Time: Wed Aug 06 19:04:29 1997
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Date: Tue, 05 Aug 1997 18:59:50 -0700
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From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar]
Subject: SLS: "THE ATTORNEY GENERAL HAS ABUSED HER DISCRETION" (fwd)
<snip>
>
>SENSE OF THE SENATE REGARDING APPOINTMENT OF INDEPENDENT COUNSEL
> Sen. Arlen Specter, The Senate - July 25, 1997
>
>Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I have sought recognition to comment
>briefly on the issue of independent counsel. Yesterday, I spoke
>about my view that independent counsel ought to be appointed and
>the fact that there appeared to be no chance of Attorney General
>Reno appointing an independent counsel, and then exploring the
>alternatives of litigation and the alternative of an amendment to
>the independent counsel statute. I stated at that time that I
>intended to pursue legislation to modify the independent counsel
>statute and had hoped to put it on the appropriations bill on
>Commerce, State, Justice, and the Judiciary, but would not do so
>if it would tie up the bill.
>
>After consultation with the distinguished majority leader and
>others, it was apparent to me that such an amendment would tie up
>the bill and most probably provoke a filibuster on the other
>side, and that, in fact, a unanimous-consent agreement had been
>proposed which was conditional on tabling any amendment which I
>might offer.
>
>In addition to the amendment on independent counsel, I was
>considering, along with my distinguished colleague, Senator
>Hatch, offering a sense-of-the-Senate resolution calling for the
>Attorney General to appoint independent counsel. But even a
>sense-of-the-Senate resolution would have provoked a likely
>filibuster to tie up the bill. So I did not proceed to do that,
>but instead filed at the desk yesterday legislation for
>independent counsel, after consultation with the majority leader,
>who said that if an opportunity presented itself that that matter
>might be called up as early as next week. That would not be
>certain because there are considerations as to what will happen
>with the reconciliation bill and the tax bill.
>
>In the alternative, after discussions with Senator Hatch, the
>alternative has been considered to have a sense-of-the-Senate
>resolution perhaps acted on next week, if there is time. It is
>the last week before the recess. But that is problematical.
>
>Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the
>sense-of-the-Senate resolution be printed in the Record.
>
>There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed
>in the Record, as follows:
>
>SEC. . SENSE OF THE SENATE REGARDING APPOINTMENT OF INDEPENDENT
>COUNSEL.
>
>(a) Findings: The Congress finds that--
>
>(1) press reports appearing in the early Spring of 1997 reported
>that the FBI and the Justice Department withheld national
>security information the Clinton administration and President
>Clinton regarding information pertaining to the possible
>involvement by the Chinese government in seeking to influence
>both the administration and some members of Congress in the 1996
>elections;
>
>(2) President Clinton subsequently stated, in reference to the
>failure by the FBI and the Justice Department to brief him on
>such information regarding China : 'There are significant
>national security issues at stake here,' and further stated that
>'I believe I should have known';
>
>(3) there has been an acknowledgment by former White House Chief
>of Staff Leon Panetta in March 1997 that there was indeed
>coordination between the White House and the DNC regarding the
>expenditure of soft money for advertising;
>
>(4) the Attorney General in her appearance before the Senate
>Judiciary Committee on April 30, 1997 acknowledged a presumed
>coordination between President Clinton and the DNC regarding
>campaign advertisements;
>
>(5) Richard Morris in his recent book, 'Behind the Oval Office,'
>describes his firsthand knowledge that 'the president became the
>day-to-day operational director of our [DNC] TV ad campaign. He
>worked over every script, watched each ad, ordered changes in
>every visual presentation and decided which ads would run when
>and where;'
>
>(6) there have been conflicting and contradictory statements by
>the Vice President regarding the timing and extent of his
>knowledge of the nature of a fundraising event at the Hsi Lai
>Buddhist Temple near Los Angeles on April 29, 1996;
>
>(7) the independent counsel statute requires the Attorney General
>to consider the specificity of information provided and the
>credibility of the source of information pertaining to potential
>violations of criminal law by covered persons, including the
>President and the Vice President;
>
>(8) the independent counsel statute further requires the Attorney
>General to petition the court for appointment of an independent
>counsel where the Attorney General finds that there is a
>reasonable likelihood that a violation of criminal law may have
>occurred involving a covered person;
>
>(9) the Attorney General has been presented with specific and
>credible evidence pertaining to potential violations of criminal
>law by covered persons and there is a reasonable likelihood that
>a violation of criminal law may have occurred involving a covered
>person; and
>
>(10) the Attorney General has abused her discretion by failing to
>petition the court for appointment of an independent counsel.
>
>(b) It is the Sense of the Senate that the Attorney General
>should petition the court immediately for appointment of an
>independent counsel to investigate the reasonable likelihood that
>a violation of criminal law may have occurred involving a covered
>person in the 1996 presidential federal election campaign.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Published in the Aug. 4, 1997 issue of The Washington Weekly
> Copyright 1997 The Washington Weekly (http://www.federal.com)
> Reposting permitted with this message intact
>
<snip>
========================================================================
Paul Andrew Mitchell : Counselor at Law, federal witness
B.A., Political Science, UCLA; M.S., Public Administration, U.C. Irvine
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