NY Times
June 22, 2000
Prosecutor Recommends Special Counsel to Investigate Gore
By DON VAN NATTA Jr. and DAVID JOHNSTON ASHINGTON,
-- The head of the Justice Department's campaign finance unit has
recommended that Attorney General Janet Reno appoint a special
counsel to investigate Vice President Al Gore's political
fundraising activities during the 1996 Presidential campaign,
government officials said today.
Robert J. Conrad Jr., who heads the agency's campaign finance
team, told Ms. Reno in a meeting last week that new evidence has
revived questions about whether Mr. Gore has been truthful to
investigators about his fundraising activities.
Mr. Gore has been questioned five times under oath, most
recently in a four hour interview on April 18 at the Vice
Presidential mansion.
Prosecutors were dissatisfied with Mr. Gore's answers during the
interview which was conducted in a more confrontational tone than
previous sessions, the officials said. At times, Mr. Gore
reacted angrily to the questions, which covered an array of
issues related to the Vice President's fundraising.
So far, there is no indication that Ms. Reno has reached a
decision on the matter. First in 1997 and then again 1998, Ms.
Reno rejected the appointment of an independent counsel over the
objections of F.B.I. Director Louis J. Freeh and some Justice
Department officials.
The rules have changed since then. In place of the independent
counsel law which expired in 1999, the Justice Department has
adopted regulations that give Ms. Reno the sole authority to
appoint a prosecutor if she determines that the Justice
Department would have a conflict of interest in an investigation
or if she decided that an outside inquiry is in the public
interest.
The resurgent inquiry is focused on several issues that the
Justice Department has investigated for years, including Mr.
Gore's appearance at the Hsi Lai temple in 1996.The revived
inquiry has ignited a long-running internal battle within the
Justice Department over the issue.
The investigation has remained a highly confidential matter
within the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation. F.B.I. Director Louis J. Freeh, who has long
urged an independent investigation of Mr. Gore, has met
privately in recent weeks with lawmakers in the House and Senate
to avoid being asked to appear as a witness to discuss memorandum
that he wrote several years ago about campaign finance issues.
Mr. Freeh, whose relationship with the White House has eroded
badly over the issue, told the lawmakers that he did not want to
be drawn into a public discussion of a pending inquiry and did
not want give the White House further cause for complaint.
F.B.I. officials would not comment on the matter today.
Ms. Reno refused to seek an independent counsel to investigate
campaign finance issues. In 1998, with her aides badly divided,
she considered whether to seek an independent inquiry into Mr.
Gore's truthfulness, but ruled against the appointment, rejecting
the advice of several top officials who said that Mr. Gore's
statements were contradicted by documents and testimony.
Ms. Reno's decision proved to be one of the most controversial
of her tenure. Committees in the House and Senate are continuing
to investigate the matter as Republicans have at times demanded
her resignation for what they have said was an attempt to protect
the White House from a politically perilous inquiry.
Politically, the resurgence of an issue that had seemed to be
losing steam could not come at a worse time for Mr. Gore. The
Vice President has been attempting to reinvigorate his candidacy
and the reemergence of campaign finance as an issue could hobble
him with legal problems and provide a potent weapon to
Republicans deep into the campaign season. At this stage, there
seems little likelihood that Mr. Gore would be charged with
wrongdoing.
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*Mike Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day.
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