August 4, 1994 - Part 2
August 4, 1994 - Part 2
(10:25:48) The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much. Senator Kerry. OPENING COMMENTS OF SENATOR KERRY Senator KERRY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I hope we can all get the time of answers added back to our time too. Mr. Chairman, I think we are getting to the point with this hearing, or these 3 days have narrowed the focus of this that we may well even be getting to the point of beating to death the fairly narrow focus of what this is being reduced to, which is the question of Mr. Altman's testimony and Mr. Altman's recusal. It's certainly not a question of any of the very highfalutin, broad sweeping allegations made over the course of months, and I think it is very important for this hearing to begin to focus on that for the American people. Now, Mr. McLarty, you were Chief of Staff in the White House. You were also, or you are perhaps one of the very best friends of the President of the United States. Is that true? Mr. McLARTY. We have had a long-time relationship beginning when we both were children growing up in Hope, Arkansas. Senator KERRY. You have known each other through almost all campaigns and through all of his life in politics? Mr. McLARTY. We have and we worked closely together when President Clinton was Governor of Arkansas. Senator KERRY. As Chief of Staff in the White House, you certainly have your finger on the button of power, so to speak. You have the ability to contact all the regulatory agencies, the Justice Department. You could certainly put together a White House network for dealing with Whitewater/Madison, could you not? Mr. McLARTY. Well, yes, Senator, I could, and in some of those cases, I would go through White House Counsel to make some of those contacts. Senator KERRY. Appropriately, I understand. What is clear from the record here is, for all of the thousands of pages of documents that we have and all of the hundreds of hours of depositions and all of the testimony that has come before us under oath, there is in fact no evidence that the Chief of Staff of the White House organized, put together, or was involved in a slew of conversations to deal with Whitewater/Madison. Is that accurate? Mr. McLARTY. I think it is accurate, and I reflect that in my opening comments, Senator KERRY. In point of fact, the only thing the White House did with respect to Whitewater/Madison in any organizational way 294 was have a press team put together to try to respond to the myriad of inquiries that were coming in. Is that not accurate? Mr. McLARTY. We tried to manage it in an orderly way, primarily with public inquiry and in many cases, non-factual basis allegations. Senator KERRY. I want to make it clear that I think that Mr. Altman's testimony has presented problems, and I have asked many questions about that and will continue to. And I also want to make it clear that I think some people screwed up here and made some bad judgments. But let's also look at the overall record. On September 29th, it is fair to say the only-this is when it begins-Treasury initiated a contact with the White House, correct? Mr. McLARTY. I have since learned that. Senator KERRY. Which you later learned of? Mr. MCLARTY. That is correct. Senator KERRY. You were not notified of that when that occurred, were you? Mr. McLARTY. No. I have already testified I learned of it after Mr. Altman testified before this Committee on February 24th. Senator KERRY. In fact, a great period of time went by before you even knew of any criminal referrals issue having been relayed to the White House, correct? Mr. McLARTY. I learned of it in November through public press accounts. Senator KERRY. Through the public press, but not through anybody in the White House coming to you in a state of panic, my God, we have got to deal with this, correct? Mr. McLARTY. That is correct, Senator. Senator KERRY. And indeed, on September 29th, there was a Treasury initiated contact at the now famous stay-back post-Waco pre-brief? [Laughter-] Correct? A whole new version. Mr. McLARTY. That is your description, Senator. Senator KERRY. Believe me, it is not my description. That was the description in the record, and it is evidence of why the American people find it so hard to understand what is going on here with graceful ducks and pre-brief post-Waco debriefs and so forth. It leaves me, we do not discuss things here, we vet them. We have a whole new language around here. Let me go on. On October 16th, there is another Treasury-initiated press Meeting in the off-ice at which Ms. Hanson comes in, but Jack DeVore, a press secretary is there, and Mark Geron, press communications is there. Again, you are not present, you are not part of that? Mr. McLARTY. That is correct. Senator KERRY. Did not know about it? Mr. McLARTY. That is correct, not until some time later. Senator KERRY. All right. Now on February 2nd, we go from September, October. Now November passes, nothing, December passes, nothing, January passes, nothing. Nothing on the record. 295 We get to February 2nd and Altman, again, a Treasury-initiated meeting on the question of the statute of limitations because there is an enormous amount of press interest on this. Is that correct? Mr. McLARTY. By that time, there certainly was, Senator. Senator Kerry, On February 3rd, there is a second meeting which raises questions about Mr. Altman's testimony, but again initiated by Treasury?