Time: Wed Jul 23 22:38:00 1997
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Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 22:27:19 -0700
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From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar]
Subject: SLS: "The Justice Department ... is in a hopeless conflict of
interest," (fwd)
<snip>
>
>not to be used for commercial purposes
>
>
>Hearings chief blasts Justice Department, calls it 'politicized'
>
>TERRY LEMONS
>
>ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
>
>WASHINGTON--Sen. Fred Thompson accused the
>Justice Department on Tuesday of damaging the
>Senate campaign-finance investigation by opposing
>attempts to grant immunity to witnesses and
>refusing to share vital information.
> Thompson, the Tennessee Republican
>who is heading the Senate inquiry, told reporters
>he has lost confidence in a "politicized'' Justice
>Department team that has been blinded by a conflict
>of interest in the case involving President Clinton
>and his Democratic allies.
> "I do not have confidence any more
>in the Justice Department's ability to carry out
>a credible investigation,'' said Thompson, chairman
>of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee.
> His sharp words were triggered after
>department prosecutors continued opposing his attempts
>to offer legal protection to five low-level witnesses
>in the fund-raising inquiry. The list includes
>Keshi Zahn, a hostess for former Little Rock restaurateur
>Charlie Trie, and four Buddhist nuns involved in
>a California fund-raiser attended by Vice President
>Gore.
> Justice Department prosecutors,
>who have defended their work, oppose granting immunity
>for fear it would jeopardize their own criminal
>investigation. Thompson said the witnesses have
>important information, but nothing that would damage
>the overall case.
> "It's not even a close call,'' Thompson
>said at the Capitol. "It's extremely, extremely
>troubling.''
> The committee met behind closed
>doors Tuesday with federal prosecutors and decided
>to delay any immunity vote on the witnesses until
>today. The committee begins its third week of hearings
>into whether foreign or tainted money entered the
>1996 elections.
> The first two weeks were spent exploring
>questions involving Clinton and Democrats; this
>week's three days of hearings will examine foreign
>donations flowing to Republicans.
> Democrats will zero in on a loan
>guarantee made by a Hong Kong company to the National
>Policy Forum, a think tank closely tied to the
>Republican National Committee and former party
>Chairman Haley Barbour.
> Sen. John Glenn of Ohio, the committee's
>ranking Democrat, said the loan arrangement helped
>send more than $1 million to GOP candidates in
>the closing weeks of the 1994 campaign.
> Today's testimony will feature former
>National Policy Foundation President Michael Baroody.
>Barbour is to testify Thursday.
> While Democrats hustled Tuesday
>to finish preparations for questioning GOP leaders,
>some long-simmering animosity surfaced between
>Thompson's committee and the Justice Department.
>The two groups, which are conducting separate fund-
>raising investigations, have been at odds in recent
>weeks over issues including allegations that the
>Chinese government tried to secretly influence
>the 1996 elections.
> The Justice Department is conducting
>a criminal investigation into the China matter.
>Thompson and other Republicans have been unhappy
>with the amount of information being shared by
>prosecutors, including why they oppose granting
>immunity to the five witnesses.
> Thompson said it is a pattern of
>Justice Department "foot-dragging'' that is eating
>away at the committee's limited investigation time.
>The $4.3 million Senate review faces a year-end
>deadline.
> "The Justice Department makes it
>much more difficult for us,'' he said.
> Thompson questioned whether politics
>may be coloring the judgment of the Clinton-run
>Justice Department team. Thompson said it was inappropriate
>for Justice Department officials to "put themselves
>in the position'' of making calls on fund-raising
>questions directly involving Clinton aides.
> "The Justice Department ... is in
>a hopeless conflict of interest,'' Thompson said.
> The better alternative, Republicans
>said, was for Attorney General Janet Reno to end
>her opposition to an independent counsel. Sen.
>Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said he might bypass Reno
>and for the first time have the Senate directly
>seek appointment of a special prosecutor from a
>three-judge federal panel.
> Such a move is necessary because
>the Justice Department "is simply not on top of
>this case,'' Specter said.
> Thompson and several other top Republicans
>said they might be open to such a maneuver.
> Republicans hoped to finally end
>the long-running deadlock over granting immunity
>to the five witnesses. Committee lawyers want to
>resolve some lingering questions before today's
>session.
> "This thing has been dragged out
>entirely too long,'' Thompson said.
> At the Justice Department, spokesman
>Bert Brandenburg said prosecutors support the committee's
>requests for limited immunity involving 11 of 26
>people. Of the remaining 15, Brandenburg told The
>Associated Press, the department either opposed
>immunity or lacked enough information to make a
>decision.
> ''Some of the 15 may later be approved
>for immunity as we get more information,'' he added.
> It is not clear where Democrats
>will stand during today's vote, where a two-thirds
>majority will be required to grant immunity. That
>means at least two of the committee's seven Democrats
>must join with nine Republicans.
> "We just want to make sure everything
>is done correctly,'' said Alan Baron, special counsel
>for committee Democrats.
> The dispute centers on granting
>immunity to four nuns who participated in a Democratic
>fund-raiser at a Buddhist temple and Zahn, who
>helped Trie run his international trading business
>in Washington.
> Committee investigators want to
>talk to Zahn about events involving Trie, who left
>Little Rock to become a Democratic fund-raiser.
>Party leaders have returned much of the money because
>of concerns that it originated overseas.
> Like Trie, Zahn has been in China
>in recent weeks. While Trie has said he has no
>plans to leave, a committee aide said Zahn has
>signaled she wants to return and testify--if
>she's offered immunity.
> "She says she's on vacation, but
>she wants to come back and testify,'' the aide
>said. "She wants to clear her name.'
>
>
>This article was published on Wednesday, July 23, 1997
>
>COPYRIGHT 1997, LITTLE ROCK NEWSPAPERS, INC. ALL
>RIGHTS RESERVED.
========================================================================
Paul Andrew Mitchell : Counselor at Law, federal witness
B.A., Political Science, UCLA; M.S., Public Administration, U.C. Irvine
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