 12:43 pm