August 2, 1994 - Part 7
August 2, 1994 - Part 7
(19:10:50) Sure we interact a lot. I have a high regard for Mr. Steiner. In fact, what I want to say here is he's one of the best people I ever met. But what happened on February 25, was that I decided in the morning to recuse myself. We spent a bunch of time-I remember calling Mr. DeVore on the phone two or three times, although, he was then retired in Texas, not retired but moved to Texas-trying to figure out the best way to release the decision, should we put it out on the wires, should we issue a press release, should we tell a single reporter. That's what we did on February 25. 1 did the right thing. When I was asked-when I decided to recuse myself, I didn't consult with anybody. I didn't seek any body's permission. I did it. Senator SHELBY. But when you finally decided to recuse yourself it was after these meetings and suggestions by staff and everybody else, wasn't it? Mr. ALTMAN. Senator Shelby, I think the salient point is that I wasn't going to play any role on the decisions in the case. Mr. 451 Steiner's own diary says, "agreed to a de facto recusal where the RTC would handle this case like any other" and I "would have no involvement." Senator SHELBY. If you weren't going to play any role, why didn't you recuse yourself and step aside? Mr. ALTMAN. I probably should have done so 3 weeks earlier. Senator SHELBY. My time is up. The CHAIRMAN. I think somewhere along the time-I don't mean to trespass on Senator Mack's time-but we're going to have to get an explanation as to all of the agony about this decision, I mean why it was was on, off and takes up this length of time. It's that whole time period, but we're going to have to understand that a lot better than we understand it now. Senator Mack. Senator MACK. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Altman, I want to go back to that very short memo from Ms. Hanson, on September 30, regarding the Madison matter. It's very short and makes reference to her meeting at the White House at least I believe it does and it goes on to ask, and I quote, "Is there anything more that you think we should be doing?" You don't think you told her to do this and never saw the memo? Mr. ALTMAN. Senator Mack, what I tried to say before is that to me, this memo says, I've advised some people of an impending press story attached right here, Senator MACK. I beard your testimony. Again, all I'm asking you is that you don't believe that you got the memo; right? Mr. ALTMAN. I don't recall getting the memo, but I may have. Senator MACK. The second point is that you don't believe that the "we" is an indication to you that she's been working with you on these matters? Mr. ALTMAN. It says, "is there anything else you think we should be doing, " which I believe modifies the impending press story. Is there anything else we should be doing about this impending press story? That's what this says . Senator MACK. I'll get back to that in a minute. I do find that interesting. If we believe you and not her, we have to believe that she wrote you this memo for no reason at all, on a case which you knew nothing about, on a case you wanted to stay away from and reported back to you just for the heck of it. In other words, she was setting you up. Mr. ALTMAN. I don't believe that's what happened, Senator. Senator Mack. I want to ask you about another meeting. Mr. Roelle's testified that he was in your office and overheard you tell Ms. Hanson on October 6, 1993, to tell "Jack, Bernie, and the Sec- retary about the possibility of leaks," but, I guess you think he was mistaken. You don't have any knowledge of that either. Mr. ALTMAN. I don't recollect asking Ms. Hanson to go to the White House to discuss the criminal referrals, no, Sir. Senator MACK. This is not that meeting. This is October 6. That Supposedly took place on the 27th. Mr. ALTMAN. I believe that the participants in the October meeting have all testified under oath that I bad nothing to do with that meeting. I believe that was their testimony 452 Senator MACK. I'm getting to what Mr. Roelle said, Mr. Roelle's testimony. The question was "do you recall who he " Mr. Altman "told her Ms. Hanson to call?" The response was "yeah, he said call Jack, Bernie and the Secretary." Now, here's the situation for me Mr. ALTMAN. Is that the October meeting? Senator MACK. This is the October 6 meeting in your office, telephone call to Ms. Hanson, right. The response again to the question is "yeah, be said call Jack, Bernie, and the Secretary." Mr. ALTMAN. I'm not sure what your question is, Senator. Senator MACK. My question here is, you have been testifying Cut don't know anything about this. We're supposed to believe you, we now have Ms. Hanson who believes that you got a call from Roelle and you told Roelle to call Ms. Hanson to give her the details on this conversation.