Kyle Sampson Builds His Defense (LAT)

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Attorney firing inquiry reaches impasse

By Richard A. Serrano and Richard B. Schmitt, Times Staff Writers
March 17, 2007

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Also Friday, a lawyer for D. Kyle Sampson, Gonzales' former chief of staff who has been at the center of the controversy, issued a statement seeking to dispel the notion that Sampson had withheld from superiors information about plans to fire U.S. attorneys.

"The fact that the White House and Justice Department had been discussing the possible replacement of several U.S. attorneys since approximately 2005 was well known to a number of other senior officials at the department, including others who were involved in preparing the department's testimony to Congress," Bradford Berenson said.

Berenson also took issue with the explanation that Gonzales offered Tuesday for Sampson's resignation. Gonzales told reporters that "the mistake" Sampson had made was "that information that he had was not shared with individuals within the department" who were going to testify before Congress.

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"Kyle did not resign because he had misled anyone at the Justice Department or withheld information," Berenson said. "He resigned because, as chief of staff, he felt he had let the attorney general down in failing to appreciate the need for … a more effective political response to the unfounded accusations of impropriety."

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