August 2, 1994 - Part 1
August 2, 1994 - Part 1
(10:25:49) Mr. FOREMAN. Sir, I'd have to look at that. It certainly raises a number of questions in the area of nonpublic information and the use of information. I don't , to this day, know anything about any of the 9 referrals, much less the 8. All I'm saying is that in terms of a possible press leak about something, and I'm very familiar with the record of the RTC, that may involve the Presidency, I think it is appropriate to notify the White House Counsel about that. Senator GRAMM. Mr. DeVore, let me ask you a couple of questions. Did you know about the September 29 meeting at the White House that Ms. Hanson attended? Mr. DEVORE. I did not. 335 Senator GRAMM. You obviously knew about the October 14 meeting. Who asked you to go to that meeting? Mr. DEVORE. Senator, I don't recall precisely who. It may have been Josh Steiner, it may have been someone else. Senator GRAMM. When you got back from the October 14 meeting, who did you talk to about it? Mr. DEVORE. Jeff Gurth, a reporter for The New York Times. Senator GRAMM. Did you talk to Mr. Altman about it? Mr. DEVORE. I did not. Senator GRAMM. Did you talk to Secretary Bentsen about it? Mr. DEVORE. I did not. Senator GRAMM. To your knowledge, did Secretary Bentsen or did Mr. Altman know about the meeting on the 29th or the meeting on October 14? Mr. DEVORE. I wasn't aware of the meeting on the 29th until the course of this investigation. To my knowledge, neither Mr. Altman nor Secretary Bentsen was aware of the meeting on October 14. In fact, Secretary Bentsen asked me, on March 3, whether I bad advised him of the meeting that took place on October 14, and I assured him I had not. Senator GRAMM. Mr. Steiner, I want to go back to your diary, and I want to make specific reference to your entry that related to the hearing that occurred before this Committee. You write: At the hearing, the recusal amazingly did not come up. The GOP did hammer away at whether Roger Altman had any meetings with the White House. He admitted to having had one to brief them on the statute deadline. They also asked if staff had met, but Roger Altman gracefully ducked the question and did not refer to phone calls he had. Now that was the impression that you had of the bearing. When did you enter that into your diary? Mr. STEINER. On February 27. Senator GRAMM. Did you ever have any discussion with Roger Altman about his testimony? Mr. STEINER. Yes, Senator. Senator GRAMM. Did you talk to him after the hearing about it? Mr. STEINER. Yes, I did, Senator. Senator GRAMM. Did you ever raise any question about whether or not his statement, that he bad only one contact, was accurate? Mr. STEiNER. I don't recall any specific conversation on that, Senator. I recall that some time after the hearing, there were general discussions, prompted either by press inquiries or by the news that Mr. Altman bad received about further contacts. Senator GRAMM. Could you tell us The CHAiRmAN. Senator Gramm, I don't want to cut off your line of questioning, but I do want to stay within the boundaries, and we'll come back to this. We're not going to let this go by. Senator Sasser. OPENING COMMENTS OF SENATOR JIM SASSER Senator SASSER. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I have a question for Mr. Steiner. Mr. Steiner, let me read you another sentence out of your diary. And I quote from the diary: As it turns out, RA's problem-and of course, RA is Roger Altman-RA's problem will Probably pass when the Congress decides to extend the statute once again. 336 You're referring there, of course, to the statute of limitations on RTC civil suits and the issue of Roger Altman's recusal on the Madison question, The President had signed a previous extension of the statute of limitations in December 1993. In signing that extension of the statute of limitations, it subjected Madison to possible civil action through February 28. in other words, it extended the statute up-to February 28.