Breaking: Leahy breaks for recess at Sampson hearing due to rules re: Repulicans object?

Democratic panel chair Leahy says Justice Department motivation improper

NBC News and news services
Updated: 7:24 p.m. ET March 29, 2007

WASHINGTON - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was briefed regularly over two years on the firings of federal prosecutors, his former top aide said Thursday, disputing Gonzales' claims he was aware of the dismissals from afar and newly undercutting his already shaky credibility.

Gonzales and former White House counsel Harriet Miers made the final decision on whether to fire the U.S. attorneys last year, said Kyle Sampson, the attorney general's former chief of staff.

"I don't think the attorney general's statement that he was not involved in any discussions of U.S. attorney removals was accurate," Sampson told a Senate Judiciary Committee inquiry into whether the dismissals were politically motivated.

"I remember discussing with him this process of asking certain U.S. attorneys to resign," Sampson said.

Sampson's testimony, for the first time, put Gonzales at the heart of the firings amid ever-changing Justice Department accounts of how they were planned.

Gonzales has said, repeatedly, that he was not closely involved in the firings and largely depended on Sampson to orchestrate them.

Sampson resigned March 12. A day later, Gonzales said he "never saw documents. We never had a discussion about where things stood" in the firings.

White House steps backThe White House stepped back from defending Gonzales even before Sampson finished testifying.

"I'm going to have to let the attorney general speak for himself," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said as Sampson entered his third hour in front of senators. Perino made it clear that Gonzales needs to explain himself to Congress - and quickly.

The attorney general is not scheduled to appear publicly on Capitol Hill until April 17. "I agree three weeks is a long time," Perino said.

The Justice Department did not have an immediate comment about Sampson's testimony. >>>cont