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 | OPENING THE FLOOD GATES?
JUNE 18, 1996TRANSCRIPT |
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With the release of the report of the findings of the Senate Whitewater Committee, Kwame Holman looks back on what was almost a year of hearings.
Jim Lehrer discussed the findings of the Whitewater Committee with Senators Bennett and Sarbanes
Shields and Gigot consider the conclusions of the Whitewater Committee report.
Senator D'Amato's statement on the release of the Whitewater Committee report.
The Democratic Senators' summary of their minority portion of the Whitewater Committee report.
After a copy of the Republican's Whitewater report was leaked to the Washington Post, White House spokesperson Mike McCurry labeled the document as a partisan attack.
MAY 28: Hillary Clinton's interview with Jim Lehrer, included questions about Whitewater.
FEB. 22: Deputy White House Chief of Staff Harold Ickes testified before the Whitewater Committee.
DEC. 15: Senator D'Amato (R), Chair of the Whitewater Committee discussed the controversy of President Clinton's notes.
Complete NewsHour coverage of the Senate Whitewater Committee and the Arkansas trial.
KWAME HOLMAN: On July 18, 1995 former Assistant Attorney General and former law partner to Hillary Clinton, Webster Hubbell, was sworn in as the first witness before the Senate Special Whitewater Committee. 11 months, 52 hearings, and 260 witnesses later, the Republican majority on the committee issued its final report.
SEN. ALFONSE D'AMATO: We have had hundreds of hours of testimony with key administration officials forgetting important facts, not recalling major events, and repudiating their own notes and diaries. We have seen members of the administration or close associates of the Clintons convicted, indicted, or forced to resign from public office. We have witnessed a pattern of deception and arrogance that undermines the fundamental core of the American democratic system.
KWAME HOLMAN: Among the major findings of the committee's Republican majority: evidence of a conspiracy to remove potentially damaging files from the office of White House Deputy Counsel Vincent Foster on the night of his suicide in July, 1993, a conspiracy orchestrated by telephone by First Lady Hillary Clinton and carried out by chief of staff Margaret Williams and Mrs. Clinton's friend and adviser, Susan Thomases.
SUSAN THOMASES: While my memory is not perfect, I just don't remember every person that I spoke to during those days, but I do know that I never--I say never--received from anyone, or gave to anyone, any instruction about how the review of Vince Foster's office was to be conducted, or how files in Vince Foster's office were to be handled.
KWAME HOLMAN: Republicans go on to charge then White House Counsel Bernard Nussbaum broke an agreement with Justice Department officials and impeded police in their search of Foster's office.
SEN. RICHARD SHELBY: Do you remember the deputy attorney general, Mr. Heiman, telling you--his testimony was that he was very, very angry--do you recall him saying, "Are you hiding something?" and you don't recall that, something so central, so indicting? Could he have said that?
BERNARD NUSSBAUM: Yes, he could have said that, but I don't remember that. I think it's something I would remember but I don't remember.
KWAME HOLMAN: On this matter, the Republicans conclude taken as a whole, the events described reveal a concentrated effort by senior White House officials to block career law enforcement investigators from conducting a thorough investigation of a unique and disturbing event, the first suicide of a very senior U.S. official in almost fifty years.
SEN. RICHARD SHELBY: There's evidence of obstruction of justice by Mr. Nussbaum, a probable obstruction--a probable obstruction of justice, and also perjury by Mr. Nussbaum, Mrs. Maggie Williams, and obviously Mrs. Thomas--Thomases. There might be others, but ultimately, that will be the call of the grand jury and the special investigator.
KWAME HOLMAN: In their second major area of inquiry, Committee Republicans charged lawyers on the White House payroll improperly aided the Clintons' private attorneys by passing on information about a criminal investigation of Madison Savings & Loan, owned by the Clintons' former Whitewater business partner, James McDougal. The public and private lawyers met at the White House on November 5, 1993.
