No Sign of Criminality in Donor Tapes, Reno Says

Atty. Gen. Janet Reno, insisting she was not prepared to exonerate President Clinton of criminal wrongdoing, said Sunday that she would not hesitate to question him directly about his conduct in raising money for the Democratic Party.

But Reno, under pressure from Republicans in Congress to seek appointment of an independent counsel, also told television interviewers that, even after viewing recently discovered videotapes of White House coffees for big Democratic donors, “we do not have any indication of criminal activity” involving Clinton or any other high-ranking government officials.

Republicans, however, accused Reno of viewing her role in seeking an independent counsel too narrowly. With or without an indication of criminal activity, they said, she should use discretionary powers granted her by federal law to turn the case over to an outside counsel on grounds that she has a conflict of interest in probing a president who has the right to fire her.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a member of the Senate committee examining fund-raising abuses, contended that “the whole reason we have an independent counsel law is to prevent cases like this when the attorney general has an inherent conflict of interest in investigating the president or vice president or other high-ranking executive officials.”

Speaking on CBS-TV’s “Face the Nation,” Collins added: “She should have appointed one long ago. And it’s still time for her to do the right thing, and I hope that she will.”

Reno, asked about her discretionary power to seek an independent counsel if she determines she has a conflict of interest, remarked without elaboration: “I don’t think [that] has been triggered here.”

She also insisted that “nothing has been closed, and nobody has been exonerated.” She said she would decide by Wednesday whether to drop or to continue a preliminary review of allegations that the president improperly solicited campaign contributions in the White House. Such a review could lead to the appointment of an independent counsel by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals here. A separate preliminary investigation by the Justice Department is focusing on Vice President Al Gore.

Appearing on NBC-TV’s “Meet the Press,” Reno was asked about a remark Saturday by House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) that she “looks like a fool” for so far rejecting an independent investigation of White House coffees for large Democratic donors.

“Name-calling may be an appropriate tactic in politics,” Reno responded. “But what we’re trying to do is to conduct the best, most thorough investigation we possibly can.”

Republicans, however, declared themselves unimpressed by Reno’s investigation to date.

Collins said there had been “a pattern of noncompliance” by the White House in turning over fund-raising memos and recently discovered videotapes of presidential coffees to investigators, a matter bordering on “obstruction of justice” that an independent counsel should examine.

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), another member of the Senate investigating committee, said Reno’s investigation had been marked by “incompetence and . . . a lack of sincere interest in getting to the bottom of what’s going on.” He said he would introduce legislation to authorize federal judges to appoint independent counsels “without the attorney general’s request.”

*

Asked if Reno should resign, as Gingrich and some other Republicans have urged, Specter said: “I don’t believe that a resignation . . . would do any good, because who is the president going to replace her with?”

Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), chairman of a parallel House investigation into campaign fund-raising, added to the chorus of Republican criticism.

Speaking on CNN’s “Late Edition,” Burton said: “We believe, many of us, that she is trying to stand in the way of a good investigation. . . . She is fighting for the president of the United States instead of doing her job.”

Reno, however, said she would continue a wide-ranging investigation, which is supported by more than 100 FBI agents, Justice Department attorneys and staff analysts, with backing from a federal grand jury.

Justice Department officials explained that two key questions being examined are whether phone calls made from the White House by Clinton and Gore, as well as Clinton’s appearance at White House coffees, violated a campaign law prohibition against raising money on federal property.

Reno was asked about a recently discovered videotape of one coffee at which an Indonesian gardener, who later gave a large donation, is heard telling Clinton that “James Riady sent me.” Riady is a longtime friend and financial supporter who owns an Indonesia-based conglomerate with banking operations in the United States.

Reno replied, “Exactly,” when asked if she could interview the president about the meaning of this remark, presumably whether the president knew that a legally tainted foreign contribution might be involved.

Discussing the scope of the department’s investigation, Reno said that “we are pursuing all the transactions that have been raised to see who is responsible.” She called it “one of the most complex investigations in this country’s history.”

Last month, unhappy with the pace of the probe and its failure to recognize the significance of some documents unearthed by the news media, Reno installed a new top investigator, Charles G. LaBella, an assistant U.S. attorney from San Diego.

White House Counsel Charles F.C. Ruff, appearing on ABC-TV’s “This Week,” acknowledged he had made a mistake in not locating videotapes of coffees and other White House fund-related receptions earlier, and in not notifying Reno sooner of their existence.

*

The episode has put Reno under added pressure to turn her probe over to an outside counsel.

Ruff, who late last week apologized to Reno, said Sunday that the oversight “had nothing to do with any effort to conceal the information” and that, in his opinion, there was nothing incriminating on any of the tapes.

“Once we received the videotapes, they turned out to be yawners,” Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) said on “Fox News Sunday.”

*

Times staff writer Alan C. Miller contributed to this story.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

BACKGROUND

Congress has established roads leading to the appointment of an independent counsel (1) when the attorney general obtains “sufficient” evidence that a top official may have broken a federal criminal law, and (2) when determining whether a top official may have broken a criminal law requires an investigation that, if pursued by the attorney general, “may result in a personal, financial or political conflict of interest.” Atty. Gen. Janet Reno insists that the terms spelled out in No. 1 have not been met with respect to President Clinton in the fund-raising controversy. Many Republicans respond that the terms of No. 2 have already been met because Reno, who can be fired by Clinton, faces a “political conflict of interest.”