August 4, 1994 - Part 2
August 4, 1994 - Part 2
(10:40:32) Senator D'AMATO. Let me say, if I might, Mr. Chairman, and I do not think we want this to be a back and forth. Number one, we are limited by the scope as it relates to that which was laid down and passed in the Senate Resolution. Second, though, and I think this is fair, we had intended to go into the subject of the handling of the documents, and we would have been looking into the handling of the documents. In fact, recent revelations indicate that they have become even more important, those documents being the Whitewater papers that were found in Mr. Foster's office. What happened? How were they handled? The process. Unfortunately, Mr. Fiske has not completed that phase and has asked to delay our investigation and public hearings on the subject. It was supposed to be part of these hearings. So I think that is what Senator Domenici is tying into. Senator KERRY. I agree with that. I agree with that, but that is the protection of the integrity of the process. Senator D'AMATO. That is right. The CHAIRMAN. Well, I am going to ask that-we have discuss ed this now. Every Member is going to have time to raise, in their pe- riod, if they want to make a comment on it, and I want to finish with the questioning. We have got Members waiting to ask questions that have been waiting a long time. So, Senator Faircloth, I would ask you then to keep the questions within what we can properly cover now, and let's restart your time, here to where it was, and let you finish. 299 Senator FAIRCLOTH. Mr. Chairman, I want to start out by saying, I thank you for the fairness with which you have conducted the meeting, and I respect your judgment in this. But, Senator Kerry, if you are concerned that the public is having questions and the audience about where we are headed and why we are headed there and in what way, you are absolutely right. And we have probably opened up a lot more questions than we have answered, and they are going to expect us to be answering them. Ms. Williams, you testified that you were assigned to be part of a so-called Whitewater response team that was set up in 1993 when the first press stories on Whitewater began to appear. Could you please describe who decided that there should be a Whitewater response team at the White House and what was the function of the team? Ms. WILLIAMS. First of all, Senator, the White House Whitewater response team was set up in January 1994. That is my understanding. That is the first time that I was involved in participating in any such team. Second, it was put together by Mr. McLarty who delegated to Mr. Ickes the responsibility of focusing on a coordinated response to Whitewater press inquiries. Senator FAIRCLOTH. How often did it meet and who were the participants? MS. WILLIAMS. It met for a while every day. At the height of the press inquiries, it met every day. The participants were Mr. Ickes, Ms. Caputo, Press Secretary to Ms. Clinton, Mark Geron, the Director of Communications, Mr. Eggleston, I believe, David Dreyer from the Communications Department, those were initially the Senator FAIRCLOTH. Well, why did you wait until January to put it together when Whitewater was an issue before the Banking Committee back in early November? Ms. WILLIAMS. Well, sir, since I did not put it together, I do not believe that you should direct that question to me, but let me say that my recollection is since we were responding to press inquiries primarily, our participation in such discussions around press inquiries heightened as the press inquiries heightened, so in October and November and December, to the best of my recollection, there were not lots and lots of press inquiries. They were starting. In January, they seemed to be at full speed ahead, I think, so I believe that we started it in response to the press inquiries at that time. Senator FAIRCLOTH. All right. Ms. Williams, why did you ask whether the briefing that Mr. Alt- man provided on the operation of the statute of limitations in the Madison case should be provided to Mr. Kendall, the President's personal lawyer?