White House Hides Clinton Fund-raising Scandal From Congress {Why Would Bush Cover Up for Clinton?}

newsmax.com ^ | Friday, Sept. 7, 2001 | NewsMax.com Wires

[freedomnews]

White House Hides Clinton Fund-raising Scandal From Congress Friday, Sept. 7, 2001

WASHINGTON - The House Government Reform Committee on Thursday prepared to subpoena the Bush administration for documents relating to Justice Department investigations of the Clinton administration's fund-raising scandal. But the White House said it was prepared to invoke executive privilege to keep the documents secret, shocking congressional investigators.

Subpoenas were also planned for another set of documents related to Boston-area organized crime.

Two sets of documents involve the Justice Department's decision not to seek an independent counsel after the 1996 campaign fund-raising scandals that hit both parties during the Clinton administration.

The other 13 documents relate to Justice Department records involving a series of investigations into organized crime in New England, which resulted in key government informants being indicted for a slew of crimes in 1995. The committee has been investigating the use of informants in investigations of organized crime.

Led by Committee Chairman Dan Burton, R-Ind., investigators sought a deal with the Bush administration over the release of the documents. The White House said the decision would be in the "best interests of the administration of justice."

The "president has accepted the recommendation of White House counsel Alberto Gonzalez and is prepared to invoke executive privilege over these documents," an administration official said.

He said that though the documents had no bearing on actions of the Bush administration, White House lawyers had determined that "it was in the best interests of the administration of justice that prosecutors be able to think about options in a case without making those considerations public."

Why Would Bush Cover Up for Clinton?

The decision to seek executive privilege for the documents of another administration's scandals shocked investigators, a committee source said.

"We were somewhat surprised to see the White House exert executive privilege," the committee source said. "The documents we requested do not go directly to private conversations between past presidents and attorneys general. We even specifically said we didn't want documents related to open investigations.

"We've been negotiating with them for months, and at no time did they even mention that they would claim any privilege."

The committee sources said the subpoenas did not request grand jury information or documents related to open or continuing investigations, which they said should have made the president more responsive to the request.

[teletech]

I say it's a cover-up........

Ok, if YOU say its a cover-up, by golly it must be a cover-up! NOT!

[Paranoid-Pessimist]

The Republican Party and Democratic Party are 2 sides of the same coin. Both serve to advance the liberal agenda, while covering and running interference for each other. The Republican Party is no more interested in devolving power back to the states or to the people than is the Democratic Party. The Republican Party eats it! It certainly is not the answer to a real conservative agenda or to a libertarian agenda. I'm so disappointed in Bush/Cheney/Ashcroft. They'll never disappoint me again, though. I'll expect them to do the wrong thing.