Gonzo under serious scrutiny in Special Counsel’s probe of USA firings

(h/t Jason Leopold):

According to legal sources, over the past several weeks Gonzales’s former chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, has provided damaging information to Special Prosecutor Nora Dannehy, an Assistant U.S. Attorney from Connecticut, about Gonzales.

Sampson is said to have told the special prosecutor that Gonzales was far more engaged in the attorney firings than he had previously disclosed to Dannehy, in Congressional testimony and in interviews with Justice Department watchdogs.
Sampson, these sources said, is also facing obstruction of justice charges and the sources familiar with his interviews with Dannehy said he had provided detailed information about Gonzales’s role in the firings in hopes of staving off the possibility of criminal charges he may face for his role in the dismissals. The legal standard for an obstruction of justice, conspiracy, and perjury charges is specific intent.

With that in mind, the legal sources added that although Dannehy has collected voluminous evidence over the past four months that would appear to suggest Gonzales and other Bush administration officials may have committed crimes related to the attorney firings–including perjury and conspiracy–it’s also possible that criminal charges won’t be filed if she believes she cannot prove intent.

However, Sampson is said to have provided Dannehy with an important piece of evidence that bolstered her case against Gonzales: the former Attorney General was aware of and helped create a list of federal prosecutors to fire.

Also this:

Additionally, Dannehy is said to have closed in on former Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty and apparently has information that shows he allegedly perjured himself during testimony before Congress. McNulty testified before Congress in February 2007 that the prosecutor firings were “performance related,” an allegation he knew to be untrue. Documents released by the Justice Department showed that Gonzales and McNulty participated in an hour-long meeting with Sampson and three other officials on Nov. 27, 2006 – about two weeks before the U.S. Attorneys were fired – to review the plan to fire them.

However, legal sources knowledgeable about Dannehy’s probe said McNulty is unlikely to face any criminal charges about his role in the U.S. attorney firings.