[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 76 (Wednesday, May 29, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H5626-H5627]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
WHAT NEXT FOR THE INDEPENDENT COUNSEL?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the
gentleman from Indiana [Mr. Burton] is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, this week, the President's
business partners in the Whitewater venture were found guilty of a
total of 22 counts of bank fraud. James and Susan McDougal were
President and Mrs. Clinton's business partners in the Whitewater
Development Corp.--which is still the main focus of Kenneth Starr's
investigation.
In addition, Jim Guy Tucker, Bill Clinton's successor as Governor of
Arkansas, was found guilty of conspiracy and mail fraud.
Recently, a number of my colleagues have been raising questions about
Mr. Starr's ethics and his work as Independent Counsel. They have
stated that he is biased because of his Republican background or his
legal work for different clients.
Mr. Speaker, this is nonsense being put out by the Democrats for
political purposes. Mr. Starr's results speak for themselves:
First, of 19 charges that Mr. Starr filed against Mr. McDougal, he
was convicted on 18.
Second, of four charges Mr. Starr filed against Mrs. McDougal, she
was convicted on all four.
Third, of seven charges filed against Governor Tucker, he was
convicted on two.
Fourth, of 30 charges Mr. Starr filed in these cases, he won
convictions on 24. That is an 80 percent conviction rate. A jury of 12
Arkansas citizens has examined the evidence and clearly does not feel
that Mr. Starr is filing frivolous or unsupported charges.
Fifth, in addition to this week's convictions, Mr. Starr has received
guilty pleas from nine other people involved in Whitewater--political
associates of President Clinton, associates of Madison Guarantee
Savings and Loan, and people who worked on the Whitewater deal.
Sixth, one of those people who pled guilty was the Associate Attorney
General of the United States--Webster Hubbell--a close friend of the
President.
Clearly, serious crimes have been committed, and the independent
counsel is doing a good job of bringing people to account for them.
That is why Democrats are suddenly attacking the Independent Counsel.
At this point, there are two obvious questions that everyone is
asking:
First, what impact do these convictions have on the President and
Mrs. Clinton?
Second, where does the Independent Counsel go from here?
Let me shed a little light on these questions.
What impact do these convictions have on the President and Mrs.
Clinton?
President Clinton was not on trial in this particular case. But he
was never far away from it either.
David Hale testified that then-Governor Clinton pressured him to make
the illegal loan of $300,000 to Susan McDougal.
Documents presented during the trial showed that part of that money
went to pay debts of the Whitewater Development Corp. Bill and Hillary
Clinton were partners in Whitewater, so they directly benefited from
this loan.
The defense believed President Clinton's testimony during the trial
would be a knockout punch for the defendants. It wasn't. The
President's testimony apparently did little to cast doubts on the
prosecution's case. Mr. and Mrs. McDougal were convicted on 22 of 23
counts.
The Castle Grande real estate deal was at the heart of this case. As
an attorney at the Rose Law Firm, Hillary drew up legal papers for some
of the key transactions. Throughout the trial, documentary evidence
showed that this deal was a series of sham transactions that helped
bring about the downfall of Madison Guarantee Savings and Loan.
This raises a very serious question: How much did Hillary Clinton
know about the true nature of the Castle Grande deal?
[[Page H5627]]
For 4 years, Mrs. Clinton has been telling the public that she did
very little legal work on the Castle Grande project. She made this
statement in a sworn statement to Federal banking investigators.
However, the Rose Law Firm billing records that mysteriously turned
up at the White House in January disputed that statement. Even though
they had been under subpoena for 2 years, the records weren't given to
the Independent Counsel until they were ``discovered'' in January.
It was quickly discovered that the billing records had Mrs. Clinton's
fingerprints on them. More importantly, these records for the first
time provided documentation that Mrs. Clinton had drafted legal
documents for Castle Grande.
The questions that this raises are numerous:
First. Did Mrs. Clinton mislead Federal investigators about her
involvement in Castle Grande?
Second. Did she or anyone at the White House obstruct justice by
hiding these records for 2 years.
Third. Did Mrs. Clinton understand the nature of the sham
transactions for which she was drawing up option agreements?
Where does the Independent Counsel go from here?
There are many other facets of the Whitewater scandal that merit
continued investigation:
First, the Whitewater deal itself; second, potentially illegal
contributions to Bill Clinton's campaigns; and third, the death of
Vincent Foster.
One important area that I hope the Independent Counsel is exploring
is the Arkansas Development Finance Authority--or ADFA.
ADFA was created by Governor Clinton in 1985 to provide economic
development loans in Arkansas.
In December of 1988, ADFA deposited $50 million in a Japanese bank in
the Cayman Islands. I have a copy of the contract that I will enter
into the record. I have also delivered a copy of this document to the
Independent Counsel's office.
Why would an economic development agency in Arkansas deposit $50
million in a bank in the Cayman Islands? The Cayman Islands are a well-
known center of money laundering for drug dealers. The State
Department's international narcotics control report described the
Caymans as ``a haven for money laundering.''
In addition, public documents show that ADFA was steering bond
underwriting business to a firm owned by Dan Lasater. Mr. Lasater's
story by now is well-known. He was a financial supporter of Bill
Clinton's campaigns. He flew Bill and Hillary Clinton around on his
private plane. He hired Bill Clinton's brother and paid off an $8,000
drug debt he owed. Mr. Lasater also pled guilty to Federal charges of
cocaine distribution.
Why was ADFA steering business to someone like Dan Lasater, who was
well-known in Arkansas for drug use and wild parties at which drugs
were freely distributed?
Why was ADFA putting millions of dollars in foreign banks in a money-
laundering haven like the Cayman Islands?
Was then-Governor Clinton aware of what was going on at the agency
that he created?
All of these questions need to be resolved. The Independent Counsel
should not quit--and I am confident that he will not quit--until these
questions are completely answered to the public's satisfaction.
2000
The questions that this raises are numerous: Did Mrs. Clinton mislead
the Federal investigators about her involvement in Casa Grande? Did she
or anyone else in the White House obstruct justice by hiding these
records for 2 years? Did Mrs. Clinton understand the nature of the sham
transactions for which she was drawing up option agreements.?
Second, where does the independent counsel go from here? There are
many other facets of the Whitewater scandal that merit continued
investigation: the Whitewater deal itself, potentially illegal
contributions to Bill Clinton's campaigns, the death of Vince Foster.
One important area that I hope the independent counsel is exploring is
the Arkansas Development Financial Authority.
The ADFA was created by Governor Clinton in 1985 to provide economic
development loans in Arkansas. In December of 1988 the Arkansas
Development Financial Authority deposited, and get this, $50 million in
a Japanese bank in the Cayman Islands. I have a copy of the contract
that I will enter into the Record. Tomorrow night, since I am out of
time now, Mr. Speaker, I will go into more detail on this $50 million
that was Arkansas money that was transferred to the Cayman Islands, a
major transit point for drug trafficking in this hemisphere.
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