Politics

Only Hil Knows The Trouble I've Seen

April 25, 2001 / 3:10 PM EDT / CBS/AP

Sen. Robert Torricelli of New Jersey assured fellow Democrats at a private meeting that he is innocent of wrongdoing in his personal and political finances.

According to sources familiar with the meeting Tuesday, Torricelli described himself as the victim of false charges conjured up by a former donor and leaked illegally to the press.

He said his lawyers had limited what he could say publicly, but that none of the allegations against him were true and he had not taken any illegal gifts, sources said.

"I think people understand that this is a very tough time for him as a human being," Torricelli's New Jersey Senate colleague, Democrat Jon Corzine, said after the meeting.

Torricelli told his colleagues that only New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the former first lady, could fully understand what he is enduring, the sources said. Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, have been the subject of numerous unflattering stories, most recently over the former president's last-minute pardons.

Sen. Clinton offered no reply to the comment, the sources said.

Inside the room and then later speaking to reporters, Torricelli stressed that he had received "no illegal gifts" from campaign donor David Chang, who is cooperating with federal investigators.

Federal law and congressional ethics rules prohibit lawmakers from accepting gifts worth $50 or more, with a $100 annual limit from any individual source. An exemption is given to gifts from personal friends; Torricelli has said that he once considered Chang a friend.

Chang, a New Jersey businessman, has pleaded guilty to making $ 53,700 in improper donations to Torricelli's 1996 Senate campaign. He has reportedly told prosecutors that he gave Torricelli several gifts and tens of thousands of dollars in cash to get his help with some international business deals.

Torricelli told reporters last Wednesday: "These issues of illegal activities are not only false, but unbelievable." He said much the same to his Senate colleagues.

"He reviewed the nature of the case, that he took no illegal gifts, and the fact that whatever assertions are underlying the claims are coming from a man who was in the process of plea bargaining," Corzine said.

Sources said Torricelli expressed particular displeasure with what he called illegal leaks about the case.

"It's something he's going to be a fighter about," Corzine said. "He's confident that in the intermediate or the long term he'll prove his side of the story is the right one."

Torricelli's spokeswoman, Debra DeShong, confirmed that Torricelli addressed the senators but could not comment on what was said.