{{Short description|American attorney}} {{For|the fictional character from the soap opera ''Guiding Light''|Kyle Sampson (Guiding Light)}} {{2006 dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy}}
'''D. Kyle Sampson''' (born in [[Cedar City, Utah]]) was the chief of staff and counselor of [[United States]] [[United States Attorney General|attorney general]] [[Alberto Gonzales]]. He resigned on March 12, 2007, amid the controversy surrounding the [[2006 dismissal of U.S. attorneys|firing]] of eight [[United States Attorney|United States attorney]]s in 2006<ref>{{cite news | title=The Third Man | author=Daniel Politi | date=March 13, 2007 | publisher=Slate.com | url=http://www.slate.com/id/2161719/}}</ref> and was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing in July 2010.<ref>{{cite news | title=Letter to Congress from Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich | author=Ronald Weich | page=5 | url=http://legaltimes.typepad.com/files/conyers.dannehy.ola.resp.pdf}}</ref> In October 2007, Sampson joined the law firm of [[Hunton & Williams|Hunton & Williams LLP]] as a partner in the firm's food and drug practice, where his practice focuses on FDA regulatory and enforcement matters.<ref>{{cite news | title=Sampson, ex-aide to Gonzales, joins law firm | author=Robert Gehrke | date=31 October 2007 | publisher=Salt Lake Tribune | url=http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_7327641}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | title=Kyle Sampson, Hunton & Williams Bio | url=http://www.hunton.com/bios/bio.aspx?id=17828&BioID=1046&BioType=Group | access-date=2008-05-23 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090811061704/http://www.hunton.com/Bios/bio.aspx?id=17828 | archive-date=2009-08-11 | url-status=dead }}</ref>
== Early career ==
As a young man, Sampson served a mission for [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] among [[Hmong people|Hmong]] refugees who had emigrated from Laos to Minnesota.<ref>Robert Gehrke, "Right-hand man now a scapegoat?" ''Salt Lake Tribune,'' 18 March 2007</ref> After graduating from [[Brigham Young University]] in 1993, Sampson earned a [[Juris Doctor|JD]] with honors from [[University of Chicago Law School|the University of Chicago Law School]] in 1996, serving as articles editor on the school's [[University of Chicago Law Review|law review]].<ref>Masthead, ''University of Chicago Law Review'', Vol. 63, Number 1-4. Sampson had a student comment published in the law review, "The Fiduciary Duties of Corporate Directors to 'Phantom' Stockholders", 62 U.Chi. L.Rev. 1275.</ref> He clerked for Judge [[Karen J. Williams]] of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and then joined the [[Salt Lake City]] law firm of Parr Waddoups Brown Gee & Loveless.
== Government service == From 1999 to 2001 Sampson served as counsel to Senator [[Orrin G. Hatch]] (R-[[Utah]]) on the [[Senate Judiciary Committee]]. After the 2000 election, Sampson "drew on a friendship he had built in law school with [[Elizabeth Cheney]], the daughter of the vice president, to land a job making personnel decisions in the early days of the Bush administration."<ref>{{cite news | title=Utahn resigns in controversy over U.S. Attorney firings | author=Robert Gehrke | publisher=The Salt Lake Tribune | date=March 13, 2007 | url=http://origin.sltrib.com/news/ci_5425223 | archive-date=March 18, 2007 | access-date=March 28, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070318050544/http://origin.sltrib.com/news/ci_5425223 | url-status=dead }}</ref> Later, he worked under [[Alberto Gonzales]] as Associate Counsel to the President. From there, he served as special assistant [[United States Attorney|U.S. Attorney]] in the [[United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia|Eastern District of Virginia]], and then, in 2003, became counselor to then-Attorney General [[John Ashcroft]]. In 2005, he was promoted to be chief of staff and counselor to [[United States Attorney General|Attorney General]] Alberto Gonzales (who was sworn in as attorney general on February 14, 2005).<ref>[http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2005/February/05_ag_064.htm DOJ announcement, February 15, 2005]</ref> Sampson was "a trusted political advisor" to both Ashcroft and Gonzales.<ref>{{cite news | title=Bush's Law: The Remaking of American Justice After 9/11 | author=Eric Lichtblau | publisher=Knopf | year=2008 | page=293}}</ref>
In 2006, Sampson was a candidate for appointment to be the U.S. Attorney for the [[District of Utah]].
