[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 50 (Wednesday, April 29, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H2443]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 ONLY IN INVESTIGATIONS OF ORGANIZED CRIME HAVE SO MANY WITNESSES FLED 
                              THE COUNTRY

  (Mr. SHIMKUS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, obeying the law should be the first tenet 
of campaign finance reform. The White House insists time and time again 
that they are cooperating fully with the various investigators charged 
with finding the truth about illegal campaign contributions in the 1996 
elections. However, the facts show otherwise.
  Ninety-two witnesses, that is 92 witnesses, either have fled the 
country or have taken the fifth amendment or refused to testify. If 
there is nothing to hide, why would 92 witnesses flee the country or 
refuse to testify?
  Fifty-four House and Senate witnesses have asserted their fifth 
amendment rights, and 38 witnesses have fled the country. In fact, so 
many witnesses who have fled the country are taking the fifth that FBI 
Director Louis Freeh was asked last year if he had ever seen so many, 
and he said often he has seen this kind of activity only in 
investigations of organized crime.
  Mr. Speaker, the White House says it is cooperating fully, but no one 
is cooperating. And then the same White House turns around and asks why 
the investigators are taking so long. If the American citizens are 
becoming cynical about their government, House investigators are 
becoming even more cynical about this White House.

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