Time: Sat Dec 06 10:00:16 1997
To: 
From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar]
Subject: SLS: House Panel Demands Freeh Memo (fwd)
Cc: 
Bcc: sls
References: 

<snip>
>
>>From the Associated Press:
>
>December 6, 1997
>
>House Panel Demands Freeh Memo
>
>Filed at 9:21 a.m. EST
>
>By The Associated Press
>
>WASHINGTON (AP) -- House investigators want to know what was in
>the memo that FBI Director Louis Freeh wrote urging Attorney General
>Janet Reno to name an independent prosecutor to investigate President
>Clinton's fund-raising activities. 
>
>The House Government Reform and Oversight Committee subpoenaed
>the document Friday from the Justice Department after both Freeh and
>Reno declined to turn over the memo to the panel, saying it would
>compromise their ongoing criminal probe. 
>
>``The public has a right to know why the director of the FBI is concerned
>about the progress of the investigation,'' committee Chairman Dan Burton,
>R-Ind., said in a letter Friday to Reno. ``Concerns about
>overcompartmentalization and micromanagement and delay have been
>reported by the media. The American people deserve to know the truth
>about the investigation.'' 
>
>Justice Department spokesman Bert Brandenburg said Friday evening he
>had not seen the subpoena yet, but he reiterated the attorney general's
>position on the memo. 
>
>``There has been a bipartisan consensus for half a century that Congress
>should not tamper with open criminal investigations,'' he said. ``And the
>reason prosecutors don't hand out open investigation files is they don't
>want to hand road maps to criminals so that they can beat their raps.'' 
>
>Brandenburg said Reno and Freeh ``agree 100 percent'' on that issue. 
>
>The FBI director and Reno are scheduled to testify Tuesday before the
>House panel about their disagreement over the independent counsel and
>the status of their investigation. They are expected to face tough
>questioning from Republicans, who have angrily denounced Reno's
>decision. 
>
>House aides said the committee also plans to subpoena independent
>counsel Donald Smaltz to testify at the same hearing about recent
>comments he made criticizing Reno's department for trying to thwart one
>of his prosecutions. 
>
>Smaltz was appointed by a court to investigate allegations of illegal
>gratuities at the Agriculture Department during Clinton's first term and he
>recently indicted former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy. 
>
>Espy's former chief of staff was convicted this week of lying to
>investigators. 
>
>After the conviction, Smaltz criticized the Justice Department for failing to
>prosecute Espy's aide and then opposing his efforts to prosecute the case.
>The department's ``opposition significantly delayed our investigation,''
>Smaltz said. 
>
<snip>
      


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