August 4, 1994 - Part 2
August 4, 1994 - Part 2
(10:20:41) I have a job to do. My job is to focus on Health Care, to focus on our social obligations, to focus on her obligations as a First Lady. I had a staff of 13 people that were trying to do the work of 35 people and I had to keep them focused. And the other thing, let me just tell you, I am sensitive to because this is how I would want to be approached, when I came to see Mrs. Clinton, I wanted her to see me and think, we are going to be talking about the business of the White House. Mrs. Clinton did not say to me, when she asked me to join her staff, come and be my legal representative. What she said to me, come and we might be able to make a difference in this country. I took her at her word, and that is how I compartmentalized my time. The CHAIRMAN. I think that is important context and it was important that you say it. Would you add back the time for Senator D'Amato, 2 minutes I mean, Senator Gramm. 292 Senator GRAMM. Well, first of all, let me say that we would wish that everybody in American Government had that approach, and I am sure you do, and I think the country benefits from it. I do not doubt that you are focused on those things, I do not doubt that you are trying to promote that agenda. The obvious question we are trying to ask is, you have a person who is in agony, it seems to me, from everything we know that is said in private in diaries. But in testimony, in sworn testimony, it is almost like none of this is happening. Mr. Altman is trying to make a decision. lie is the President's close friend. He is overseeing a criminal investigation or a civil investigation where the President's name has been mentioned. He is under immense pressure from himself to get out of it. He is under immense pressure, at least if we believe what people write in their diaries, privately, that he is under immense pressure from the White House to stay in it. Mr. Altman makes a fateful decision. He decides to stay in it at a critical moment when the clock is ticking away, the statute of limitations is running out, which to people in America means the danger's passed, nothing can be done about it. Mr. Altman decides to come over to the White House to tell people that he has decided to stay in it, which is what he believes they want him to do. It seems to me that the relevant question to us is, why he would pick the Chief of Staff of the First Lady to set up this meeting. Now your answer, and I believe that the facts are right. You have instant access to everybody at the White House, you are a facilitator, you are getting things done, you can pull people together. You call up these people, they're going to be there. The question then is, did he call you as the First Lady's Chief of Staff because you can get things done and you can make it happen, or was there some special relevance about your position with the First Lady? That obviously is the question and we have heard your answer. Let me go back to this matter of 10 minutes versus 10 seconds. There is a big difference between 10 minutes and 10 seconds. I know the Counsel believes that there isn't, but there is. The story we have heard to this point is that people have gotten together. Mr. Altman comes in the room, he has got his briefcase in his hand. He set up this meeting. He called you. He asked you to get these people together. He comes in and says, I am not taking myself out of Madison. He can say that in 10 seconds. What happened during the rest of this time? That is what I would like to know. Ms. WILLIAMS. Well, sir, let me---- The CHAIRMAN. We need a brief answer but a full answer. [Laugher.] MS. WILLIAMS. Well, sir, as I said when I was first asked about the time, I do not really remember the time. I threw in 10 minutes, not because I have an absolute recollection or I was watching the clock, but I was trying to think of a brief amount of time, I am sorry I was not making distinctions about seconds, but was trying to emphasize the briefness of the meeting, which is why I added to my testimony that everyone was standing up, and, as I have said in my statement, that Mr. Altman was on his way out the door. 293 So I do not feel confident enough to parry with you on whether it was 10 minutes or 10 seconds. But I am confident of the briefness of the meeting, given that, one, everyone was standing up, two, that Mr. Altman was on his way to an appointment, which I remember distinctly, because he had said, I am running late, I have got to get to where I am going. So that is what I recall.