Ex-Gonzales Aide: Firing Decisions 'Properly Made, but Poorly Explained'

March 29, 2007 — -- In a grueling six hours of sworn testimony, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' former chief of staff contradicted his ex-boss's recollection of not seeing any memos or having any discussions about the plan to fire eight U.S. attorneys last year.

Gonzales' former top aide D. Kyle Sampson took responsibility for his role in the Justice Department's "badly mishandled " response to questions over the firings, and attempted to answer pointed questions from both sides of the aisle.

Much of Sampson's testimony focused on what Gonzales knew and when he knew it.

"I don't think the attorney general's statement that he was not involved in any discussions about U.S. attorney removals is accurate," Sampson said. "I think he's recently clarified it."

Asked about a Nov. 27, 2006, meeting in which Gonzales, Sampson and other senior Justice Department officials discussed the controversial plan to oust eight U.S. attorneys, Sampson testified that Gonzales participated in the conversation, and might have even signed off on the list of attorneys to be fired before the meeting.

Sampson described his role as "the keeper of the list" of attorneys considered for termination. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., questioned him about who made the decision to place individuals on the list, to which Sampson replied, "It was based on an aggregation of input that came into me, and then I added people to the list."

"You made a list, you aggregated a list, and you took it to the attorney general," Feinstein asked. "Is that correct?"

"Ultimately, in the fall of 2006, he [Gonzales] approved the final list," Sampson confirmed.

During questioning from Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., an outspoken critic of the Justice Department's handling of the firings, Sampson provided a few more details, noting, "I remember that he [Gonzales] asked me to make sure that I was consulting with the Deputy Attorney General [Paul McNulty], and that he agreed with the list of U.S. attorneys who should -- who we might consider asking to resign. And he also asked that I be sure to coordinate with the White House."

Despite charges that Gonzales had told a different version of events in past statements, the Justice Department doesn't see a conflict between what Gonzales has said and Sampson's testimony.

In a statement released after Sampson's testimony concluded, Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said, "The attorney general explained -- consistent with Mr. Sampson's testimony today -- in an interview on March 14 that he directed Mr. Sampson to lead the evaluation process, was kept aware of some conversations during the process, and that he approved the recommendations to seek the resignations of select U.S. attorneys."