May 23, 2000
Justice, FBI officials to testify about 'pressure' on probe
By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Senate and House committees have asked a top Justice
Department official and a key FBI executive to testify this week
on their 1996 conversation on whether "pressure" was applied to
scuttle a probe of campaign-finance abuses in the 1996 election.
Lee Radek, head of Justice's office of public integrity, and
FBI Deputy Director William J. Esposito are set to testify
tomorrow before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee and on Thursday
before the House Government Reform Committee. Both panels are
investigating campaign-finance abuses.
According to a Dec. 9, 1996, memo by FBI Director Louis J.
Freeh, Mr. Radek told Mr. Esposito he was "under a lot of
pressure not to go forward with the investigation" and that Miss
Reno's job "might hang in the balance." The memo said Mr. Freeh
met with Miss Reno and personally suggested she and Mr. Radek
recuse themselves from the probe.
"Perhaps now we are a little closer to understanding why the
attorney general fought so hard against an independent counsel,"
said Rep. Dan Burton, Indiana Republican and House committee
chairman.
"When compared to what actually happened over the last three
years, the Radek comment is not surprising," Mr. Burton said.
"Radek's participation in the campaign-finance investigation has
raised many questions."
Sen. Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania Republican and chairman of
the Senate Judiciary administrative oversight and courts
subcommittee, said he may seek sanctions against Miss Reno and
Mr. Freeh for not disclosing documents related to his panel's
probe.
Mr. Specter said Miss Reno and Mr. Freeh should have
produced the Freeh memo long ago, but turned it over only in
response to a subcommittee subpoena.
"I'm very dissatisfied with the attorney general's
performance and said so many times, and I think the director has
an explanation to make as to why he did not inform the public of
the contents of his memo," he said.
The House committee also has asked that Deputy Attorney
General Eric H. Holder Jr. "produce, in person, documents related
to the Department of Justice decision not to appoint an
independent counsel to investigate the 1996 campaign-finance
scandal."
Mr. Burton said a three-year investigation by the committee
uncovered "significant evidence" that the Justice Department had
blocked efforts for an independent counsel probe into 1996
campaign-finance abuses.
"To this day, the Justice Department continues to stonewall
our investigation by not turning over documents," he said. "This
is not about national security matters or matter of executive
privilege. This is about the Justice Department obstructing
justice by withholding documents from our committee �documents
that have been under subpoena for two years.
"The American people have a right to expect that the Justice
Department works for the people, not as defense counsel for
politicians and a political party," he said.
The Freeh memo, according to Senate sources, suggested that
Mr. Radek's public integrity section could not conduct a thorough
investigation and that Miss Reno and Mr. Radek should allow
aggressive outside investigators � whom he referred to as
"junkyard dogs."
In a second memo, the sources said, Mr. Freeh said the
Justice Department had sought to sidestep the use of FBI agents
for the campaign-finance probe. That memo said the department
wanted to use investigators from the inspector general's office
at the Commerce Department instead.
Mr. Radek has denied telling anyone he was under any undue
pressure, describing the accusations as having "no basis in
fact." Miss Reno said last week she did not recall being told by
Mr. Freeh of the comment or his request that she and Mr. Radek
step aside.
The FBI has declined comment on the memo, which was turned
over under a subpoena to Senate and House investigators for an
investigation of Justice's handling of the campaign-finance
probe.
After the 1996 presidential election, there was speculation
Miss Reno would not be named for a second term. White House aides
sought to dump her because of her willingness to investigate
White House officials and appoint several independent counsels.
In her second term, she resisted an independent prosecutor
for the fund-raising scandal.
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~~~~~~~~ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day.
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