August 4, 1994 - Part 6
August 4, 1994 - Part 6
(14:00:01)(tape #10091 begins) what steps have been taken at the White House within this Administration as a result of what's happened here, to minimize this from happening again? Just from an administrative standpoint, that would avoid the kind of proliferation of meetings and people being involved in something beyond their scope of responsibility, if you will. (14:00:28) Mr. McLARTY. Senator, first, thank you for your kind words and not only about me but more importantly about the dedicated men and women who serve in this White House. And while 1 appreciate your generous comments about putting the staff together, I really would be remiss if I did not underscore that they reflect the President, the Vice President's input and their values in the White House makeup. Second, to respond to your question, I made almost an identical comment that, particularly with the benefit of hindsight, some things should have been done differently and Mr. Cutler points that out in his report and outlines really three steps: First, that any contacts relating to a particular law enforcement investigation should be initiated with White House Counsel approval. And as I said in my opening statement, even better, on a Counsel-to-Counsel basis which is what he recommends. And I would note that many of the contacts that are being discussed today had White House Counsel either approval or involvement or were handled on a Counsel-to-Counsel basis, but still there were too many contacts. And third, Mr. Cutler points out that lie and his colleagues in the White House Counsel's Office are drafting rules of conduct for the future concerning contacts between the Office of the White House Counsel and the Executive Branch agencies with law enforcement functions. The first two are already implemented, the third is in process and will be implemented shortly. 350 Senator DODD. I commend you for that and that's the kind of response and action (14:02:01)(tape #10090 ends) that I'm pleased to see and undertaken of Your own initiative. It should be noted of course that you said 80 in your opening statement. As I mentioned last week, we've used a lot of language and acronyms and dates and names that could probably cause most people's eyes to glaze over. Except for the subject matter we're talking about, and the notion that this was an all-consuming set of events because that's what we're paying attention to here, as you point out in your testimony, goes far beyond that. From the end of September, September 29 to roughly March 3 or 4, 1994, is the window we're talking about. We passed the North American Free Trade Agreement, obtained a GATT agreement, and the President traveled a number of places worldwide. There's a whole list of things that you included in your testimony that involved-I know because I was involved in a number of these things--countless hours, countless meetings and this did not cause a paralyzation of activity at all. Quite to the contrary. A lot of other things were going on and I think that should be noted as well.. With that I thank both of you for being here today and I commend you on your testimony. Mr. McLARTY. Senator, thank you. The CHAIRMAN. Let me just indicate, I've talked to the Senators on this side and I have not received any indication from anybody that has any further questions right now. Is that correct, Senator Sasser? Senator SASSER. Well, Mr. Chairman, to paraphrase our own colleague, Stu Udall, every question has been asked of this panel that needs to be asked. I'm just not sure that everybody's asked it yet. [Laughter.] Senator D'AMATO. Mr. Chairman Senator SASSER. But frankly, I don't have any further questions. Thank you. The CHAIRMAN. Let me also say it will be my intention, once we finish with this panel which I hope we can do shortly, we'll take roughly a half an hour break because we know we've got two other panels today and we want to get through both of those, so that we can let people get a bite of lunch. We'll start roughly a half an hour after we recess. So let's finish up with this panel now. Senator Bond. Senator BOND. Just a couple of quick questions and I'll try to be brief. Mr. McLarty, when you are going to do an interview, show or major appearance, do you normally have somebody prepare a briefing memo for you on positions that the White House has taken or that you are taking? Do you have a memo prepared for you? Mr. McLARTY. Senator, usually it is not in written form. It really depends on the type of interview. Usually the preparation is rather brief and, frankly, reflects a discussion with two or three people that are involved in topical areas that the interview will probably focus on. Usually there's-usually there's nothing written, prepared. Senator BOND. Is there anybody generally responsible for that, preparing you on those interviews? Mr. McLARTY. It really depends on the type of interview and the topics and what is topical at the time. If it's going to be on foreign 351 policy, the briefing would normally come from the NSC. If it's on economic matters, it would come from the National Economic Counsel personnel.