August 4, 1994 - Part 7
August 4, 1994 - Part 7
(15:15:02)(tape #10092 begins) PBS funding credits (15:15:12) Whitewater coverage title screen (15:15:24) Hearings hosts KEN BODE and NINA TOTENBERG introduce afternoon's hearing from tv studio, they also talk to ELLEN POLLACK of the Wall Street Journal (15:39:52) Hearing begins: The CHAIRMAN. The Committee will come to order. This afternoon, on this panel, we have before us Mr. Harold Ickes who is 353 Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Mr. George Stephanopoulos who is the Senior Advisor to the President for Policy and Strategy, Mr. John Podesta who is Assistant to the President and Staff Secretary, and Mr. Bruce Lindsey who serves as Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor. Gentlemen, let me ask you now, if you would, please, stand and raise your right hand. Do you swear that the testimony you're about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God? The WITNESSES. I do. The CHAIRMAN. I understand that all of you have statements and let's just start with the senior-I'm not sure what the rank is here, being respectful, would that be you, Mr. Lindsey or would that be Mr. Ickes? Mr. LINDSEY. I believe Mr. Ickes. The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Ickes, why don't you proceed. TESTIMONY OF HAROLD ICKES, ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF, WASHINGTON, DC Mr. ICKES. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, my name is Harold Ickes. I serve as Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff, I come before you today to inform you, and the American people, about my knowledge of the facts concerning contacts between the White House and Treasury Department officials related to Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan. I want to thank you for this opportunity to address some of the concerns that have been raised about these contacts. I firmly believe my conduct in this matter was legal, ethical and proper. Let me briefly highlight for you the events relating to my involvement in these matters. In doing so, I ask you to remember that my days, like yours, are long and busy; that there were many other matters that I was dealing with at the time; and that it is hard, months later, to separate what I knew at the time the events occurred from what I also learned from press accounts and public discussions of these matters. I joined the White House staff in January of this year. I am primarily responsible for managing the President's Health Care initiative, but for a period of time when I first came to the White House, I was responsible for pulling together a working group to coordinate the White House's response to press inquiries concerning what is generically known as "Whitewater." In late January and early February, as you will recall, Republican Members of Congress, including Members of this Committee, began making an issue about the expiration of the statute of limitations with respect to the Resolution Trust Corporation's inquiry into Madison. On January 11th, eight Republican lawmakers called upon the RTC to enter into tolling agreements with the Clintons and other interested parties, to "allow time for a complete and independent investigation and permit the orderly operation of the legal and judicial processes." On February 1, Senator D'Amato, on the Senate Floor, stated that the "clock was running" on the RTC's Madison inquiry, and urged the RTC, to immediately seek tolling agreements "to stop the 354 clock and assure that there is time for a thorough, impartial investigation of the facts." On that same date, Roger Altman wrote Senator DAmato to assure him that "the RTC is mindful of the impending February 28 statute of limitations with respect to Madi- son," and stated that the RTC would vigorously pursue appropriate remedies including tolling agreements. On this same day, Mr. Altman asked to meet with myself and others in the White House which we did on February 2nd. Thus, this meeting took place in the context of the highly publicized statements on the Senate Floor and elsewhere that I've just described. As I recall, for most of the meeting, Mr. Altman made a presentation about the procedural options generally available to the RTC in cases such as Madison, in view of the statute of limitations deadline the same options that were the subject of the statements on the Floor of the Senate. My impression from what Mr. Altman said was that the statute was likely to expire before a full investigation into the Madison matter could be completed and that this could result in a situation in which the RTC would have three options: One, the RTC could seek a tolling agreement; or 2, failing that, the RTC could file a protective claim to preserve its ability to fully complete its investigation; or finally, the RTC could allow any potential claims to lapse. In my deposition before the Senate Committee Counsel in July of this year I was asked to recount my recollections of the February 2nd meeting. I was twice denied the opportunity by Committee Counsel to review my notes of that meeting before responding to the questions. I stated that I could not recall the words that were spoken at the meeting, but that my impression of what Mr. Altman said-the gist of it-was that "the investigation probably would not be concluded and that a determination could not be made by the RTC's General Counsel as to whether there was a basis for a civil claim until after the expiration of the statute of limitations."