Dems Sound Off With Former Gonzales Aide

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales former Chief of Staff Kyle Sampson testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, March 29, 2007, before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the Justice Department firings of U.S. Attorneys. (AP Photo/Dennis Cook) (Dennis Cook - AP)

He repeatedly called himself "the aggregator of information" in the process and "the keeper of the list," as if he had some ceremonial function in a ritual that went awry.

The hearing proceeded in fits and starts, interrupted by final votes on Democrats' war funding measure calling for a withdrawal from Iraq, and on two occasions by protesters. One yelled, "End the war now!" and the second chanted, "Fire all the liars and bring the troops home now!" They were quickly escorted from the room by police. Later, the hearing was forced into a brief recess after Republicans invoked an arcane rule objecting to the session.

"We must have been scoring even more points than we thought," Leahy said before he left the committee room.

Republican aides suggested the delay was merely a mix-up and it was over within 10 minutes. But it seemed to take on added significance under the klieg lights that Bush has repeatedly said he would never allow to shine on Rove.

Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the committee's senior Republican, alluded to Rove's absence in his opening statement, saying he was interested in "the role that Mr. Rove played. And I think we ought to hear from him candidly, sooner rather than later."

A court reporter with several tape recorders sat not 10 feet from Sampson. It was a reminder of the White House's refusal to allow Rove, former White House counsel Harriet Miers or her deputy, William Kelley to testify on the record.

For Thursday, though, the tapes and cameras rolled relentlessly on Sampson, who said he was willing to stay all day to field questions. He nodded somberly when Schumer said he would take him up on that offer.

As evening set in, Specter, a former committee chairman known for being a stickler for time-limits, passed a note to Schumer with a minute-by-minute tally of how long the New York Democrat had run over with his questions. "Times Up," Specter scrawled, amid crossed-off notations down to the half-minute.

Specter "is importuning me on," Schumer finally said.

No, Specter countered: "I'm importuning you off."