Top Aide To Gonzales Agrees To Testify

by S-Q @ 5:55 PM MDT





CBS/AP

Former Aide To Attorney General Will Appear At Senate Inquiry Into Firings Of 8 U.S. Attorneys

WASHINGTON, March 23, 2007

(CBS/AP) The former top aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales agreed Friday to testify at a Senate inquiry next week into the firings of eight U.S. attorneys last year.

Kyle Sampson, who resigned last week amid the furor over the dismissals, will appear next Thursday at a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee, his attorney said. His appearance will mark the first congressional testimony by a Justice Department aide since the release of thousands of documents that show the firings were orchestrated, in part, by the White House.

Sampson "looks forward to answering the committee's questions," wrote his attorney, Brad Berenson, in a two-paragraph letter to Committee chairman Patrick Leahy, a Democrat, and the panel's top Republican, Arlen Specter.

"We trust that his decision to do so will satisfy the need of the Congress to obtain information from him concerning the requested resignations of the United States attorneys," Berenson wrote.