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“PRESIDENTIAL VIOLATION OF FEDERAL CAMPAIGN LAW” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Senate section on pages S1790-S1791 on Feb. 28, 1997.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
PRESIDENTIAL VIOLATION OF FEDERAL CAMPAIGN LAW
Mr. CRAIG. In speaking in morning business this morning, I want to express my concern, actually for the first time, on an issue that has been brewing publicly and not so publicly for well over 2 months now. As the Senate struggles to try to develop a mechanism under which we can effectively investigate the alleged wrongdoing at the White House as it relates to Presidential campaign fundraising, the issue gets larger and larger by the day. Yesterday, I finally believed it was time to speak out in relation to the Justice Department appointing independent counsel. I say so because it is obvious to me now that the public does not want the Congress to grind itself into gridlock and partisan fracturing in an effort to do what it should responsibly do, and that is investigate alleged wrongdoing or violations of law on the part of the executive branch.
Be that as it may, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are also finding themselves in what I believe to now be a most embarrassing situation, having to argue that we probably ought not to do this, or to reduce the scope of what we should legitimately do, all in defense of a President who, by the hour, appears to be increasingly more involved in what is allegedly wrongdoing or violation of Federal campaign law.
So, yesterday, I asked the Attorney General in a press release to appoint independent counsel and to move ahead with what she and the Justice Department must responsibly and rightfully do. The New York Times editorialized, and they said this:
Janet Reno's insistence that she is waiting for creditable evidence before appointing an independent counsel has now reached a point of mindlessness. By the standards that applied to the Carter, Reagan, and Bush administrations, the threshold for appointing an independent counsel has been reached and passed. If she will but look, Ms. Reno will see a pervasive pattern of reckless behavior and an array of suspicious incidents that cry out for an independent counsel.
That editorial went on to say--it speaks of the White House, and it says:
Presidents and their White House aides are inevitably involved in campaign planning, as certainly U.S. Senators are in the planning of their campaigns. But, by openly bartering Presidential invitations for political contribution and by relentlessly mixing official and political, this administration has gone so far beyond the normal rules of political behavior and the traditional interpretation of Federal law that even so dogged a Democrat as Pat Moynihan. .
. .
And so on and so forth. And it speaks again for Ms. Reno to appoint that independent counsel.
This morning in the Washington Times, again, headlines, ``Reno Not Ready for Outside Probe.''
My question today is to Ms. Reno. When will you be ready? When there is a massive public outcry of wrongdoing or alleged wrongdoing? When the evidence piles so high at the door of the White House that you cannot step across the threshold to go see your friend, the President, Mr. Clinton?
Ms. Reno, wake up. Listen to what is being said in public. It is time to act. It is time we develop an independent counsel, bipartisan, nonpartisan, to investigate what is now verging on a major scandal. Someone asked me while I was traveling in Idaho last week, ``Why is the President out advocating campaign finance reform when it appears that he is the greatest violator?'' I said, ``There is an old adage that those who sin the most are the first to the altar.''
We find it increasingly embarrassing to read in the newspapers everyday that somehow the White House, the very image of this country, was used for personal gain in a way that no other President has used it.
So, once again, today I call on the Attorney General to do what she must responsibly do. The allegations grow by the day. Ms. Reno, do what you should do. Appoint an independent counsel to investigate, in a nonpartisan way, what should be done, for the sake of the Presidency and the White House itself.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Wall Street Journal article entitled ``Irate Clinton Blasts Moves for Counsel'' be printed in today's Record.
There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:
Irate Clinton Blasts Moves for Counsel
(By David Rogers)
Washington.--An angry President Clinton called Democratic senators this week complaining of demands inside the party for a special counsel to investigate foreign influence in fund raising for his presidential campaign.
Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D., S.D.) was awakened around 1 a.m. Monday by Mr. Clinton. Leaders of the Democratic Senatorial Committee were also called Sunday night by the president, who angrily reminded senators he had gone to New York to raise money for their campaigns in the prior week.
None of the senators called by Mr. Clinton would discuss these conversations, and the White House declined to comment. Members of Congress and Democratic aides, however, confirmed the timing and substance of the calls. Mr. Clinton appears to have been provoked by Sunday talk shows in which former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley and Sen. Russell Feingold (D., Wis.) endorsed the appointment of an independent counsel.
The picture of an agitated president making late-night calls is very different from the calm image the White House has sought to project. The incident testifies to the increased tension between Mr. Clinton and Congress amid the almost daily revelations regarding his past fund-raising practices.
Trying to seize the high ground, Democrats are demanding that Republicans make a commitment to allow campaign-finance-reform legislation to come to the floor this year. But Mr. Clinton's outbursts may only feed Republican complaints that Democrats are stalling on behalf of the embattled president--an important fund-raiser.
The fight is expected to come to a head in the Senate as early as next Wednesday. Mr. Dashcle said yesterday that Republicans must promise to bring up campaign reform this spring if Democrats are to support funding for a GOP-backed inquiry of campaign abuses by the White House.
``We will not agree to funding . . . to anything, until we get campaign-finance reform,'' said the South Dakota Democrat. His statement, the clearest linkage of the two issues to date, is designed to exploit GOP division on this front.
The Republicans' strongest reform advocate, Arizona Sen. John McCain, supports both an independent counsel and a campaign-finance bill, but Majority Leader Trent Lott (R., Miss.) is decidedly cool to overhauling the current system. Caught in the middle is Sen. Fred Thompson (R., Tenn.), who chairs the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, charged with carrying out the planned inquiry. And some Republicans are openly proposing to scuttle Mr. Thompson's budget if the investigation becomes a vehicle to advance campaign reform.
Mr. Lott last night warned Democrats against filibustering the committee's funding but said he had exhausted efforts to reach a compromise and expected to meet the issue head-on next week.
As the Thompson inquiry has stalled, smaller investigations are springing up. One of the latest comes from a Senate Judiciary subcommittee overseeing the National Bankruptcy Review Commission. The commission's chairman, Brady Williamson, attended a fund-raiser for Mr. Clinton last September that drew a large set of big donors from the bankruptcy professional community.
In an interview this week, Mr. Williamson said he went as a
``private citizen'' and only after seeking an opinion from the White House counsel's office. But Sen. Charles Grassley
(R. Iowa), chairman of the Judiciary subcommittee, said yesterday he had received written correspondence indicating those running the event had pressured members of the banking industry to attend if they wanted to be heard on bankruptcy issues.
In another development, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents who this week raided the Washington offices of the U.S.-Thai Business Council couldn't find records related to Ban Chang International, which shared offices with the council and helped finance it. Pauline Kanchanalak, a major Democratic contributor whose gifts are now under srcutiny by the FBI, worked for Ban Chang and helped organize the council.
Ban Chang is a subsidiary of Ban Chang Group, a conglomerate based in Bangkok, Thailand. Last June Ms. Kanchanalak and a relative gave $185,000 to the Democratic National Committee in conjunction with a coffee event at the White House with President Clinton, attended by top executives of another Thai conglomerate, CP Group.
People familar with the matter say the FBI wants to know if Ms. Kanchanalak knows where the records are, but she is currently thought to be in Thailand. Her Washington-based attorney, and an attorney for Ban Chang in Washington, couldn't be reached for comment.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair recognizes the Senator from New Hampshire.
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