August 3, 1994 - Part 5
August 3, 1994 - Part 5
(15:50:34) This matter had been much in the news at that time and the President said to me that he was concerned that it was not being fairly understood. I replied that even that kind of innocuous conversation could subsequently be misconstrued and that it would be' preferable if the President had no discussions of any sort with Mr. Ludwig about Whitewater. The President agreed and asked me to,: so inform Mr. Ludwig. I returned to my hotel room, and I called Mr. Ludwig, whom I had not previously met. He was not in his room so I left a message later that evening, I met Mr. Ludwig by chance, I took him aside, explained that I had learned of his call to Mr. Sloan. and that 87 had talked to the President, who had decided that the two of them should not discuss anything about Whitewater. And I believe that was the end of the matter. My only other involvement in these matters came about in response to Roger Altman's February 24, 1994 testimony before this Committee. On the following day, Friday the 25th, Cliff Sloan came to MY office and told me that although Mr. Altman had said there was only one meeting between White House and Treasury officials concerning Madison, Mr. Sloan was aware of two additional meetings and several phone conversations with Jean Hanson that had taken place in late September through early October, 1993, prior to the time I had joined the Counsel's Office. In addition, I had previously learned from Mr. Nussbaum, in a conversation that occurred approximately one week after the February 2nd meeting, that Mr. Altman had raised the issue of his recusal at that February 2nd meeting. The press accounts on February 25th, quoting Mr. Altman's testimony, made no reference to the recusal. Although I had no information about Mr. Altman's knowledge, I was concerned about these omissions in his testimony. On Monday, February 28, 1994, when Mr. Nussbaum returned from an out-of- town trip, I raised these concerns with him. After he and I discussed the matter, Mr. Nussbaum asked me to talk to John Podesta, Staff Secretary, who was already aware of these issues, having discussed them previously with Mr. Eggleston. Mr. Podesta subsequently met with several members of the White House staff, including myself, to decide what actions would be appropriate in this occasion. After these discussions, Mr. Podesta called Mr. Altman and relayed our concerns about his testimony. Mr. Chairman, that sums up my involvement in these events, I will be glad to amplify in response to your questions. Thank you. The CHAIRMAN, Thank you, Mr. Klein. Mr. Eggleston. W. NEIL EGGLESTON, ASSOCIATE COUNSEL TO THE PRESIDENT Mr. EGGLESTON. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, my name is Neil Eggleston. I'm an Associate Counsel to the President. I started working at the White House in September 1993, shortly before the events that are the subject of these hearings began. Mr. Chairman, I've spent a large portion of my professional career in public service. I am proud of that public service, and I am proud that I have now worked in all three branches of Government. In the late 1970's, I served as a law clerk to two Federal judges, including the Honorable Warren E. Burger, when he was Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. From 1981 through 1987, 1 was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York. 1, left that job in 1987 to work for the House of Representatives as Deputy Chief Counsel of the House Select Committee investigating the Iran-Contra affair. As previous testimony before this Committee has now made clear, I was involved in some of the contacts between the Treasury Department and the White House in this matter. As to each of contacts, I was acting in my official capacity, assisting others III responding to press and congressional issues. 88 The first meeting that I recall attending with members of the Treasury Department occurred on October 14, 1993, As I recall, that meeting related to press inquiries that the Department of the Treasury had received about criminal referrals on the Madison matter. Those press inquiries were apparently prompted by detailed leaks from someone in the RTC to the news media, including the fact that the Clintons' names appeared in the referrals. I do not believe that I learned any information during that meeting that was not prompted by those press inquiries. And indeed, leaks from the RTC appeared a few weeks later in articles in The Washington Post and The New York Times. I have no reason whatsoever to believe that any White House official took any steps to influence the RTC based on the information that the White House received concerning the criminal referrals.