Evidence suggests that Alberto Gonzales' former chief of staff Kyle Sampson deleted an email re: the fired U.S. Attorneys and misled congressional investigators about the deletion. Matt Renner reported:
"Kyle Sampson, ... a central coordinator of the US attorney purge, deleted an official email on January 12, 2007. The email was a correspondence between Sampson and the DOJ White House Liaison Monica Goodling that dealt with the controversial appointment of GOP loyalist Tim Griffin to the post of US attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
"Three months after this email was deleted from Sampson's computer, he was interviewed behind closed doors by Congressional investigators....Sampson was asked directly if he destroyed documents or emails relating to the US attorney purge. He answered 'No.'... The DOJ did not respond to repeated inquires into this matter." (Truthout)
Apparently, Sampson wasn't under oath during the interview. That aside, the U.S. Code provides criminal penalties (including up to five years' prison) for making false statements to Congress (18 U.S.C. 1001).
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This is not the only time evidence seemed to contradict something Sampson said. In March, Sampson testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that he did not have replacement candidates in mind when creating the list of US Attorneys to fire; Justice Department emails released two weeks later indicate that Sampson had considered replacements. (New York Times)
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