Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 14, 1994 TAG: 9403140115
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TIM CLIFFORD NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Here are excerpts from a Friday interview:
Q: Sen. D'Amato, how do you persuade the American public that the GOP call for congressional hearings is not just a partisan attack on a Democratic president?
A: It is absolutely our constitutional responsibility. . . . What do we have? We have a well-organized attack by the spin doctors at the White House. Hey, all we want are the facts.
Q: What is the public's advantage in having congressional hearings rather than just have Whitewater special counsel Robert Fiske conduct his probe?
A: You would have no special counsel were it not for the Congress asking for information that the people are entitled to know. No. 2, you wouldn't have people such as Maggie Williams, Mrs. Clinton's chief of staff, being called in [to the Whitewater grand jury]. . . . You wouldn't have [Deputy Treasury Secretary] Roger Altman being called in were it not for the hearing that I was able to have reviewing the Resolution Trust Corp. [and its probe into Whitewater]. You wouldn't have learned of the three meetings. . . . I suggest, too, during Watergate, you learned about the secret tapes due to those hearings.
Q: What, in the end, do you expect to find?
A: I make no assumption as to what we are going to find. When we started out initially, I just wanted to know how they [Treasury's RTC investigators] were pursuing this matter.
Q: What will be the target of your hearings?
A: Our initial thrust will be to ascertain whether any of the [investigating] agencies or their independence have been compromised.
Q: In its handling of the controversy, do you suspect the White House has been unethical or just inept?
A: I think they have handled it ineptly - the manner in which they have handled the secret meetings, etc. But let me say this: I think it would be naive to think that this wasn't being done for the president and that the president didn't know that this was taking place.
Q: Do you suspect that the Clintons have committed any crimes in this affair?
A: I certainly don't have any knowledge of any, but there are certainly questions and allegations as to money being routed through Whitewater and that's something that we have to find out. There are allegations of shredding [at Hillary Rodham Clinton's former law firm]. Who knows on whose orders that took place?
Q: Could the Whitewater controversy bring down the Clinton presidency?
A: I just simply don't know. At one time, I felt that this was nothing. And it may come out to be nothing. And if we find nothing, I'll be the first person to say that. I'd be delighted to say that.
Q: If you could ask Hillary Rodham Clinton two questions, what would they be?
A: I think I'd want to know that all of the papers as they relate to Whitewater have been turned over. And I mean all of them. . . . And if there were any papers that were shredded or destroyed that she knows of, what were they? And, secondly, how was it that her chief of staff was in White House Counsel Vince Foster's room after he died. What papers, if any, did she see removed? And where are those papers now?
Q: Will your committee ask for President Clinton or the first lady to testify at your hearings?
A: That's not an issue. We're not even close to making that decision.
Keywords:
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by CNB