[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 34 (Tuesday, March 24, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H1417-H1418]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   THE MISUSE OF EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Bob Schaffer of Colorado). Under a previous 
order of the House, the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton) is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, last week the President 
reportedly asserted executive privilege over conversations the 
President had with his longtime aid Bruce Lindsey as well as 
conversation the First Lady had with White House aide Sidney 
Blumenthal. This is the first time since President Richard Nixon, 
during Watergate, that a President has asserted executive privilege in 
a criminal proceeding. This stunning misuse of executive privilege is 
one of the White House's many delay tactics designed to drag out 
investigations.
  As the New York Times editorialized this morning, Mr. Clinton's 
attempt to block grand jury testimony by two important White House 
aides, Bruce Lindsey and Sidney Blumenthal, is an alarming attempt to 
extend presidential power. Even former Clinton advisor George 
Stephanopoulos recognizes the absurdity of this claim of executive 
privilege when on This Week with David Brinkley he said, ``They cannot 
win this fight on executive privilege. It has been tried before in the 
Whitewater case and eventually they turned over the documents.'' That 
was a quote from This Week on March 22, 1998.
  The President initially raised executive privilege with the Committee 
on Government Reform and Oversight, my committee, in a deposition of 
Bruce Lindsey last fall. The President's White House counsel directed 
Bruce Lindsey not to answer questions regarding conversations Lindsey 
had with the President about campaign contributor James Riady.
  When we challenged the White House on these claims, the President's 
counsel informed the committee last week that the President would not 
assert these claims over Mr. Lindsey's conversations. It is important 
to note that the committee could have held Mr. Lindsey in contempt for 
refusal to answer the questions if the committee determined that there 
was no basis for a valid claim of privilege.
  The President's former White House counsel, Lloyd Cutler, wrote in a 
1994 executive privilege memo, quote, ``In circumstances involving 
communications relating to investigations of personal wrongdoing by 
government officials, it is our practice,'' the White House's practice, 
``it is our practice not to assert executive privilege either in 
judicial proceedings or in congressional investigations and hearings.'' 
End quote.
  The President is not following his own order on executive privilege 
when it comes to the grand jury. Since these proceedings are all behind 
closed doors, the White House raises frivolous arguments to delay the 
proceedings. In the light of day with Congress the White House has 
backed down.
  Executive privilege is supposed to be used only rarely when national 
security would be significantly impaired, conduct of foreign relations 
would be impacted, or the performance of the President's constitutional 
duties would be impacted.
  This is not Bosnia, this is not the Middle East. These are scandals 
about possible personal wrongdoing by government and political 
officials. It has been White House policy since the Kennedy 
administration not to invoke executive privilege when allegations of 
wrongdoing are at issue. In contrast to Mr. Clinton, President Reagan 
declined to claim executive privilege over any matters in Iran-Contra 
where sensitive foreign policy decisions and negotiations were at 
issue. Executive privilege is not supposed to be used as a shield 
against responding to criminal proceedings. This is a clear misuse of 
the executive privilege.
  As George Washington University Professor Jonathan Turley recently 
stated, quote, ``It is ironic to see the extent to which the Clinton 
administration has adopted executive privilege arguments far beyond 
those made by the Nixon administration.'' End quote.
  Mr. Speaker, this administration and the President has no basis to 
claim executive privilege on matters before the grand jury that Mr. 
Starr is conducting, and, Mr. Speaker, I believe they

[[Page H1418]]

are only doing this to extend the investigation, to drag it out, so 
that it eventually wears out the American people and they are able to 
hide behind that.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I think this is something that should be stopped. I 
think the President should not claim executive privilege, he should get 
on with the investigation, he should make a clean breast of all this 
before the American people so that the American people know the facts.

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