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Grilling
By Michael Grunwald
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 16, 1998
Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) read an angry editorial about
Democratic fund-raising follies. Attorney General Janet Reno replied that
she doesn't care about editorials. Sen. Fred D. Thompson (R-Tenn.) also criticized Reno
for her refusal to seek an independent counsel. Reno said she doesn't
mind criticism. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) even trotted out charts to make a point. Reno
said she isn't swayed by charts.
It was a familiar scene at the Senate Judiciary Committee
yesterday, as Reno deflected pointed questions from frustrated Republicans about the
inquiry into 1996 campaign finance abuses. The result was familiar, too: verbal stalemate,
legal status quo.
"This ain't our first rodeo," Thompson
said later in an interview. "We've been back and forth on this issue so many times,
but nothing ever changes."
The committee's Justice Department oversight hearing had its
moments of drama, but none of them resolved the impasse between Reno and her GOP critics
over her refusal last year to recommend the appointment of an independent counsel for the
campaign finance probe.
Thompson disclosed new details from FBI Director Louis J. Freeh's
confidential 1997 memo urging Reno to appoint a special prosecutor.
Specter accused Reno of a double standard, complaining that she backed an independent
counsel to investigate Labor Secretary Alexis M. Herman on evidence even she acknowledged
was inconclusive while ignoring obvious evidence of abuses by President
Clinton and Vice President Gore. Hatch, the committee chairman, warned Reno that the
campaign controversy would be her most memorable legacy.
But Reno refused to budge from the decision she made in December.
She said she reviews the situation "every day," and is "absolutely
convinced" that the evidence compiled so far should not trigger the independent
counsel statute, regardless of headlines about White House coffees, allegations of Chinese money going into U.S. campaigns and the sleepovers for big
contributors in the Lincoln Bedroom.
She said she had full confidence in the Justice
Department's own two-year investigation, which after a series of early mishaps has now
secured charges against 11 Democratic fund-raisers, including a flurry of four indictments
in the past week. The probe, she said, will continue.
"I don't do things based on editorials," she said.
"I don't do things based on pressure. I do things based on the law."
The problem with the Justice probe, according to the Republican
critics, is that while a few prominent fund-raisers have been indicted, notably Johnny
Chung, Yah Lin "Charlie" Trie, Maria Hsia and Pauline Kanchanalak, no one on the
receiving end of the campaign contributions has been charged.
They argue that the Justice Department has both the appearance of
a conflict of interest and an actual conflict in investigating evidence of White House
involvement in the fund-raising abuses.
Some senators did ask Reno about Justice Department policies on
issues such as immigration, drugs and handguns, and several Democrats on the committee
used the forum to air complaints about independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr.
But the hearing was dominated by campaign
finance, with weary-sounding Republicans warning that Reno's handling of the issue may
doom the independent counsel statute when it comes up for reauthorization next year.
"You're going to kill this statute,"
Hatch said. "I don't know, maybe that's not such a bad thing. . . . But I really
think you need to revisit this issue."
Charles G. LaBella, the outgoing head of the Justice Department's
campaign finance task force, is writing a final report that may address the independent
counsel issue once more. LaBella once recommended that Reno appoint a
special prosecutor to investigate fund-raising calls made from the White House by Clinton
and Gore, and some Republicans predict that he will now recommend an independent counsel
with a much wider mandate.
Of course, the final call lies with Reno. But one telling exchange
yesterday served as a reminder: Her critics can't change her decision, but they can always
complain about it.
"I'll stay here for you until hell freezes over," Reno
said after Specter requested more time to explain his complicated
charts.
"That just may happen," Specter replied. "That just
may happen."
© Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company