Helms Vs. Clinton

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms just can't seem to avoid controversies involving women lately, reports CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer.

He remains in a nasty fight with the White House over President Clinton's nomination of former Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun to be ambassador to New Zealand - only days after he called the cops on ten female members of the House of Representatives who showed up unannounced at a committee hearing.

"You're out of order. You cannot demonstrate in this hearing," Helms told the women.

White House staff members met with Helms' staff Thursday to try to come up with a list of documents sought by the North Carolina Republican regarding the Moseley-Braun nomination.

If his committee receives the "relevant documents," a hearing can be held as early as next Tuesday, with a vote the following day, Helms said in a statement.

"If there is nothing to hide in these documents, then there should be no reason for the White House to withhold them," Helms said.

Moseley-Braun, the nation's first black female senator, was defeated in a 1998 re-election bid. Civil rights groups and congressional Democrats have criticized Helms for seeking to block the nomination.

Helms was specific Thursday on exactly what his panel was looking for. Much of it involved allegations, never proven, that she used leftover funds from the 1992 campaign for personal luxuries.

"The committee must be provided with key documents that shed light on why the Clinton Justice Department twice refused routine requests by the IRS Criminal Tax Division to have a grand jury investigate charges that Ms. Moseley-Braun diverted more than $200,000 in campaign funds for private use," Helms' statement said.

He said these included "purchases of jewelry, luxury cars, designer clothes, stereo equipment and expensive personal vacations to Hawaii, Africa and Europe."

"The committee must also be provided with the documents that explain exactly who paid for her three expensive visits to Nigeria at the invitation of the late dictator Sani Abacha," Helms said.

Both allegations surfaced previously, most recently as part of Moseley-Braun's unsuccessful 1998 re-election bid against Republican Peter Fitzgerald.