http://thinkprogress.org/2007/03/29/sampson-confession/Sampson’s Confession: ‘I Wish The Department Hadn’t Gone Down This Road At All’
During his opening statement today, Kyle Sampson declared that the decision to fire eight U.S. attorneys was “properly made but poorly explained.”
Some six hours of questioning later, during a tense moment, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) finally got Kyle Sampson to break down and acknowledge that in fact the decision wasn’t “proper.” It was wrong. “I wish the Department hadn’t gone down this road at all, and I regret my role in it, and that’s one of the reasons I resigned,” Kyle said.
Watch it at link...
Transcript:
SCHUMER: Do you still think David Iglesias deserved to be fired?
SAMPSON: Senator, looking back on all of this, I wish that we could do it over again.
SCHUMER: So you’re saying you think he shouldn’t have been fired?
SAMPSON: Senator, I don’t know. That was a decision that was made. In hindsight, in hindsight, I wish the Department hadn’t gone down this road at all, and I regret my role in it, and that’s one of the reasons I resigned.
SCHUMER: So if the choice were up to you, just thinking back on that fateful December 7, would you now — knowing what you know now — have put David Iglesias on a list, choice solely up to you if he should be fired?
SAMPSON: In hindsight, sitting here today –
SCHUMER: Correct.
SAMPSON: I would not.