A Slow Leak in the Senate Judiciary Committee

[maddezmom]

A Slow Leak in the Senate Judiciary Committee

By Al Kamen
Friday, March 30, 2007; Page A15

Round up the usual suspects! A leak has sprung on Capitol Hill! And some folks at the Senate Judiciary Committee are most unhappy about it.

Seems Jennifer Leathers, a committee hearing clerk, sent an e-mail to the committee's staff on Wednesday at 10:20 a.m.: "Attached is the written testimony and CV of D. Kyle Sampson, former chief of staff to the attorney general, for tomorrow's hearing titled 'Preserving Prosecutorial Independence: Is the Department of Justice Politicizing the Hiring and Firing of U.S. Attorneys? -- Part III.' "

Nine minutes later, a clearly concerned Bruce A. Cohen, the committee's chief counsel, sent a follow-up to everyone: "Please do NOT release the testimony in advance of the hearing. Mr. Sampson's lawyer has asked that it NOT be released, NOT be made public. This is for Judiciary senators and their staffs to prepare for the hearing and NOT to be released."

Then came the inevitable e-mail from Cohen at 6:40 p.m.: "I hear that the AP has a copy of the Sampson testimony. If you provided it to the AP or provided to someone who provided it to the AP please come forward and identify yourself to me or Mike immediately." (That's Michael O'Neill, the committee's minority chief counsel.) So far, no confessions.

more:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/29/AR2007032901967.html
read the whole thing :)

[rodeodance]

1. says Page has been removed when I clink on the link

[merwin]

2. Proper link is:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/29/AR2007032901967.html

[izzie]

3. I have yet to get to the start of these hearing but have had then on

I find them very interesting but I must say at my age they bring me back to reading I have done over the years about USSR. If I re-call right all agencies and like things, like the army of the USSR had a man who was in power in these places along with say the General or head of the agency, that did the political loyalty stuff. Business was the same. That was the real power. What these people wanted. It seems that this type of govt. has seeped into every thing in our govt. and it made for chaos in the USSR and you can count on it doing the same thing here. I am sorry to say. That person in power had a name but for the life of me I can not recall it at this time.

[dsweet]

4. A Smear Job

Could Sampson or one of his handlers have actually leaked it to besmirch the integrity of the committee?

[bemildred]

5. Who gives a shit? It's all public record anyway.

This is posturing for political purposes. The content is radioactive, so you whine about how its handled rather than what it SAYS.