Altering of Clinton Tapes Alleged

Charging that videotapes of President Clinton’s fund-raising events at the White House may have been altered, the head of a House investigating committee said Sunday that he may seek the assistance of lip-readers “to make sure that we get the whole story.”

Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) leveled his accusation while complaining about the quality of the tapes, which show Clinton acting as host at meetings attended by big donors.

“The tapes are going to be analyzed very thoroughly by technicians to pick up sound and so forth that may not be readily apparent when you first look at them,” Burton said on CBS-TV’s “Face the Nation.”

“We think maybe some of those tapes may have been cut off intentionally--been, you know, altered in some way,” Burton said. He offered no specific evidence.

The emergence of the tapes has heightened the partisan debate over whether Clinton may have violated federal campaign finance laws by seeking donations on federal property or soliciting “soft money”--contributions that are supposed to be used only by political party organizations for general party-building activities--for his own reelection campaign.

Soft money can be contributed in unlimited amounts. “Hard money,” which is contributions directly to candidates, is limited by federal statutes.

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) said Sunday that a Dec. 7, 1995, videotape proved that Clinton broke the law requiring that soft money be at the disposition only of party organizations. On the tape, Clinton credits his high poll ratings to party-funded television “issue” ads paid for with soft money.

“Now we have it from the president’s own mouth that the purpose of the money being raised by the Democratic National Committee was to promote his own campaign,” Specter charged on “Fox News Sunday.” He called Clinton’s statement a “smoking gun.”

Former DNC Chairman Donald L. Fowler disputed that allegation. Speaking on CNN’s “Late Edition,” he said those ads were designed to help all Democrats and that the 100-plus hours of the White House videotapes “demonstrate [that] our fund-raising activities were conducted in accordance with the law.”

Specter also called for extending the deadline of a probe by the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, of which he is a member. Earlier this month, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) raised that possibility as well.

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Burton, chairman of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, said his committee’s investigation was likely to “go well into the middle of next year.”

He also accused the White House of “trying to mislead the Congress” earlier about the existence of the tapes, which were made by the White House Communications Agency.

Separately, congressional investigators prepared to question under oath more witnesses who might be able to shed light on why the White House failed for months to disclose subpoenaed videotapes of the fund-raising events.

Senior White House lawyer Cheryl D. Mills was questioned for several hours Saturday by lawyers for the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. According to people familiar with her testimony, Mills acknowledged being aware that Clinton was often videotaped by a White House crew, but said she had not known of tapes subject to the months-old subpoenas from the Justice Department and the two congressional investigating committees.

Mills, who is deputy assistant to the president and deputy counsel to the president, is among the officials that the chairman of the Senate committee, Republican Fred Thompson of Tennessee, is considering calling as a witness at future hearings.

A White House official, asked about Burton’s suggestion that the videotapes had been altered, belittled the notion, recalling that the House panel chairman once shot a pumpkin in his backyard to test a theory that the suicide of White House lawyer Vince Foster actually was a murder.

“First he was shooting at pumpkins. Now he’s talking about hiring lip-readers. What else is next?” said the official, who requested anonymity.

Burton reiterated his call for Atty. Gen. Janet Reno to appoint an independent counsel to investigate the donations controversy. “I wouldn’t say she’s obstructing justice,” he said. “I will say that she’s trying to protect her boss.”

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Meanwhile, Time magazine reported that Senate Democrats had turned up evidence of potentially illegal coordination between Republican Bob Dole’s 1996 presidential bid and such supposedly independent nonprofit groups as the Christian Coalition and the National Right to Life Committee.

In the same vein, Democrats circulated to the news media excerpts of comments made at the White House by then-President Reagan in meetings with Republican donors in which he not only thanked them but also asked for their continued help and support.

Reagan’s remarks were captured on videotapes that are now stored at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.

Times staff writer David Willman contributed to this story.