<blockquote>White House and Justice officials backed Mr. Sampson in his bid to replace [Paul] Warner, making that clear to the staff of [[Orrin Hatch|Senator Hatch]]. But the senator wanted Mr. Bush to nominate [[Brett Tolman]], a one-time Utah federal prosecutor who had spent the previous three years working on antiterrorism issues for the Judiciary Committee staff. . . . Mr. Hatch finally made a personal appeal to Mr. Gonzales to drop his bid to nominate Mr. Sampson. After a four-month delay, President Bush nominated Tolman for the position in June 2006.<ref>{{cite news | title=Fast-Riser's High Hopes and Sudden Fall | author=Eric Lipton | date=March 13, 2007 | work=[[New York Times]] | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/13/washington/13sampson.html}}</ref></blockquote>
== The U.S. attorneys dismissal controversy == {{main|2006 dismissal of U.S. attorneys}}
Sampson and [[Harriet Miers]] created a list of U.S. attorneys to be fired, as shown by emails produced for a congressional investigation,<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/12/AR2007031201818.html | newspaper=[[Washington Post]] | title=Firings Had Genesis in White House: Ex-Counsel Miers First Suggested Dismissing Prosecutors 2 Years Ago, Documents Show | author=Dan Eggen |author2=John Solomon | date=March 13, 2007 | page=A01}}</ref> and Sampson coordinated the execution of the plan.<ref>{{cite news | title=White House Said to Prompt Firing of Prosecutors | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/13/washington/13attorneys.html | author=David Johnston | author2=Eric Lipton | date=March 13, 2007 | work=[[New York Times]]}}</ref> "Miers had pushed to fire them all," and administration officials "were determined to dismiss those they considered the weakest performers." Sampson, "at the behest of the White House," conducted "a review to determine which of the ninety-three U.S. attorneys around the country should be let go."<ref>{{cite news | title=Bush's Law: The Remaking of American Justice | author=Lichtblau | year=2008 | page=284 | isbn=978-0375424922}}</ref> "Sampson had good political instincts, having worked on Capitol Hill for Senator [[Orrin Hatch]] before moving to the White House counsel's office to work for Gonzales."<ref>{{cite news | title=Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court | author=Jan Crawford Greenburg | publisher=Penguin | year=2008 | page=266 | isbn=978-0143113041}}</ref> Sampson wrote in an email to Miers that he was :<blockquote>Concerned that to execute this plan properly we must all be on the same page and be steeled to withstand any political upheaval that might result. If we start caving to complaining US Attorneys or Senators then we shouldn't do it—it'll be more trouble than it's worth. We'll stand by for a green light from you."<ref>{{cite news | title=Bush's Law: The Remaking of American Justice After 9/11 | author=Lichtblau | year=2008 | page=284 | isbn=978-0375424922}}</ref></blockquote>
Sampson resigned after Alberto Gonzales—under pressure from Congress—agreed that the Justice Department would turn those emails over to Congress and would make department staff, including Sampson, available to testify about the firings. Sampson "was seen within the Justice Department as a workaholic chief of staff who managed to keep things moving for Gonzales. When Sampson resigned . . . Gonzales was left . . . rudderless."<ref>{{cite news | title=Bush's Law: The Remaking of American Justice After 9/11 | author=Lichtblau | year=2008 | page=293 | isbn=978-0375424922}}</ref>
According to one commentator, "Had Republicans still been in power, there would have been no controversy, no investigation."<ref>{{cite news | title=Bush's Law: The Remaking of American Justice After 9/11 | author=Lichtblau | year=2008 | page=293 | isbn=978-0375424922}}</ref> After all, "United States attorneys are political appointees who serve at the pleasure of the president, and during changeovers in administration, they are replaced as a matter of standard practice."<ref>{{cite news | title=Bush's Law: The Remaking of American Justice After 9/11 | author=Lichtblau | year=2008 | page=283 | isbn=978-0375424922}}</ref> But in 2007, Republicans were no longer in power.
As a result of the dismissal of the eight U.S. attorneys, many senators called on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resign as well. Senator [[Charles E. Schumer]], the first senator to call for Gonzales's resignation, believes Gonzales should have resigned, not Sampson. According to Schumer, "it raises the temperature. Kyle Sampson will not become the . . . fall guy."<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031300776_3.html?nav=rss_politics | newspaper=[[Washington Post]] | title=Gonzales: 'Mistakes Were Made' | author=Dan Eggen |author2=Paul Kane | date=March 14, 2007}}</ref> The ''[[New York Times]]'' reported that "Mr. Gonzales, who approved the idea of the group firing, has been under fierce criticism from lawmakers of both parties over the dismissals, which have provoked charges that they were politically motivated."<ref>{{cite news | title='Loyalty' to Bush and Gonzales Was Factor in Prosecutors' Firings, E-Mail Shows | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/washington/14justice.html?n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fSubjects%2fU%2fUnited%20States%20Attorneys| author=David Johnston | author2=Eric Lipton | date=March 14, 2007 | work=[[New York Times]]}}</ref> Gonzales resigned on September 17, 2007.
On July 21, 2010, [[Nora Dannehy]], the special prosecutor tasked with investigating the attorney dismissals, concluded that "there was insufficient evidence to establish that persons knowingly made material false statements to [the Office of Inspector General] or Congress or corruptly endeavored to obstruct justice"<ref>{{cite news | title=Letter to Congress from Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich | author=Ronald Weich | page=5 | url=http://legaltimes.typepad.com/files/conyers.dannehy.ola.resp.pdf}}</ref> and that no criminal charges would be filed against Sampson or Gonzales.
== References == {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/27/AR2007032702423_pf.html Washington Post Profile of Sampson] * [https://www.motherjones.com/washington_dispatch/2007/03/sampson_speaks.html Attorney Firings: Sampson Speaks], Mother Jones (March 29, 2007)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sampson, Kyle}} [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:American Latter Day Saints]] [[Category:United States Department of Justice lawyers]] [[Category:Brigham Young University alumni]] [[Category:University of Chicago Law School alumni]] [[Category:Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy]] [[Category:People associated with Hunton Andrews Kurth]] [[Category:People from Cedar City, Utah]] [[Category:American Mormon missionaries in the United States]] [[Category:20th-century Mormon missionaries]] [[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]