Ashcroft Cautious About Pardon Issue

Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft stepped carefully around the controversy surrounding former President Clinton’s pardons Monday, saying a president’s clemency power has “very few limits,” but refusing to rule out a federal review of Clinton’s actions.

“I believe the president has a very substantial right to pardon individuals that’s granted by the United States Constitution,” Ashcroft told reporters at his first news conference in office. “And when a president exercises that right, he operates, I would hope, within the limits of the Constitution and there are very few limits in that respect.”

Ashcroft also pledged to work with members of Congress who are pressing for an immunity agreement to compel the congressional testimony of Denise Rich, the former wife of pardoned fugitive Marc Rich.

Republicans want to find out whether the pardon was influenced by about $1 million that Denise Rich contributed to Democratic candidates or $450,000 that she gave to Clinton’s presidential library fund. She refused to appear at a congressional hearing on the matter last week. Instead, she asserted her 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination.

“I don’t want to say that we have made a decision on the [Denise Rich immunity] request, but we will work with the understanding of the need for the Congress to get its work done as well,” Ashcroft said.

The controversy over the 176 pardons and commutations that Clinton granted on his way out of the White House on Jan. 20 represents a dicey subject for Ashcroft.

Republicans have gone on the offensive and are even floating the idea that an abuse of pardon authority could result in a post-term impeachment of Clinton. The federal prosecutor in New York City, meanwhile, reportedly is considering whether questions surrounding the pardons and possible financial links warrant a criminal investigation.

But if Ashcroft allows the Justice Department to become deeply involved in such a politically charged issue, he risks further alienating the 42 Democrats in the Senate who voted against his nomination 12 days ago after a bitter confirmation battle.

Ashcroft would not say Monday whether the Justice Department will review the matter but he did not close the door on that prospect. “I don’t think it would be appropriate for me to comment on issues like that,” he told reporters.

In other matters, Ashcroft reiterated that two of his highest priorities will be fighting gun violence and drug use by young people. He said he plans to set up task forces to address both issues.

Ashcroft said he has spent most of his time on the job so far deciding who will serve as his top deputies.

He made a point of praising two men whose appointments to top posts appear all but certain: Atlanta lawyer Lawrence Thompson, who would serve as deputy attorney general directly under Ashcroft, and Theodore B. Olson, who was the lead lawyer in President Bush’s legal battle over the Florida election recount and is expected to serve as solicitor general.

“Mr. Thompson and Mr. Olson are very outstanding individuals whose records of public service, including service with this Department of Justice, are exemplary records,” he said.

But he refused to confirm their pending appointments, saying that the official announcements will have to come from the White House. Announcements are expected in coming days on those and other key Justice Department appointments, including the likely nomination of Washington lawyer Charles A. James as head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division, a position he held briefly on an acting basis in 1992.

The antitrust post is considered particularly critical because of questions about how aggressively the Justice Department under Ashcroft will pursue its landmark antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft. A federal judge ordered last year that the software giant be split in two because of antitrust violations, but Microsoft is appealing that ruling.