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Gavel To Gavel: Fund-Raising Hearings

Lott Renews Call For Fund-Raising Independent Counsel

Majority leader criticizes attorney general's position as 'indefensible'

lott

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, July 28) -- Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott has upped the pressure on Attorney General Janet Reno once again over her reluctance to appoint an independent counsel to investigate the campaign fund-raising controversy.

Reno's posture is "becoming more and more indefensible and I have to say there is growing concern about her actions," Lott told NBC-TV on Sunday. Last spring, Lott was one of many congressional Republicans calling for an independent counsel.

Such prosecutors by law are required when credible allegations of wrongdoing are made against Cabinet-level administration officials. Reno has repeatedly stated that level has not been reached.

But Republicans -- most recently Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee who chairs the Senate probe into campaign fund-raising -- say Reno has a conflict of interest with regard to the Hsi Lai Buddhist Temple fund-raiser, attended by Vice President Al Gore.

Immunity for nuns

daschle

Senators on the fund-raising committee, including a number of Democrats, have criticized the Justice Department for delaying approval on immunity requests for Hsi Lai nuns, who were conduits for illegal donations at the April 1996 event.

Justice Department spokesman Bert Brandenburg told reporters, "It would be a mistake to say that we have not been processing immunity requests." And appearing on ABC-TV, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle defended Reno, saying by law she cannot "even talk about reasons why she can't grant immunity" to certain witnesses.

But Lott said "the pattern here is extremely disturbing, and if it continues we're going to have to do something more." That could include filing a lawsuit to force the Justice Department to appoint an independent counsel.

Hearings to resume Tuesday

Meanwhile, the Senate Governmental Affairs committee will hold its fourth week of public hearings, starting Tuesday at 10 a.m. EDT. After a week that focused on alleged Republican fund-raising irregularities, senators this week will return to the controversial Democrat John Huang, presenting evidence he contacted Lippo Group executives around the dates that he received CIA briefings.

In other developments, two former Democratic National Committee fund-raisers -- Charlie Trie and Johnny Chung -- denied that they were involved with espionage for China.

Trie, an Arkansas businessman with ties to President Bill Clinton, told ABC-TV he has "nothing to hide" and that allegations he is a spy are "totally false."

Chung says he was solicited

Chung, in comments to The Los Angeles Times, dismissed suspicions of espionage as well. However, he also told the Times he was solicited for a contribution by White House officials, which if true, would be violation of the Hatch Act which forbids political fund-raising by government employees.





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