Democrats Pressure GOP Leader of Probe

House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) threatened Sunday to force a House vote on leadership of the campaign finance investigation involving President Clinton unless Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) begins to “act properly” in conducting the inquiry.

As the minority party in Congress, Democrats would have difficulty prevailing on the House floor. But the fight would force Republicans to defend Burton’s conduct and shift the spotlight further from Clinton at a time when GOP leaders are stepping up their attacks on the president in anticipation of the November elections.

But a defiant Burton, who last week acknowledged errors and fired his chief investigator, said he had no plans to back down. Burton, whose Committee on Government Reform and Oversight is handling the House inquiry into Clinton’s campaign fund-raising, said he continues to have “full support” from House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) “to make sure we get to the bottom of all this.”

And members of the House GOP leadership, including Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas, the majority whip, stood by Burton, saying Democrats are attacking him to obstruct the investigation. Rep. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), another member of the House Republican leadership, acknowledged missteps by Burton but said the real problem is committee Democrats’ refusal to support grants of immunity for key witnesses.

Burton’s handling of the investigation has rankled Democrats from the beginning, but recent actions have given them an opportunity to go on the attack and they have seized the chance. Burton drew a barrage of criticism recently for referring to Clinton as a “scumbag.”

And a firestorm was ignited with the recent discovery that he had released only the seemingly incriminating segments of tape-recorded telephone calls involving former Justice Department official and Clinton confidant Webster L. Hubbell. The released tapes contained passages suggesting Hubbell might be covering up incriminating information, but other passages in which Hubbell said First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton had no knowledge of wrongdoing were initially withheld.

Gephardt, speaking Sunday on NBC-TV’s “Meet the Press,” said Burton must stop making inflammatory statements about the president and give greater consideration to demands from Democrats on his committee, including their requests for subpoenas to probe GOP fund-raising abuses.

“They’re going to try again this week to get him to act properly,” Gephardt said.

“If he will, we’re willing to go forward. But if he simply continues what he’s been doing, we have no choice but to ask him to step down and even go to the floor of the House and ask the House to vote on this.”

Burton, interviewed on “Fox News Sunday,” claimed continuing support by Gingrich, saying “the only problem the speaker has” is with the selective editing of the tape transcripts. Hubbell was recently indicted again in independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr’s investigation after serving 18 months for bilking former law firm clients and partners; the tapes were of calls Hubbell made while in jail.

Burton said it was a mistake to have omitted possibly exculpatory comments by Hubbell.

David Bossie, the staff member fired by Burton for his role in releasing the tapes, appeared on ABC-TV’s “This Week With Sam and Cokie” to respond to Democratic allegations that he colluded with Starr by sharing the tapes, which the Justice Department had turned over to the committee.

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Bossie said that under committee rules, it is legitimate to give Starr information from the tapes and from other sources. But he denied that the panel ever got information from Starr’s office in return, declaring that “it was not a two-way street.”

Burton accused Democrats of “trying to keep the truth from the American people” by refusing to vote immunity for four witnesses in return for their testimony.

Rep. Henry A. Waxman of Los Angeles, the ranking Democrat on Burton’s panel, said Sunday that his colleagues would stop blocking immunity for some witnesses if another Republican replaced Burton as chairman.

“For the investigation to have any legitimacy, this must happen,” Waxman said in a letter to Gingrich. He said Burton “has disqualified himself” with the conduct of his probe and his public statements.