August 2, 1994 - Part 1
August 2, 1994 - Part 1
(09:55:25) Mr. STEINER. That's correct. The CHAIRmAN. When you were preparing your diary, I assume you never thought anybody would review your diary. You were writing it for yourself. Is that a fair assumption? Mr. STEINER. That is. The CHAiRmAN. Would it also be fair to assume that you kept the diary for your own personal use as a way of recording the significant occurrences that took place that you knew about or were involved in? Mr. STEINER. Senator, as I said in my opening statement, I think I used my diary as an opportunity to reflect back on events, but its primary purpose, I think, was to try to draw lessons from my personal and professional experiences. The CHAiRmAN. Do you have a copy there of the diary entries that we're going to focus on here today? Mr. STEINER. Yes, I do. The CHAIRMAN. Do you want to get those in front of you? Would you agree with me that all of the significant entries between December 2 and February 27 related to Whitewater? Mr. STEINER. Yes, I would. The CHAIRMAN. In your diary, in terms of the coding system you used, I assume, I just want to put this down for the record that RA is Roger Altman, BC is the President Bill Clinton, HRC, of course, is Hillary Rodham Clinton, WH is & White House, George is apparently George Stephanopoulos, and Harold is Harold Ickes. .Is that the coding system that was being used here? Mr. STEINER. That's correct. The CHAIRMAN. Let me read you the entries and ask you if these are indeed what you wrote, and if they are accurate, and it's 1/24 to 2/12/94. Those are the dates, It says two extremes. 326 In D.C. spent long hours with RA, Roger Altman, going over how he should han- dle the RTC's investigation of Whitewater. The statute of limitations on Madison Guaranty cases was supposed to expire 2/28. Should RA recuse himself or should he stay involved. The hurdle was so high, fraud, that it seemed unlikely the RTC would bring suit or seek a tolling agreement from BC/HRC, but the chance existed. RA originally decided to recuse himself, but under intense pressure from the White House, he said he would make the final determination based on a me. ommendation from Ellen Kulka, the GC. Now let me just stop there. When you say here, "but under intense pressure from the White House," what does that refer to? Mr. STEiNER. Senator, if I might, I'd just like to give you a little bit of background, in addition, and then I'll answer your question. Which is that, as you'll see, the dates here are 1/24 to 2/12. This entry was, in fact, written on February 12, and so it summarizes events that occurred up to that point. That was the date on which it was written. Let me describe the circumstances, if I might, about that particular entry that you referred to. Mr. Altman was considering his recusal decision. Mr. Foreman, in his opening statement, went over some of those decisions. In anticipation of his meeting at the White House, he bad received a variety of pieces of advise from members of the Treasury staff, both in favor of recusal and against it. It was my understanding that when he went to that meeting, he was either planning to or leaning toward recusal. And when I spoke with him after that meeting, I believe it was the same day, he said that he was going to consider his decision and sleep on it. I did not attend that meeting, and at no time did Mr. Altman say to me, I feel under intense pressure. I think I was surmising something or giving my impressions based on the circumstances as I knew them. The CHAIRMAN. What were those? You picked those words. You're a very thoughtful person. You're the Chief of Staff now for the Secretary. You're obviously very talented. You would not have picked those words out of thin air. What do you base that on? Mr. STEINER. As I said, Senator, Mr. Altman was receiving advise from Treasury staff at the time prior to the February 2 meeting. Most of it was in favor of recusal. The CHAIRMAN. Let me narrow you down because we're under time limits for all of us. I'm going to specifically focus on your choice of the words "but under intense pressure from the White House . . ." and I want you now to recall, as fully as you can, what the facts were that would have caused you to write those words.