House Panel Plans Clinton Subpoena Over Fund-Raising

WASHINGTON —  In an effort to broaden its impeachment inquiry, the GOP-led House Judiciary Committee today hopes to issue five subpoenas--including one for President Clinton--for information about the White House fund-raising scandal that Republicans believe includes “allegations of criminal wrongdoing by the president.”

The wider review, coming as Clinton all but rejected the committee’s offer to personally plead his case in the Monica S. Lewinsky scandal, is aimed at determining whether the president and his administration orchestrated a cover-up of misdeeds in the fund-raising controversy.

The move by Judiciary Committee Republicans to expose allegations of fund-raising abuses by Clinton comes as their impeachment inquiry is winding down to an uncertain--and likely unsuccessful--House vote on removing the president from office for his attempts to cover up an extramarital affair.

Many GOP lawmakers remain convinced of campaign-related wrongdoing by Clinton, although a Senate committee and a House oversight committee conducted extensive investigations of Democratic fund-raising activities without uncovering new evidence of illegal practices by high-level administration officials.

At the heart of the Republicans’ extended reach is a memo from Charles G. LaBella--former head of Atty. Gen. Janet Reno’s campaign financing task force--that asks for an independent counsel to be appointed to investigate the Democrats’ fund-raising tactics.

The LaBella memo was supported by FBI Director Louis J. Freeh, but Reno ultimately decided against asking for an independent counsel. She also has refused to make the complete memo available to congressional investigators.

“The committee is in receipt of information that indicates that the LaBella memo contains allegations of criminal wrongdoing by the president,” said a GOP source on the committee.

“The committee would be derelict in its duty if it did not review this material and investigate it,” he said.

The White House repeatedly has denied any wrongdoing since the fund-raising scandal first surfaced during the 1996 campaign.

Monday night, Jim Kennedy, spokesman in the White House counsel’s office, said a broader probe encompassing fund-raising tactics “strikes us as odd.”

“But,” he said, “we’ll wait for the committee chairman’s explanation of this before commenting further.”

The GOP source on the committee complained that while only 20% of the LaBella memo has been reviewed by Congress, Republican members understand that the other 80% contains strong evidence of illegal fund-raising practices by Clinton and his subordinates.

After a hearing today on perjury, he said, the panel will meet in executive session to vote on issuing the subpoenas. Because Republicans hold a 21-16 majority on the committee, the measure is likely to pass.

The source, who asked not to be named, said LaBella and Freeh will be subpoenaed to provide depositions to committee staffers about LaBella’s internal Justice Department investigation and his memo.

A third subpoena will go to Reno, asking her to produce documents related to LaBella’s campaign finance probe, such as a complete version of the LaBella memo and a Freeh memo supporting his findings.

The Reno subpoena also will ask for information concerning several key Democratic fund-raising figures, including John Huang, Torrance businessman Johnny Chung and Little Rock, Ark., restaurateur Yah Lin “Charlie” Trie.

A fourth subpoena will go to Clinton, ordering him to direct Reno to turn over the materials in a timely fashion if she balks.

And a fifth subpoena will be sent to independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr, asking for documents he has gathered concerning Huang’s alleged attempts to assist Webster Hubbell, a former top-ranking Justice official and first family friend who was convicted of defrauding his former Little Rock law firm.

Despite the added workload, the GOP source said, the committee can still complete its impeachment investigation this month, as insisted upon by Chairman Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.).

“The chairman said this will be a very, very quick review, and the chairman is still hopeful this matter can be resolved by year’s end.”

He added: “It will be a quick turn-around. We’ve got some good investigators.”

He also deflected criticism that the wider review could be seen as a last-minute attempt to bolster public opinion for impeachment.

“Well,” he said, “what are we supposed to do? Turn away from this?”

But Democrats on the committee were bewildered.

“This is an absolutely bizarre turn of events,” said Jim Jordan, a spokesman for the Democrats, “explained only by the willingness of committee Republicans to politicize a grave constitutional responsibility.”

The latest development further strains tensions between the committee Republicans and the White House, with Clinton on Monday all but rejecting an offer from Hyde to personally appear at a hearing next week and defend his behavior in the Lewinsky matter.

“I don’t think it’s very likely you’ll see the president appear before the committee,” the president’s chief spokesman, Joe Lockhart, said in a White House briefing.

Lockhart also blasted the premise for today’s hearing on perjury, which will include testimony from two convicted perjurers and nine other witnesses, saying that the president does not belong “in the same category as any of” the witnesses.

“I think that it won’t add any new information and can be put in the category of a stunt,” Lockhart said. “If you look at the process to date, there’s been very little comfort for those looking for something fair.”

In addition, Kennedy said that the White House counsel’s office has not decided if anyone from the Clinton administration will take Hyde’s offer to testify next week.

Hyde clearly was not pleased.

In a statement Monday evening, he complained that Clinton’s answers Friday to 81 questions about his actions in the Lewinsky scandal were not helpful.

“Instead of shedding new light on the key facts,” Hyde said, “the president chose to evade them.”

He also warned that if the White House chooses not to cooperate with the committee’s inquiry, the consequences could be severe.

“If the president leaves undisputed the record or where he has given evasive responses, we will be forced to assume that the corroborated evidence is accurate,” Hyde said.

But Kennedy insisted that “the president made a good faith effort to respond to the politically motivated questions.”

He added: “The chairman should recognize that the country’s interests in a fair and constitutional process come ahead of partisan games like this.”

In other developments Monday, a top Democratic fund-raiser pleaded the 5th Amendment against self-incrimination in refusing to answer questions during a deposition with committee investigators.

Nathan Landow was to have been quizzed about his role in allegedly trying to persuade Kathleen E. Willey to change her story that Clinton groped her near the Oval Office.

And the committee’s staff decided to withdraw a subpoena for Robert S. Bennett, the president’s personal attorney in the Paula Corbin Jones sexual harassment lawsuit, because they have obtained the material they wanted through court records.

Today’s hearing is to include testimony from 11 witnesses, ranging from federal judges and military officials to law professors and two individuals who have been convicted of perjury in the federal courts.

Video coverage of today’s House Judiciary Committee hearing is available on The Times’ Web site: https://www.latimes.com/scandal