Reno to face new calls from senators for Gore probe
WASHINGTON - Attorney General Janet Reno will likely face new calls
for a special prosecutor to investigate Vice President Al Gore over alleged
campaign fund-raising abuses during the attorney general's appearance Tuesday
before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The committee's Republican majority is expected to urge her to appoint a special counsel to investigate whether Gore misled prosecutors in an April interview over alleged fund-raising improprieties during 1996 campaign.
In the interview, Gore vehemently denies any knowledge that his 1996 appearance at a California Buddhist temple was a fund-raiser. Federal law prohibits such events at religious institutions because of their tax exempt status. Gore made the transcript public on Friday, declaring, "I've told the truth."
In a Justice Department memo, the existence of which was disclosed last week, Justice lawyer Robert Conrad -- the chief of the department's campaign finance task force -- recommended that Reno appoint a special counsel in the case.
Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pennsylvania, who revealed the recommendation, said he wants Reno to explain her decision not to so. Specter said he also wants to hear from FBI Director Louis Freeh, who supports a formal inquiry of Gore.
Specter has been a longtime critic of Reno for her refusal to name an outside prosecutor, saying Friday she should have done so "a long time ago."
Reno already has rejected appeals for a special counsel from Freeh; from Conrad's predecessor, Charles LaBella; and former aide Robert Litt. On Friday, she insisted her decision would not be swayed by politics.
"We've got to do this as objectively and as carefully as possible," she said, without specific comment on the recommendation.
Gore advisers have suggested the news was leaked in an attempt to force Reno to name a special counsel during the presidential campaign. Reno was said to have been angered by the revelation of the information, and has launched an internal review to determine just how that happened.
Gore told Conrad in April that he "sure as hell" did not know the Hsi Lai temple visit was a fund-raising event. Rather, the vice president said, he thought of the event was "celebratory," because a high-ranking official had come to pay a visit to the Buddhist community.
"There was no solicitation of money," Gore told Conrad. "I did not see any money or checks change hands. I never heard it discussed, nor do I believe it took place, incidentally."
The vice president was questioned about his relationships with Maria Hsia, Pauline Kanchanalak, John Huang and Charlie Trie, all of whom have been found either by the Justice Department or the House Government Reform Committee to have forwarded illegal contributions to the Democratic National Committee in 1996.
