[Still trying to "ketchup," it looks like Clinton was shocked,
shocked! to hear that illegal money was flowing into the DNC
coffers. After all, that is what he implied, and we all know that
he always tells the truth, don't we? --MS]
July 26, 2000
President blames DNC for illegal contributions
By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The Democratic National Committee is to blame for illegal foreign
contributions during the 1996 election because it shut down for
economic reasons a vetting process aimed at identifying
unacceptable donors, President Clinton told federal
investigators. Mr. Clinton, during a four-hour interview by the
Justice Department's campaign finance task force, said he was
"livid" after learning of the DNC's decision to eliminate the
previously required background checks to save money � saying it
"put all of us in a very bad position."
"I don't know who made the decision. I don't know how they did
it. Nobody wanted to be the father of that decision once this
came out," Mr. Clinton said. "All I can tell you is that I was
livid about it . . . and I thought it was wrong not to vet
these things."
The president's comments are documented in a 155-page transcript
of an April 21 interview by task force chief Robert J. Conrad
Jr., who is probing campaign finance abuses by the Clinton-Gore
Re-election Committee and the Democratic Party. Mr. Clinton told
Mr. Conrad he did not learn of the decision to stop the
background checks until the end of the 1996 campaign and
immediately ordered the organization to set up a new vetting
process. He said he also hired a law firm to get the records in
order, spending $4 million in the process.
In response to questions by Mr. Conrad, the president declined
to place blame on specific DNC officials, although he noted that
"people who were in high positions of responsibility" left after
the plan was uncovered. Those leaving the DNC in late 1996 were
its chairman, Donald Fowler, and Marvin Rosen, the DNC's finance
chairman.
"Marvin Rosen resigned and then Don Fowler left," Mr. Clinton
said. "Everybody that was responsible for it was gone."
In 1997, the DNC acknowledged it had not done a good job of
vetting prospective donors and set up a new system to correct the
matter. Mr. Fowler, who now runs a South Carolina communications
firm, did not respond to calls to his office yesterday for
comment. Mr. Rosen also was unavailable for comment.
The president also told Mr. Conrad that despite attending
numerous fund-raisers at which wealthy foreigners were introduced
to him � some through interpreters � he had no concern that
illegal donations would find their way into the DNC or the
Clinton-Gore Re-Election Committee.
"I thought if anybody tried to give us money that they shouldn't,
that it would be checked and found out and returned," Mr.
Clinton said. "You have to understand, it never occurred to me
that this wasn't being done until I heard about it. As far as I
am able to determine, not a single, solitary soul in the White
House was ever told that this vetting operation was dismantled .
. . for economic reasons."
But in a 1998 report, Charles G. LaBella, who formally headed
the campaign finance task force, called Mr. Clinton a key player
in a 1996 fund-raising scheme designed to "raise money by
whatever means and from whomever would give it, without
meaningful attention to the lawfulness of the contributions."
Mr. LaBella noted that former White House Deputy Chief of Staff
Harold Ickes, who directed the 1996 campaign from his West Wing
office, was the liaison between the White House and the DNC, and
he described Mr. Ickes as a "Svengali, assuming power � with the
imprimatur of the president � to authorize DNC and Clinton/Gore
'96 expenditures." He said the White House, in order to raise
"enormous sums of money" to offset 1994 losses to the GOP, relied
on the "calculated use of access" to Mr. Clinton "as leverage to
extract contributions from donors hoping to enhance their own
business positions."
"All pretense of maintaining discrete areas of responsibility and
control were shattered as the need for campaign funds � driven by
the media campaign � increased," Mr. LaBella said. "Such
blurring of lines is troubling because it triggered an
intermingling of funds, resources and personnel that resulted in
the circumvention and violation of campaign contribution
regulations."
The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, which concluded in
1997 that the DNC had "dismantled its own internal vetting
procedures," said the DNC would not have hired one of its top
fund-raisers � John Huang � were it not for Mr. Clinton's
insistence. Mr. Huang raised $1.6 million that later was
returned because of its questionable legality.
The Conrad interview covered a number of topics, but the task
force chief, a career prosecutor, left no doubt he was looking
for answers to tough questions of immediate concern to
investigators.
He opened the session by saying, "We are here to ask you a series
of questions with respect to matters and individuals that are
under investigation by the campaign finance task force, and would
request and expect truthful and complete answers from you."
=================================================================
Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*Mike Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
~~~~~~~~ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day.
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