August 1, 1994 - Part 8
August 1, 1994 - Part 8
(22:15:35) Ms. HANSON. I received a call from Mr. Nussbaum, which was a follow-up to the conversation of the prior evening. Senator D'AMATO. OK I see the red light is on. I'll yield and come back to this line of questioning. The CHAIRMAN. Senator Boxer. Senator BOXER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ms. Hanson, I'm just going to use my last 7 minutes to go through a few things. I my mind, we 've heard a lot of testimony today, from you an hers and I don't see that anything came of any of these contacts, but I find them extremely troubling despite your explanation. I really would pick up where Senator Roth left off. He said, "It seems to me, you're using as an excuse, if you will, press leaks to breach some confidentiality." He further said, "If this was another case, would you do the same thing?" You said, "Yes, I might---that if I found out there was a leak on something else, I might do the same thing." I have to say this is very troubling to me, and I don't think It press stories should run the Government. I think you're much too valuable an asset to be running around worried about ' what the heck the press is going to say because, I'll tell you, you're never going to know what they're going to do, and if each of us did that, we'd never get a thing done. I really would hope the message you put out, that you didn't see anything wrong with it, would not hold in the future. Ms. HANSON. May I respond to that? Senator BOXER. Certainly. Ms. HANSON. You said two things. One, that it appears people spend a lot of time dealing with press leaks and that's just, in my experience, not the case. These were very isolated incidents and did not involve very much time. The second statement you made was that it was some sort of breach of confidence. There is no law, rule, or regulation that prohibits two governmental employees from having a conversation Senator BOXER. Yes, I understand that. Ms. HANSON. -that has a legitimate governmental purpose. It is not a breach of confidentiality. It happens. Lawyers and other governmental officials talk with each other about nonpublic, confidential information. Senator BOXER. I'm sorry to cut you off, Ms. Hanson, I don't mean to be rude, but I have only 7 minutes and I've waited 3 hours. You've said this before, and I understand we disagree. That's OK People can disagree. You and I, obviously, disagree on 181 whether it was a wise thing to do and that's what makes life go round. We don't always agree with each other. You might question my judgment, and I might question yours, and that's what this is all about. You say it was two people but, then, it turned into eight people. Who was at the meeting, Hanson, Steiner, DeVore, Nussbaum, Gearan, Lindsey, Sloan, Eggleston, and then, later, others called you about it? Obviously, it wasn't simply two people getting involved Ms. HANSON. No one called me about it, to my recollection. Senator BOXER. I'm sorry, I thought Ms. HANSON. And I didn't set up that meeting. I was invited along. Senator BOXER. Excuse me, I know that Mr. Podesta called over to the Treasury. the I don't know if he spoke to you or not. He was con- cerned about the testimony. Ms. HANSON. That was in February. Senator BOXER. Right. Which brings me to another issue. I keep coming back to- Ms. HANSON. Actually, it was--excuse me-in March. I'm sorry. Senator BOXER. I keep coming back to it because it's very important. It was the February 24, 1994 1 testimony of Mr. Altman, you sat behind him, he was asked a question by Senator Gramm: Senator GRAMM: Have you, or any member of your staff, had any communication with the President, First Lady, or any of their representatives, including their legal counsel, or any member of the White House staff, concerning Whitewater or Madison Savings? He answers, "One meeting." He doesn't talk about recusal or about your contacts, and you don't correct him. You say you were desperate to get this transcript and, I guess, this is where-Mr. Chairman, wherever you are, this is where I just-you lose me on this one. I've been around a very long time. I've been in the House of Representatives for 10 years, I've been here for 2 years, I was on a Board of Supervisors for 6 years, and I've done other things in life You are a powerful person in a powerful office, and you couldn't get the transcript. The transcript was delivered. You don't know where it is. Did you pick up the phone and call Steve Harris to try to get the transcript?