Posted on 09/07/2001 4:00:51 PM PDT by 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.
Leni
Didnt think so. All I hear is Bahhhh, Baaahhhhhhhh! People, taking it like a sheep.
on Nixon vs the U.S., in reference to the recordings of Water Gate, that was their ruling.
There are some things that transend politics. Every president from Thomas Jefferson to Bush has tried to preserve the independence of the executive branch. Presidents believe that congress has no right to their papers or conversations, any more than a president has the rights to congressional conversations or papers. Let congress try to demand communication records from the supreme court if you want to hear a "GO TO HELL" from people in black robes. They would refuse to.
The bigest problem a president has is that he is always surrounded by yes men and woman. Nearly everyone tries to figure out what he wants to hear, then tells him what they think he wants to hear.
Presidents try hard to get people to tell them things they should hear. Often people are told to present views they do not support or believe in. If such presentations ever became public, they would end. Presidents would make a lot more bad decisions than they do.
People will not present all positions on a problem to a president if their is even a slight chance their presentation will be made public.
Thus ever since Thomas Jefferson every president has resisted telling congress about previous presidents deliberations or advice received. For he knows that if he does, the first successor from the other party will pay him back.
Congress has full access to everything a president does. Congress should not have access to what presidential advisors say to the president or to each other. Congress has access to every Supreme court decision. They do not and should not have access to what the justices say to their aids or what the aids say to each other.
Our nation was founded on the principle that anyone can say anything in private. If that does not apply to presidents, it will soon not apply to you.
Professional courtesy.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.