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Pol_070329_Sampson_Excerpt.ID_WB = 17854407;
Pol_070329_Sampson_Excerpt.sPubDate = "3/29/2007 6:13:38 PM GMT";
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Pol_070329_Sampson_Excerpt.appHeader = "excerpts|Sampson questioning";
Pol_070329_Sampson_Excerpt.appDeck = "Excerpts from the Kyle Sampson hearing on the firing of eight U.S. attorneys:";
Pol_070329_Sampson_Excerpt.appFooter = "Source: Associated Press";
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Pol_070329_Sampson_Excerpt[i-1].body = "\"The decision makers in this case were the attorney general (Alberto Gonzales) and the counsel to the president (then Harriet Miers). I and others made staff recommendations but they were approved and signed off on by the principles.\" - Kyle Sampson";
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Pol_070329_Sampson_Excerpt[i-1].body = "\"The dismissed U.S. attorneys have testified under oath and said in public that they believe political influence was applied. ... If they are right - and that's why we're having these hearings, to determine if they are right, the mixing of partisan political goals into federal law enforcement - then we have a situation that is highly improper. And it corrodes the public's trust in our system of justice. It's wrong.\" - Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.";
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Pol_070329_Sampson_Excerpt[i-1].body = "\"(Attorney General Alberto Gonzales') situation is grave. Whether he was intimately involved in this debacle or just presided over a department that allowed it to happen and didn't know a thing, that's a pretty severe indictment.\" - Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.";
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Pol_070329_Sampson_Excerpt[i-1].body = "\"Right now it is generally acknowledged that the Department of Justice is in a state of disrepair, perhaps even dysfunction, because of what has happened.\" - Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa.";
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Pol_070329_Sampson_Excerpt[i-1].body = "\"We will give you a fair shake. I think the attorney general deserves a fair shake.\" - Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.";
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Pol_070329_Sampson_Excerpt[i-1].body = "\"This process was not scientific, nor was it extensively documented. That is the nature of presidential personnel decisions. But neither was the process random or arbitrary.\" - Kyle Sampson";
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Pol_070329_Sampson_Excerpt[i-1].body = "\"Presidential appointees are judged not only on their professional skills but also their management abilities, their relationships with law enforcement and other governmental leaders, and their support for the priorities of the president and the attorney general.\" - Kyle Sampson";
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Pol_070329_Sampson_Excerpt[i-1].body = "\"The distinction between 'political' and 'performance-related' reasons for removing a United States Attorney is, in my view, largely artificial.\" - Kyle Sampson
";
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Pol_070329_Sampson_Excerpt[i-1].body = "\"By and large, the process operated by consensus: when any official whom I consulted felt that an individual name should be removed form the list, it generally was.\" - Kyle Sampson";
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Pol_070329_Sampson_Excerpt[i-1].body = "\"With the exception of Bud Cummins, none of the U.S. attorneys was asked to resign in favor of a particular individual who had already been identified to take the vacant spot. Nor, to my knowledge, was any U.S. attorney asked to resign for an improper reason. ... To my knowledge, nothing of the sort occurred here.\" - Kyle Sampson";
// END editorial data