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August 4, 1994 - Part 7
(16:00:24) The next communication I know about between White House and Treasury officials on this subject occurred on October 14, 1993, On that day, I and several of my colleagues met with officials from the Treasury Department at the White House to discuss additional press inquiries. This meeting took place after Jack DeVore, a press official at the Treasury Department, had received a call from Jeff Gerth of The New York Times about the alleged criminal referrals,. including a suggestion that the referrals were being "bottled up " in Washington, rather than going to the U.S. Attorney's office in Little Rock. My understanding was that Mr. DeVore was seeking guidance on how to respond to the press inquiry. He told us that he had checked and found that the referrals had initially been sent Washington, but that, well before the reporter inquired, they had, been forwarded to the U.S. Attorney's office. Mr. DeVore wished to 359 confirm these facts to the reporter before an incorrect story was written on the subject. He indicated it was standard practice for the RTC to confirm the existence of a criminal referral. I expressed some surprise at this and suggested that Mr. DeVore, rather than confirming the existence of the referrals, should simply respond to the reporter by stating that whatever had been sent from the RTC had been forwarded to the U.S. Attorney's office prior to the reporter's inquiry. No one discussed or suggested that any action should be taken to try to influence the matters that were the subject of the referrals. To my knowledge, other than my checking campaign records with regard to one of the questions the reporter was asking, nothing further was done after October 14, other than Mr. DeVore responding to the reporter's inquiry. In early December 1993, 1 received faxes from two Treasury Department officials of press-generated Freedom of Information Act requests for Madison documents. These came to me without comment, and I took no action in response to them. The final so-called Whitewater-Treasury contact in which I was involved occurred sometime in February 1994, and again was precipitated by a press inquiry: A reporter contacted the press office at the Treasury Department about a meeting between White House and Treasury officials at which there was a briefing on the RTC civil statute of limitations. The reporter said that she understood that, at the meeting, a White I-louse official attempted to pressure the Treasury Department to give a similar briefing to the private attorneys involved in the matter. The press inquiry to the Treasury Department was passed along to the White House press off-lee who passed it along to me. Since I had not attended any White House-Treasury meeting, I called Roger Altman, whom the reporter indicated had attended the meeting, and asked him whether such a meeting had occurred and, if so, what had happened. Mr. Altman told me there was a meeting in early February at which he and other Treasury officials briefed White House officials on the statute of limitations issue. Mr. Altman told me that a White House official had asked him whether a similar briefing would be given to the private attorneys in the matter. Mr. Altman said that he had checked with an RTC attorney who indicated such a briefing would be given at an appropriate time but not now. Mr. Altman told me that no one at the meeting instructed him to do anything. I advised Mr. Altman to respond to the press inquiry accordingly, and I took no further action. I have now informed this Committee of all White House--Treasury Department communications in which I was involved. I have also produced my contemporaneous handwritten notes and memoranda relating to these matters, which I believe fully reflect what I have just recounted. Before I conclude, Mr. Chairman, let me restate as clearly as I can: None of these conversations, nor any other action that I am aware of, involved any effort by anybody to influence the conduct of any investigation. They were discussions advising us of press inquiries and discussions about how to respond to them. Nothing improper occurred. I will be happy to answer any questions the Committee may have, 360 GEORGE R. STEPHANOPOULOS, SENIOR ADVISOR TO THE PRESIDENT FOR POLICY AND STRATEGY, WASHINGTON, DC Mr. STEPHANOPOULOS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, my name is, George Stephanopoulos and I serve as Senior Policy Advisor to the President. My testimony concerning matters which are the subject of these hearings will focus mainly on two brief telephone conversations, both of which occurred on February 25th. The first occurred with Josh Steiner, Treasury Chief of Staff, concerning Roger Altman's decision to announce his recusal from decisions concerning Madison Guaranty. Mr. Steiner was my regular point of contact at Treasury for obtaining information that affected Administration policy. In the course of that conversation, I asked about the decision to hire former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Jay Stephens-a vocal, persistent and public political opponent of the President-to handle the RTC inquiry of Madison. I was puzzled at how he could be hired, given his obvious inability to be impartial, and I asked how that decision was made.