Politics

Dubya On Pardon: Let It Be

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

January 28, 2001 / 6:45 PM EST / CBS

The fugitive financier pardoned by President Clinton need not worry about the current occupant of the White House.

President Bush said Monday he was troubled by the pardon that his predecessor granted to Marc Rich, but added he has decided not to attempt to revoke it.

"I am troubled by the decision the president made. I would not have made the decision," Mr. Bush said of Mr. Clinton on Monday in the Oval Office. "But nevertheless he was the president, he had the right to do so, to make that decision, and he did. And I'm going to protect that privilege not only for me, but for future presidents as well."

A president's right to grant such pardons is "inviolate, as far as I'm concerned," Mr. Bush added.

"It's an important part of the office," he said. "I am mindful not only of preserving executive powers for myself, but my predecessors as well. And that's why I made the decision."

On Sunday, Rich's lawyer and former Clinton White House counsel Jack Quinn said his client is ready to return to the United States to face possible civil penalties on charges he did not pay millions in taxes.

Now living in Switzerland, Rich was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of evading more than $48 million in income taxes. The financier is the ex-husband of Denise Rich, a major financial contributor to the Democratic Party.

Quinn told NBC's Meet The Press that Rich would not invoke statute of limitation allowances that could frustrate government efforts to force him to face civil action.

"He will and should face any assertions that he owes civil penalties," he said.

The financier's lawyer added it was his understanding that Rich and his business partner Pincus Green, also pardoned by Mr. Clinton, would be coming back to the United States.

Quinn emphasized that Rich would continue to maintain his innocence. He contends the transactions in question were carried out by Swiss companies associated with Rich, and were not subject to the tax laws of the time.

Rich was indicted in Manhattan federal court in 1983, shortly after he fled the country, on charges of tax fraud and illegally buying oil from Iran during the 1979 hostage crisis.

Mr. Clinton's pardon of Rich, among 176 pardons and clemencies he issued Jan 20, his last day in office, has led to allegations that it was tied to Denise Rich's political contributions. She has contributed more than $1 million to Democrats since 1993, including to Hillary Rodham Clinton successful bid for U.S. Senate in New York. Quinn and Denise Rich have strongly denied any such ties.

President Bush's lawyers had explored the possibility of revoking the pardon for Marc Rich, but opted not to. On Monday, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer did not say which attorneys looked into Mr. Bush's options and under whose orders.

"The lawyers just started looking into things. ... It began with the Justice Departmenand lawyers, as lawyers do, they ask questions and think about things," he said.

Fleischer added that no formal legal report on the issue was presented to Mr. Bush.

New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who as a federal prosecutor had pursued Rich, said he supported the congressional probe announced last week by Rep. Dan Burton, an Indiana Republican and the chairman of the House Government Reform Committee.

"You have on the one side, a fugitive for many, many years, one of the top six fugitives of the Justice Department ... on the other side a lot of unanswered questions about over a million dollars in campaign contributions," Giuliani said on NBC.

The mayor, who at one time was Mrs. Clinton's GOP opponent in the New York Senate race before dropping out, said he was especially outraged that Rich was never even tried before receiving the pardon.

But that is not without precedent: In 1992, Mr. Bush's father ended his term in office by pardoning before trial six Reagan administration officials indicted in the Iran-Contra affair, including former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger.

Rep. Burton wants to examine whether former President Clinton "had an improper motive" for pardoning Rich before leaving the White House.