-Caveat Lector-
Podesta Issues Correction of Op-Ed Article;
Republicans Say More Answers Still Needed
By Charles R. Babcock
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, February 19, 2001
***Page A02***
The heads of two congressional probes of former president Bill
Clinton's controversial pardon of fugitive commodities trader
Marc Rich questioned Clinton's latest explanation yesterday,
while former Clinton aides backpedaled on his claim that three
prominent Republican attorneys backed the pardon campaign.
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), who chaired a Senate Judiciary
Committee hearing on the Rich pardon last week, said on NBC's
"Meet the Press" that "there are a great many questions left
unanswered" in the op-ed piece Clinton wrote for yesterday's New
York Times.
In that article, Clinton wrote that he was troubled by the
criminalization of the 1983 case against Rich and his business
partner Pincus Green. They were indicted on charges they evaded
$48 million in taxes and traded with Iran while Americans were
being held hostage in Tehran. Both left the country and never
returned.
Clinton denied there was any connection between the pardon of
Rich and Green and the $1.5 million Denise Rich, former wife of
Marc Rich, has given the Democratic Party and the Clinton
presidential library since 1993.
Specter said that the former president's explanation "does not
say why he didn't talk to the prosecuting attorneys" or why he
didn't follow Justice Department regulations in the case. He
added that he hopes Clinton will voluntarily appear before his
committee to answer questions, as President Gerald R. Ford did
after pardoning president Richard M. Nixon in 1974.
Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), chairman of the House Government Reform
Committee, also took issue with Clinton's explanation. Burton
said on CNN's "Late Edition" that the American people want to
know why the former president pardoned "one of the most wanted
fugitives in the world" and "this editorial does not explain it."
He added, however, that he does not need Clinton to testify
unless there is some finding of wrongdoing.
Burton said that the former president was "in error" when he
wrote that three prominent Republican attorneys -- including Vice
President Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby Jr.
-- reviewed and advocated "the case for the pardons." Libby,
Leonard Garment and William Bradford Reynolds, all of whom
represented Rich at one time, have denied they had anything to do
with the pardon efforts.
John D. Podesta, Clinton's White House chief of staff, corrected
the record on "Meet the Press," saying the former president meant
the three GOP attorneys had advocated the underlying case against
the indictment, not worked on the pardon itself.
Joe Lockhart, Clinton's former press secretary, said on ABC's
"This Week" that the president noticed the disputed reference
"was a very poorly worded sentence" after he had submitted it. So
it was changed to delete "for the pardons" after the reference to
"the case" the Republican lawyers advocated.
Burton said he still plans a March 1 hearing to hear testimony
from Podesta, White House counsel Beth Nolan and longtime Clinton
confidant Bruce Lindsey, all of whom reportedly opposed the Rich
pardon. Podesta said yesterday the three will testify.
Podesta also said that he did not think the Rich pardon received
serious consideration until "the very end" of the Clinton
presidency, "after Mr. Barak [Ehud Barak, then prime minister of
Israel] asked the president to consider it, and then it was -- it
was discussed."
Specter said of the Israeli support for Rich, "You don't base a
pardon on what somebody else would like to have done, no matter
who they are." He called Clinton's reference to Israeli leaders
"a flimsy excuse."
=================================================================
Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF:
*Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
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