By Kenneth J. Theisen, 3/30/07
In testimony before the
Senate Judiciary Committee on March 29th, the former top aide to U.S. Attorney General Gonzales stated, “I
don’t think the attorney general’s statement that he was not involved in any
discussions about U.S.
attorney removals is accurate.”
Translation: Alberto Gonzales lied.
In his testimony Kyle Sampson, who was forced to resign as the fall guy
in this unfolding scandal, repeatedly contradicted his former boss.
Gonzales’s story was that he
was barely involved in the firings and that he left the “details” of the
dismissals to Sampson. But Sampson
stated at the hearing that he consulted Gonzales throughout the entire process,
repeatedly keeping him updated and holding discussions with the Attorney
General. In fact discussions about the
firings began in early 2005 while Gonzales was still White House Counsel and
continued after he became the Attorney General according to the testimony. Sampson told the committee about five
briefings with his boss before the firings in December 2006.
But despite the latest
revelation, the White House still officially backs Gonzales who has been a
close friend and legal adviser to Bush for a dozen years. On March 30th White House media flak Dana
Perino stated, “I can tell you that the president has confidence in him. The president believes the attorney general
can overcome the challenges that are before him.” But the day before she told the media,
“The attorney general has some work to do up on Capitol Hill.” She said that Bush “wasn’t satisfied
with incomplete or inconsistent information being provided to Capitol
Hill.” Bush was also reportedly
asked about the Attorney General at a closed-door meeting with House
Republicans at a March 29th meeting and Bush did not defend him according to at
least one participant. This must be
worrying to Gonzales who may be the next fall guy to go in the scandal.
Sampson made further
revelations at the hearing that were damaging to the regime. He admitted that complaints about U.S.
Attorneys by Republicans were a factor in the firing of some of the
prosecutors. Just before the 2006 election,
Sampson testified that Karl Rove, Bush’s chief political advisor complained to
Gonzales about David Iglesias (who was fired) and two other prosecutors,
claiming that they were not aggressive enough in pursuing alleged Democratic
voter fraud cases. Sampson also
testified Rove aides were closely involved in the dismissals.
Gonzales is scheduled to
appear on April 17 before the Senate Judiciary committee. At this moment he may
be worrying about whether he will still be the Attorney General at that
time. Each day reveals further problems
for him and the Bush regime in this scandal.
The regime had hoped to blame everything on Sampson when he was forced
to resign on March 12, 2007. Will the
regime now try to shift the blame to Gonzales in the hopes of limiting damage
before it reaches all the way to the President?
Both houses of Congress have authorized subpoenas for other top current
or former White House Aides, including Rove and Miers.
WorldCantWait.org will
continue to report on this scandal as it develops. Check out the following previous articles:
As
Attorney Firing Case Unfolds, Gonzales” Support Erodes. Will He be the Next
Fall Guy?
Congress Issues Subpoenas in Attorneys” Firing Scandal: Is a Constitutional Crisis Developing?
The
Bush regime stories on the firing of U.S. Attorneys continue to unravel