August 4, 1994 - Part 2
August 4, 1994 - Part 2
(10:50:52) Mr. McLARTY. It was shortly after Mr. Altman's testimony. I do not recall the specific date, Senator. It was probably a day or two, if not a bit longer. Senator BRYAN. A day or two after the 24th? Mr. McLARTY. That is correct. Senator BRYAN. Now what follow up, if any, did you give, or direction to Mr. Ickes or Mr. Podesta or someone else that you may have detailed to follow up on this? Mr. McLARTY. It was my understanding, even when the matter was brought to me, that Mr. Podesta would be following with Treasury to make an effort to make certain that Mr, Altman's testimony to this Committee was complete, which I certainly endorsed and said that is precisely what we need to do. That was my response when the matter was brought to me. Senator BRYAN. I want to be very clear that I am not suggesting, nor should anybody infer that anybody at the White House was try- to alter that testimony in a way that would be negative to the full disclosure of the truth. 302 What I am trying to get at is clearly we have a problem. Podesta is notified, and I am trying to find out why it was not corrected at a sooner point in time, and you are indicating you found out about it. Did anybody thereafter brief you and say, look, I have taken care of this matter, I have notified Treasury that it needs to be-what was the involvement you had, if any, from that point? Mr. McLARTY. Well, Senator, first, I appreciate your clarification because our efforts were to make certain that that testimony was complete, not to alter it in any way, but to supplement and make certain it was complete, if necessary. Senator BRYAN. I want to say that I believe that to be true, as well. Mr. MCLARTY. I wanted to clarify that point. I think Mr. Podesta and others can speak with more preciseness about what was done. The matter was brought to my attention some days--a couple of days after Mr. Altman's testimony. I believe there was a weekend in between. If I am not mistaken, Mr. Podesta answered a similar question before the House Committee and I think he can respond to you. But when it was brought to my attention, the matter was already underway that Mr. Podesta would follow with Treasury and make certain, to the best of his ability, that Mr. Altman's testimony before this Committee was complete. Senator BRYAN. Did anybody ever report back to you that the mission was accomplished, or give you a follow-on report as to what was done to make sure that your directions were carried out? Mr. McLARTY. I do not recall getting that kind of report, Senator. I may have, but I do not recall it. Senator BRYAN. As the White House is organized, who would have handled that? Mr. Podesta is going to be a witness this afternoon, and I will ask him these questions, Mr. McLarty, but I am trying to get an understanding in terms of the structure of the White House who might have been the one that would have been given that information if you yourself have no recollection of a follow-on. Mr. McLARTY. Again, Senator, testimony before Congress, and of course there is a great deal of that by Cabinet Secretaries and Deputy Secretaries, as you certainly appreciate, is the primary responsibility of the Cabinet agency. Senator BRYAN. Yes. Mr. McLARTY. But the activity would be, our Congressional fairs Office, Mr. Griffin, at this point, would have been the logical contact. Mr. Podesta, because of his Hill experience and generally just a very capable professional was asked to become involved in this particular matter by Mr. Griffin and by me. Senator BRYAN. Did Mr. Podesta report to Mr. Ickes? Was that the chain of command or did Mr. Podesta report to you or somebody else? Mr. McLARTY. Mr. Podesta reported to the Chief of Staff's office as Staff Secretary. When he had special assignments, which from time to time he has undertaken over the past 18 months, and I think discharged them very well, he might report or at least have 303 a very close working relationship with whomever was responsible for a particular activity. In this case, it would have been Mr. Ickes. Senator BRYAN. Mr. Ickes would have been a logical person that he might have reported to? Mr. McLARTY. In this particular case, Senator, let me clarify or add to that, because it was testimony before a Committee, Mr. Grif- fin would have been involved in that from Congressional Affairs. Senator BRYAN. I note my time is up and we have a vote in proc- ess, so I thank the Chair. The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Bryan. Would someone like to continue at this point? There is no one here at this side? [No response.] The CHAIRMAN. All right. I am going to proceed then for a minute myself, if no one else wishes to, and then I will adjourn in just a moment. Mr. McLarty, I want to just follow on with Mr. Bryan's line of questioning for a minute. It seems to me that when Mr. Eggleston, who was here monitor- ing that hearing, our hearing, and he was in a trip wire capacity- this is my phrase now-in the sense that he was there listening for something that might occur, and he just did not pick that hearing to come to that day. There were a lot of hearings. He came here, he was at that hearing for a reason.