August 1, 1994 - Part 7
August 1, 1994 - Part 7
(19:35:17) Ms. HANSON. Sir, as I stated, I don't know the answer to that. After March 4, 1994, when the Grand Jury subpoenas were served, I no longer was working on Madison-anything related to Madison. Senator GRAmm. Let me go back to February 23, 1994. This is the day before the bearing that we're all talking about. From looking at telephone logs, testimonies, and statements that have been made under oath, it must have been a frantic day at the Department of the Treasury, because on that day, we had one, two, three, four contacts. This is the day before the testimony. Everybody knows it's coming. It's obvious that there's great concern about it; There are 54 pages of questions and answers for Mr. Altman about Whitewater, So, obviously, this is a day of intense activity. We know that Mr. Altman called Harold Ickes on that (lay. Remember, this is one day before the hearing. The purpose of this discussion had to do with stepping down from the RTC, Then Harold Ickes calls Mr. Altman and is transferred to Josh Steiner and he 139 discusses recusal as well as the decision to step down. Steiner rela the information to Altman. Then at Altman's request, according to your deposition, you called Nussbaum to inform him that Altman will have no participation in decisions with regard to RTC civil matters. Then, Eggleston calls you and asks what Altman's response will be to a question at the Banking Committee hearing, and you read him the prepared question and answer. Now, it seems to me, at least trying to put all this together-and, of course, you were there. We weren't tbere--but, it seems to me, this -must have been a whole day of activities where there's communication back and forth between the Treasury Department and, therefore, the RTC, because Mr. Altman is Acting Head of the RTC, and the White House all day long. We know of at least four communications, two of which you were directly involved in. Ms. HANSON, Sir-ask your question. Senator GRAmm. Now, one day later Ms. HANSON. Oh, wait. May I respond to that? Senator GRAmm. Sure. Ms. HANSON. It was a hectic day. It was an extreme] hectic day, but not because people were calling back and forth. With respect to Mr. Altman's calls and Mr. Steiner's calls, I don't know anything about them. I was asked to call Mr. Nussbaum and tell him what Mr. Altman's response was going to be with respect to the Vacancy Act. That is that he was-the Vacancy Act appointment would expire. He would not be the CEO after March 31, 1994. That would mean, because the statute of limitations bad been extended at that point, that he would not be involved in the civil investigation. I made that call. And Mr. Eggleston called me, but as I-it wasn't a flurry of activity. These were two short calls. Senator GRAmm. Here's my question. We're trying to ascertainwe weren't there. We don't know-we're trying to ascertain how it could be that Mr. Altman could answer the way he did. When Mr. Altman was asked, "How many contacts have you had with the White House about this whole issue of Madison/Whitewater/RTC?" he answers, "One substantive meeting," and then on follow-up, he says, "Only one contact," and yet, the day before-we're not talking about weeks that people could forget, we're talking about the day before. We've got documentation on four contacts, two of which you, were a part of., and yet, nowhere do we see mention of these lour contacts, even I In of these letters, four letters later. I'm not aware, that any of these contacts, which occurred the day before Mr. Altman testified, were mentioned to us by Mr. Altman. He said there had been one substantive meeting, and that was this February 2, 1994, meeting, but yet, we now know there were four contacts, at least, the day before he was here before the ComMittee. The subject matter of most of those contacts was recusal, and yet, be sits there and never mentions recusal in his answers, and you're sitting behind him. Never does 'he mention the subject matter, which clearly dominated the Treasury Department, or his little Can Piece of it, for that entire day, beforehand. an you explain