August 10, 1995 - Part 2
August 10, 1995 - Part 2
(11:45:25) Mr. NUSSBAUM. I want to thank you for the nice compliment, Senator. No, I don't recall. Senator SHELBY. You don't recall that? Mr. NUSSBAUM. I don't recall promising to call him back. I may have, but I don't recall. Senator SHELBY. What troubles me, and I know my time's about UPI is why, Mr. Nussbaum, did you, a lawyer of experience, Watergate experience, a competent trial lawyer, consciously, I believe, perhaps willfully, contaminate this whole investigation? The Justice Department I believe never had a chance to do a thorough or complete investigation. Their papers have disappeared. You know it, we know it. Mr. NUSSBAUM. No papers have disappeared. Senator SHELBY. Yes, they disappeared, You've dispersed them. You said they've been distributed. Mr. NUSSBAUM. That's not disappearing, every paper was preserved, no paper disappeared. Senator SHELBY. That's in dispute. You obviously had a lot to hide, as Mr. Heymann asked you, did you have a lot to hide. Mr. NUSSBAUM. That is false. We had nothing to hide. Senator SHELBY. And you succeeded in doing it too well. Mr. NUSSBAUM. I didn't hide anything, I didn't succeed in hiding anything. I had nothing to hide. Every document was preserved, nothing was destroyed. Every document that law enforcement requested was given to them, some right after Mr. Foster's death and some later when the Whitewater investigation Senator SHELBY. You controlled the investigation and you dispersed the documents. Mr. NUSSBAUM. I acted in a proper fashion, Senator SHELBY. And you know you did. Mr. NUSSBAUM. I acted in a proper fashion. I acted as a good lawyer is supposed to act, and I'm proud of my conduct. Senator SHELBY. You're proud of your conduct? Mr. NUSSBAUM. Absolutely. Senator SHELBY. You would probably be the only person in America who would be proud. Mr. NUSSBAUM. I don't think so, Senator. I don't think so. Senator SHELBY. My time is up. The CHAIRMAN. Senator Sarbanes. Senator SIMON. Mr. Chairman, if you could yield just for 30 seconds? Senator SARBANES. I yield to Senator Simon. 1342 Senator SIMON. I think it should be put in the record that when Mr. Heymann was asked did Mr. Nussbaum act ethically and legally, he said absolutely. The CHAIRMAN. It is in the record. Obviously, the testimony of all of our witnesses, and we will review all of it. [Pause.] Senator SARBANES. I'm going to yield to Senator Kerry but before I do that, I think for the sake of the record, in light of some of the uestioning that was just put, in Mr. Heymann's testimony, here before the Committee, he was asked: Question: I understand your testimony is that the Park Police in that interim did not complain to Mr. Margolis about the White House cooperation? Answer: That's correct. Question: Following the search on the 22nd, you understood, did you not, from Mr. Adams and Mr. Margolis, when they reported back to you that Mr. Nussbaum had designated documents and items to turn over to the Foster family attorney? Answer, Yes. Question: And you weren't surprised by that, I take it? Answer: I wasn't surprised. Then later they also discussed turning over the personal documents relating to the Clinton's. Now that dispersal of documents took place after the search, not before the search, isn't that correct? Mr. NUSSBAUM. That's correct, Senator. Senator SARBANES. So this movement of documents out of the office was subsequent to and after the session at which the law enforcement officials were present? Mr. NUSSBAUM. That's correct. Senator SARBANES. The session at which you went through what the documents were and they indicated which ones they had an interest in? Mr. NUSSBAUM. That's right. Senator SARBANES. Senator Kerry. OPENING COMMENTS OF SENATOR JOHN F. KERRY Senator KERRY. Mr. Chairman, does my clock begin now? The CHAIRMAN. Your time is running. Senator KERRY. Mr. Nussbaum, I would like to follow up, if I can, on some of the questions Senator Shelby was asking you, so I can understand better the framework of some of the confrontation between you and he on that question of what happened. When you piled the documents or separated the documents for dispersal to the personal attorneys, you took all the personal documents, is that correct, at that time? Mr. NUSSBAUM. First, I took the Foster personal documents and started piling them up. Senator KERRY. You gave those to Attorney Spafford, correct? Mr. NUSSBAUM. That's correct.