Judiciary: Repetitive 'I don't recall' Without Follow-up Plan

Sampson gave many, "I don't recall"-answers without promising to provide an answer; nor outline how he might go about finding the answer.

We need to see a formalized system to follow-up with the witness assertions that they don't recall something.

What You Can Do: Please encourage your friends to raise this solution with the House-Senate Judiciary Chairmen and staff.

* * *

When a witness says they don't recall, the Committee rules should include a provision: The witness shall state they wll provide a response, answer, or information; and include in their response an estimate of the time and documents they would have to review to provide an answer.

All "I don't recall"-responses shall be indexed; and when the witness provides their follow-up answers to the Committee, they shall include an index to the original testimony; and a certification in writing that they have fully responded to all questions which they originally stated they could not recall.

The witness shall include in their response the documents they might have reviewed, referenced, or referred to had they had the time to review all the relevant documents to provide a truthful, complete answer.

The witness shall include a list of all people they have consulted with to review their documents, and provide a full response to complete their response. If any witness uses documents, notes, new material, or other people to refresh their memories, the witness shall include at the end of their response who they coordinated their response with, or what method they used to reconstruct the information which they previously could not recall.