Pierce Declares His Innocence, Then Takes 5th

Former Housing Secretary Samuel R. Pierce Jr. declared himself innocent of wrongdoing Friday but again invoked Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination to avoid testifying about scandals at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“I believe that I committed no illegal or wrongful acts,” Pierce said in a statement to a House oversight subcommittee. “I look forward to the time when innuendoes and rumors to the contrary are put to rest. I look forward to the time when I can tell my story, and I can assure you that I have a story to tell.”

But Pierce refused to talk when members of the panel questioned him about his eight-year tenure during the Ronald Reagan Administration, declining to answer on the constitutional ground that it might tend to incriminate him.

Two of Pierce’s former top assistants, Lance H. Wilson and Deborah Gore Dean, also have invoked the Fifth Amendment in refusing to testify at previous hearings before the employment and housing subcommittee of the House Government Operations Committee.

Two Democratic congressmen said they would press for a formal demand that Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh appoint a special prosecutor to determine if Pierce violated the law at HUD or committed perjury when he testified to House investigators last May.

Under the law providing for appointments of independent counsels, the attorney general must consider such a step if a majority of the Democratic or Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee request him to do so. If he refuses, he must explain his reasons in writing.

Reps. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Bruce A. Morrison (D-Conn.), who serve on the Judiciary Committee and attended the oversight hearing as observers, said that they would seek signatures of other Democrats on the judiciary panel and forward the request to Thornburgh next week.

“I think it is clear from these hearings . . . that there is criminal activity at HUD in the area of defrauding of the federal government, conspiracy to defraud the government, and we may well have perjury,” Morrison said.

“Sam Pierce is stonewalling,” Schumer said. “Our only choice now is to take the process from the legislative arena and move it into the arena of an independent counsel.”

Pierce, who last Sept. 26 became the first former Cabinet officer since the Teapot Dome scandal of the 1920s to take the Fifth Amendment before a congressional committee, renewed his accusation of bias against the House investigative panel.

But he immediately invoked his constitutional privilege to remain silent, even when asked such questions as whether he had obtained all the documents he needs from HUD to prepare for his appearance.

Rep. Tom Lantos (D-San Mateo), chairman of the panel, said its hearings over the last five months have disclosed a “colossal scandal” at HUD during Pierce’s tenure, including fraud, embezzlement and rampant political favoritism.

Although Lantos contended that Pierce legally had waived his right to remain silent on many subjects by his voluntary testimony last spring, he said that he would not seek to prosecute Pierce for contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions at the hearing.

“My feeling is the American people on the whole know all they want to know about HUD . . . . I have high hopes the Justice Department will do its duty,” Lantos said.

Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) told Pierce that his previous testimony conflicts with sworn statements by other witnesses. “I was hoping you’d use this opportunity to clarify what I think could be perjury,” he said.

However, Pierce, accompanied by three attorneys, refused to say anything beyond the statement that he volunteered at the outset of the hearing. In the statement, he said that all of the allegations against him had been investigated by HUD’s inspector general and found to be groundless.

Although a report last April by HUD Inspector General Paul A. Adams set off the inquiry, Adams had been unable to question Pierce until the former secretary’s last day in office on Jan. 20, 1989.

In his latest appearance before the House panel, Pierce again invoked his privilege as a witness to bar television, radio and photographic coverage. As a result, he was chased down the halls and into the street by a group of photographers and broadcasters as he left.

Lantos said afterward that Pierce tried to bill the government for his legal fees in connection with the House hearings. He said the request had been rejected.