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Ickes: Clinton Called From The White House

Top aide recalls 1994 fund-raising calls; Barbour grand jury probe underway

ickes

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, Sep. 26) -- President Bill Clinton made fund-raising phone calls in 1994 from the White House residential quarters, according to testimony from a former top White House aide, CNN has confirmed.

The president has said that he doesn't believe he made fund-raising calls from the White House but has also said that he can't rule out that he did. This is the first time someone has come forward to testify that he was present when the president made such calls.

Ickes was interviewed behind closed doors by Justice Department officials and FBI agents who are in the midst of an initial 30-day review into allegations that Clinton and Vice President Al Gore broke the law when they made such calls. Ickes was assured in writing that he was neither a subject nor a target of their investigation.

Ickes, who was the president's top political adviser in the White House before being forced out after the election last November, told federal authorities he was not present any other time when Clinton made fund-raising calls, and doesn't believe the president made other fund-raising calls because he believes he would have been present if he had.

According to well-placed sources, Ickes told the investigators the calls on that one occasion in 1994 could also have been "thank you" calls for previous contributions but they also may have been fund-raising calls. He said he couldn't remember precisely. The calls were made from the president's third floor study in the White House residence.

Sources tell CNN that Ickes said the president on that occasion called a handful of people -- "under five." Ickes could not remember to whom the calls were made.

The sources also said that Ickes had received a legal opinion from the White House counsel's office that the president could make such calls "preferably from the residence." The sources said Ickes did not know of any other times the president made such calls, nor was he present on any occasion when Vice President Al Gore made fund-raising calls from the White House.

Robert Bennett, Ickes private lawyer, issued a statement this morning, saying, "Mr. Ickes knows of absolutely no wrongdoing of the president or vice president in connection with fund-raising phone calls and has so advised the authorities. Conclusions to the contrary should not be reached from improperly leaked information taken out of context."

Related news: Barbour grand jury and Teamsters' trouble

barbour

In related campaign fund-raising news, a federal grand jury in Washington is investigating a 1994 deal between Haley Barbour, then chairman of the Republican Party, and a Hong Kong businessman, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Prosecutors seem to be trying to determine if the deal broke federal laws barring foreign donations to U.S. elections, and if Barbour testified truthfully to the Senate in July about the transaction.

The controversial deal, which bolstered the GOP treasury by $1.6 million, stems from a $2.1 million loan to the National Policy Forum, a Republican think tank which Barbour founded. A company controlled by Hong Kong businessman Ambrous Young guaranteed the loan, and some of the money went to repay a $1.6 million loan from the Republican National Committee to the think tank. The policy forum later defaulted on the loan, which cost Mr. Young's company $800,000 in collateral.

In addition, The Wall Street Journal also reported that turmoil in the Teamsters Union could spark another request for a special prosecutor. Three associates of Teamsters President Ron Carey claimed some top Clinton campaign officials had a role in a conspiracy to defraud the union, according to plea agreements filed in New York last week by federal prosecutors.


In Other News:

Friday Sept. 26, 1997

Senate Takes Up Campaign Finance Reform Debate
Ickes: Clinton Called From The White House
Reno Approaches Decision Day
Gore To Challenge GOP To Pass Campaign Finance Reform
Bennett: Jones Case Probably Won't Settle





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