Burton May Expand Pardon Probe

Widening a congressional investigation into former President Clinton’s pardon of fugitive Marc Rich, a House committee chairman said Sunday he will grant immunity to Rich’s ex-wife, issue subpoenas for her bank records and seek to obtain financial records from the Clinton presidential library fund.

Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, also called on federal law enforcement officials to pursue any evidence of criminal violations by Rich; his ex-wife, Denise; or Clinton.

To that end, Burton said, his committee will share evidence with federal prosecutors in New York, where U.S. Atty. Mary Jo White is said to be furious that the pardon was granted without her office first being consulted.

What Burton and others want to know is whether any of the $1.3 million that Denise Rich has given Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton over the years came from funds that her ex-husband may have funneled to her. About $450,000 of the donations went to the Clinton library foundation.

Because Rich has renounced his U.S. citizenship and has been a fugitive from justice living abroad, some criminal law experts believe he is legally prohibited from donating to political causes.

In other developments, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), a Senate Judiciary Committee member and normally a staunch Clinton supporter, conceded that the pardon was “a huge mistake” and that “it may well be time” for Clinton to return to Washington and explain to her panel why he pardoned Rich.

On his last day in office, Clinton issued 140 pardons and 36 commutations. A number of those acts of clemency have provoked outrage from Republicans and Democrats.

A key concern is whether Clinton exercised his clemency powers in return for cash from political donors.

In addition to the Rich matter, The Times reported Sunday that the son of Horacio Vignali, a wealthy and generous Democratic political donor from Los Angeles, was given a commutation after serving less than half of his 15-year sentence for his role in a major drug ring.

Clinton has yet to explain his reasoning behind the clemencies.

In the Vignali case, prosecutors sent a formal written objection to the Justice Department strongly recommending that the commutation be turned down. In the Rich case, it appears prosecutors were not fully apprised that Clinton had decided to help a fugitive wanted for conducting business with U.S. enemies, including Iran during the hostage situation of the late 1970s.

White, the U.S. attorney, reportedly is “livid” about the Rich pardon, according to a report in Newsweek magazine, and her office is considering opening a formal criminal investigation.

“Certainly, we would cooperate with any U.S. attorney that was looking into this matter and give them the information that we have,” Burton said on NBC-TV’s “Meet the Press.”

He said he intends to issue a subpoena to the Clinton library foundation “because if illegal contributions were given to them, then I think that should be something that’s brought out into the light of day.”

Burton added that “if it is necessary, we’ll consider” calling Clinton to testify before the committee.

In the Senate, Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said he considers it “appropriate to give some consideration to having President Clinton as a witness.”

He said he was concerned that Clinton decided about 10 days before he left office to pardon Rich, but did not first seek a full briefing from his law enforcement and intelligence advisors.

Specter said many of the clemencies are troublesome. “Pardons to people who were under investigation, pardons where there were enormous contributions, pardons where they were friends, pardons where they were relatives.

“The list goes on and on.”

Appearing on CNN’s “Late Edition,” Feinstein also sharply criticized Clinton: “This pardon at this time, I think, is a huge mistake. This pardon, I think, looks very bad.”