MR. ESTON: The purpose of this meeting was to make sure that the President and the First Lady had private counsel who would do the kind of things that private counsel can do in connection with these kinds of matters, and there are lots of things that we as government officials can't do, and that we in the White House would, would do the things that were appropriate for government officials to do who are working at the White House.
KWAME HOLMAN: But Republicans charged White House lawyers continue to work with the Clintons' private attorney, David Kendall.
MICHAEL CHERTOFF, Republican Counsel: You continued to deal with Kendall. So even after November 5th, there wasn't a parting of the ways or a passing of the torch. What happened is everybody lit the same torch and went on carrying it, isn't that right?
KWAME HOLMAN: Committee Republicans conclude the sharing of information was “a disturbing turning point in the [Whitewater] investigation” and that "although the Clintons faced adverse legal actions by the United States, they were relying on United States officials at the highest level to defeat or avoid such actions."
SEN. KIT BOND, (R) Missouri: We have seen a consistent pattern of interference, efforts to cover up, to spy on, to gain improper information on the investigations of what went on in Arkansas, and we have seen a failure, an inability of representatives of the White House and other agencies to tell the truth when asked questions about their behavior.
KWAME HOLMAN: The third major finding in the Republicans' report concludes that Mrs. Clinton while a partner at the Rose Law Firm in Little Rock did far more work for James McDougal and Madison Savings & Loan than she had previously disposed. That included work on a land deal known as Castle Grande, which federal investigators say was filled with fraudulent transactions. Mrs. Clinton's missing law firm billing records that led Republicans to that conclusion were discovered in a room in the White House residence.
MS. CAROLYN HUBER, White House aide: And over on the edge of the corner was these documents, and I saw 'em, I just--they were folded, I didn't open 'em--I just picked 'em up and plunked them down into the box.
KWAME HOLMAN: Republicans on the committee conclude the secreting of the Rose Law Firm billing records could have been motivated by a desire to conceal Mrs. Clinton's involvement in Castle Grande. The desire to keep her role secret might have been the cause of the long absence of the billing records.
SEN. ORRIN HATCH, (R) Utah: These records have been under subpoena by the independent counsel for almost two years. Were these records in Vincent Foster's office when he died, and were they removed by the First Lady's assistants in order to conceal them from federal investigators? Legitimate questions. The Whitewater affair appears to be the classic story of unscrupulous dealings intended to benefit the politically elite in Arkansas.
KWAME HOLMAN: Almost from the outset, committee Republicans have scrutinized the role of First Lady Hillary Clinton. Today they concluded Mrs. Clinton was a central figure in the removal of files from Vincent Foster's office, the discovery of long missing law firm billing records at the White House, and the improper real estate transactions in Arkansas. But the committee's Democrats also have been consistent, saying the long investigation primarily was political and has shown no wrongdoing by the First Lady, the President, or anyone else at the White House.
SEN. CHRISTOPHER DODD: Certainly, as we know today, it'll be 20 weeks from tonight on this day the people will go to the polls, 20 weeks from today. What we're seeing here should come as no surprise. The Republicans are trailing in the polls, and therefore, they will throw as much mud as they can at the First Family.
SEN. CAROL MOSELEY-BRAUN, (D) Illinois: I am particularly, and I think there are many people who are particularly taken, if not offended, by the, by the partisan and the hard edge of the partisan, political, vindictive nature of the majority attack on the First Lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Maggie Williams, Susan Thomases, the women who associated with the First Lady.
The fact of the matter is that she was singled out for special abuse by this committee in this inquisition. And it is not only unfortunate, but I think it is a very frightening aspect that a woman who has to work for her family will be subjected to this kind of, this kind of, of excoriation at the hands of a politically-motivated inquisition as this committee unfortunately turned into.
KWAME HOLMAN: Nevertheless, Republicans have turned over their report to Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr. Starr will determine whether anyone will be charged with lying to the Whitewater committee.
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