Politics

N.J. Senator Dodges A Bullet

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

January 3, 2002 / 12:20 PM EST / CBS

In a written statement, U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White announced Thursday she has closed the investigation of Sen. Robert Torricelli's campaign finances, and no charges will be filed, reports CBS News Correspondent Stephanie Lambidakis.

White says the investigation by the FBI, IRS and Customs was exhaustive and included subpoenas of records at Mercedes Benz dealerships and visits to a tailor to investigate if suits allegedly made for Torricelli were an illeal gratuity.

Attorney General Ashcroft was recused from the case but his deputy says the Justice Department is satisfied the case was handled appropriately.

The U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan "has referred information developed in the course of the investigation to the Ethics Committee of the United States Senate," White's statement said.

Torricelli had been suspected of taking illegal gifts and cash from a donor, David Chang.

The New Jersey Democrat has repeatedly insisted he did nothing out of the ordinary to assist Chang, whose accusations were central to the federal investigation.

Chang pleaded guilty to making $53,700 in illegal donations to Torricelli's 1996 Senate campaign and agreed last year to work with investigators. He has told prosecutors that the senator accepted gifts in return for intervening in Chang's business deals in North and South Korea.

Torricelli has said he never did anything illegal in his five-year relationship with Chang, and denied taking any illegal gifts.

Federal law bars public officials from taking gifts in return for specific official actions, even if those actions are merely promised and not taken.

Senate ethics rules do allow some gifts from long-standing friends, and Torricelli has said he once considered Chang a friend.

White's office also has investigated former President Clinton's pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich, the ex-husband of a Democratic fund-raiser, and his commutation of the sentences of four men from a Hasidic community that overwhelmingly backed Hillary Rodham Clinton's Senate bid.

White, who is due to leave office on Monday, has not commented on the status of the pardon case. The Clintons have denied any wrongdoing.

The separate grand jury inquiries of Clinton and Torricelli were reportedly winding down before Sept. 11, when the terrorist attacks shifted attention away from the probes.

When White announced her departure in November, she said she expected "an orderly transition of pending matters" to the new U.S. attorney for Manhattan, James Comey.