The Nation - News from Sept. 17, 1986

U.S. District Judge Harry E. Claiborne’s conviction for income tax evasion stemmed from improper searches of his home by federal investigators and intimidation of witnesses, the judge’s attorney told a Senate panel conducting Claiborne’s impeachment trial. The attorney, Oscar B. Goodman, said that FBI and Internal Revenue Service agents harassed Claiborne’s tax preparers into perjuring themselves. Goodman sought to expand permitted testimony in the trial to include evidence of “rude, crude” treatment of witnesses. The senators did not immediately rule on the request.