Hatch Warns Nominee on Donor Case

In an extraordinary warning, Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told a high-level Justice Department nominee Wednesday that “all hell’s going to break loose” if the agency prosecutes former Republican National Committee Chairman Haley Barbour on campaign finance charges.

The statement carries considerable weight because the panel Hatch heads oversees the Justice Department’s operations.

Hatch told James K. Robinson, a former U.S. attorney and law school dean nominated to head the Justice Department’s criminal division, that the potential case against Barbour is “BS,” and that the department’s motives would be questioned if it tries to prosecute him.

Hatch, who has been critical of Atty. Gen. Janet Reno’s decision not to seek appointment of an independent counsel to investigate allegations of illegal fund-raising by Democrats in the last presidential election, said it would be using a double-standard if it pursues Barbour.

“All hell’s going to break loose if we see that type of politics take place,” Hatch declared.

Hatch’s unexpected warning came at Robinson’s otherwise uneventful confirmation hearing, where he seemed certain to win Senate approval to fill the key department post.

A Justice Department official, who declined to be identified, said he found it “extraordinary” for Hatch “to be threatening a prospective civil servant before he takes office.”

Justice Department sources described the investigation of Barbour as “on hold,” awaiting judicial review of matters that have been kept sealed.

The investigation involves the key role that Barbour, while GOP chairman, played in arranging for Hong Kong businessman Ambrous Tung Young to put up a $2.1-million loan guarantee for the debt-ridden National Policy Forum, a nonprofit Republican think tank.

Hatch dismissed suggestions that the loan guarantee amounted to an illegal foreign campaign donation.

The transactions “were legal and actually cost the Republican National Committee funds,” Hatch said. He cited the conclusion by the GOP-dominated Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, which last year conducted extensive hearings into alleged fund-raising improprieties, that “it is neither illegal nor improper for nonprofit organizations to receive money from foreign sources, provided no such funds enter federal campaigns.”

Most of the committee’s focus was on questionable fund-raising by the Democratic Party, but the case involving Barbour was widely cited as an example that both parties may have violated campaign finance laws in their quest for money.

Hatch made clear where he believes Justice investigators should be focusing their attention. “There’s so much irritation with what happened during the last election on the president’s part,” Hatch said. “As much as $40 million was basically illegally used to elect a president--in the eyes of many.”

Hatch elicited a response of “absolutely” when he asked for Robinson’s assurance that in the Justice Department’s ongoing campaign finance inquiry, the law will be applied uniformly.