Politics

Clinton Won't Meet With Senators

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

March 5, 2001 / 11:32 AM EST / CBS

Former President Clinton will not meet with senators to answer questions on his controversial pardon of billionaire Marc Rich, a spokeswoman said Monday.

Republican Sen. Arlen Specter last week invited Mr. Clinton to a private meeting to explain the pardon, which has sparked criminal and congressional investigations of a possible link between the pardon and political donations by Rich's ex-wife Denise.

But Clinton spokeswoman Julia Payne said Specter's offer is "not anything we're inclined to do."

Asked if the former president was leaving a window open to reconsidering the invitation later, Payne said: "There is no window. You can shut it."

Senate leaders are treading gingerly over the prospect of trying to compel Mr. Clinton's testimony about his 176 last-minute pardons and commutations. Specter said they have suggested that he and a Democratic senator do the questioning in private.

He detailed the proposal in a letter to Mr. Clinton last week.

On Sunday, Specter said he thought Mr. Clinton "may be inclined" to accept his offer as a way of "getting to the basic facts."

Specter said he suggested "very professional questioning by me with another Democrat, if the president chooses, in an office, his office if he would like, getting to the basic facts."

Were Mr. Clinton to reject the proposal, Specter said he did not know what would happen. "Technically there could be a subpoena. I don't think that will happen," he said, citing the "sensitivity" of forcing a president to testify.

On Monday, the House Government Reform Committee was expected to get more details about large donations to the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation, which is raising money for a library to be built in Little Rock, Ark. The committee already has received a list of the top donors, but was awaiting specific information, including dates of contributions.

Rich's ex-wife, songwriter Denise Rich, contributed $450,000 to the foundation and her friend, Beth Dozoretz, a former finance chairman for the Democratic National Committee, has pledged to raise $1 million for the library project.

Dozoretz refused to testify before the House committee last week about her involvement in Rich's pardon, invoking her constitutional right against self-incrimination. Denise Rich also has refused to testify.

Noting the almost daily revelations about lobbying by political donors on behalf of pardon applicants, Specter said, "It naturally raises a question. It doesn't come to a legal conclusion, it won't stand up in court, but I think it is something that ought to be answered, and, again, only the president can give the answer."

Specter also said that Congress may consider reporting requirements for private foundations like the one handling Mr. Clinton's library fund raising, and may look at more lobbyin registration requirements for people who seek things from the president.