Politico: Sampson Testimony May Be Key To Case (pleading incompetence, again?)

[babylonsister]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0307/3282.html

Sampson Testimony May Be Key To Case

By: Mike Allen
March 26, 2007 07:33 AM EST

Friends say D. Kyle Sampson, the former chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, believes that bureaucratic bungling rather than intentional wrongdoing was at the root of controversy over replacement of eight U.S. attorneys. Officials in both parties say Sampson’s testimony this Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee could provide a crucial roadmap to what happened, with Gonzales’ credibility at stake.

After the Justice Department released e-mails on Friday night that appeared to contradict the assertion by Gonzales that he had not been “involved in any discussions” about the firings, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), a member of the committee, said on Saturday: “The Sampson testimony is now more crucial than ever. He was at the center of it all. He can tell us what the attorney general knew, when he knew it, and what he did about it.”

Sampson’s questioners have e-mail showing that he discussed the replacement of the prosecutors with Gonzales beginning shortly after President Bush’s reelection in 2004. Sampson was also part of a meeting, documented in the e-mails released Friday, that Gonzales attended on the issue shortly before the firings occurred. He can be expected to tell Congress he was more involved in the details than Gonzales was.

Sampson is not gunning for anybody, according to friends. He believes that the issue has blown up because the Justice Department had an inadequate system for preparing officials to testify before Congress, the friends say. The Justice Department officials testified that the firings were based on performance rather than politics, an assertion called into question by e-mails the department later delivered to Capitol Hill.

The friends say Sampson, 37, does not plan to deliver bombshells, and say that Democrats looking for plots and schemes will be disappointed. Like other Republicans, Sampson will contend there was no underlying sin, just a botched response.

more...

[Demeter]

1. That Defense Will Last Two Seconds, Tops

But it's a nice try.

[emulatorloo]

2. Isn't POLITICO a right wing site, with a razor thin veneer of credibility?

If you go to mediamatters.org and search on POLITICO you come up with some pretty hair-raising anti-Democratic stuff.

I mean, c'mon -- look at the language in this piece "Democrats looking for plots and schemes will be disappointed."

It makes Democrats sound like nuts, obsessed with gossip and trivia.

[babylonsister]

3. Though they try to 'act' fair and balanced, for the most part I think

they lean way to the right, especially Mike Allen. I occasionally see a balanced article, but not all that frequently.
I posted this because I found it on another site, referencing Sampson. I'll think twice next time! ;-)

Edit to add: I found original story at TPMuckraker :shrug:

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002872.php