(1)
Turns out that Kyle Sampson, the former chief of staff of Alberto Buttercheeks, may not exactly have set a good example for his boss when he appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 29. Bluntly put, he doesn’t appear to have told the whole truth and nothing but.

It is entirely possible these guys don’t actually understand the concept of telling the truth.

… documents released by the Justice Department Friday showed a new contradiction in the administration’s accounting of the firings, indicating that replacements for those dismissed were being considered by department officials nearly a year beforehand. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ former chief of staff told a Senate panel last month that he had no replacements in mind when the first seven prosecutors were fired on Dec. 7.

Today is Friday the 13th. Gonzo doesn’t appear before the committee till Tuesday the 17th (always provided he doesn’t fail his final oral exam on Monday the 16th, and resign late that evening). More than enough time for him to cram about truth-telling (if he’s so inclined, of course).

Of course, it would shake up Gonzo thoroughly, and might lead to some unexpectedly refreshing testimony, if Kyle Sampson were to be charged with perjury on Monday. I’m just saying…

The perjury charges may not stick, though. Sampson may be able to argue in court that even though replacements had been considered a year in advance, he still had no replacements in mind when he fired the prosecutors. No contradiction there. All it means is that Sampson thinks not with his mind, but with some other body part. Judging by the track record of this administration, a jury of his peers may well have no trouble believing that. Certainly, the reasonable doubt standard might be ridiculously easy to meet.

(2)
You know you’re in trouble when newswire reports start to sound like a sarcastic blogger. For Kyle Sampson that low was reached today:

New documents released Friday by the Justice Department shed enough additional light to inspire Kyle Sampson, Gonzales’ former chief of staff, to postpone his planned closed-door interview Friday with congressional investigators.

Sampson made a very categorical assertion on March 29:

“On December 7th, I did not have in mind any replacements for any of the seven who were asked to resign,” Sampson said then, under questioning from Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.

The documents released today categorically contradict that assertion:

The documents show that beginning in a January 2006 e-mail to White House Counsel Harriet Miers, Sampson proposed some of the administration’s most senior lawyers to replace U.S. attorneys in San Diego, San Francisco, Michigan and Arkansas.

One of Sampson’s suggestions was Deborah Rhodes, who was listed as a possible replacement in San Diego but who ended up winning an appointment as U.S. Attorney for Alabama’s Southern District in Mobile, despite few connections in the state.

Before coming to Alabama, Rhodes worked in 2004 and 2005 as a senior counselor in Washington, working under the assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s criminal division and supervising the department’s Office of Policy and Legislation. Before that she worked in the San Diego U.S. Attorney’s office for almost 15 years.

The potential replacements also included Rachel Brand, currently head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, who Sampson proposed to replace Margaret Chiara in Michigan, and Tim Griffin, a Rove protege who now is the acting U.S. attorney in Arkansas.