August 10, 1995 - Part 5
August 10, 1995 - Part 5
(14:30:24) Mr. NUSSBAUM. I'm not telling you that. But I had a basic idea, because I had discussed this with Steve Neuwirth, who actually was more of a staff expert on the Presidential Records Act. I had a knowledge of the basic concepts of the Act, but every nuance I didn't know, no. And I still don't know. Mr. CHERTOFF. The expert was Neuwirth? Mr. NUSSBAUM. He was more familiar with it than anybody else. Neuwirth had only been in the White House Counsel's office also for 6 months at that time. 1393 Mr. CHERTOFF. Did you call him in and ask him to kind of take a look at stuff on the 22nd? Mr. NUSSBAUM. I was in contact with Neuwirth all the time. But I don't remember discussing this issue with him. Mr. CHERTOFF. Well, in fact, your answer in your deposition on page 403, line 6-actually, we'll begin with page 402, line 20. Question: Would you agree with me that one of your functions as White House Counsel is to advise on the legal requirements of the Presidential Records Act? Answer: That's correct. And one of my staff members was familiar with the Act. Question: And who was that? Answer. Steve Neuwirth. Question: Did you ask Mr. Neuwirth to come in and give advice concerning wheth- er any of these documents could be moved under the Presidential Records Act'? Answer: No. Mr. NUSSBAUM. That's just what I testified to. Mr. BEN-VENISTE. Mr. Chairman, I think we've gone right for the capillary here. The CHAIRMAN. Now that we've found the capillary, I'm going to say that it is my intention to have subpoenas issued-I hope that the Ranking Member would join me in this request, so that we don't have to seek a vote of the Committee- for the telephone logs at the telephone company, for the Rodham residence in Little Rock, Ms. Williams' residence, and for Ms. Thomases on the dates in question. I believe the dates are the 22nd and the 26th; the subpoena, obviously, will be more specific. I hope that we can do this together. One of the reasons I take this step is that there has been contradictory testimony, and hopefully we may be able to get more definitive time as it relates to certain calls that were made between the various parties-Mrs. Clinton, when she received phone calls. And let me tell you what I'm talking about. There have been a number of contradictory, different recollections on rather critical issues. For example, Ms. Williams says that she took the Clintons' personal files to the White House residence. Mr. Nussbaum says that he asked her, he discussed that with her, and she denies this. She has no recollection of that. She said she was too tired to wait. Last week, Mr. Castleton, the younger staffer who actually carried the files to the residence, testified that Ms. Williams told him that the First Lady would review the files. Ms. Williams again, at page 144 in her testimony, denies that, and she says that she wouldn't tell an intern something like that, Then I was amazed that just this past Monday, another significant contradiction-certainly an area that has to be resolved-by the First Lady's Chief of Staff and former Chief of Staff Mack McLarty. He testified that he notified Mrs. Clinton about Mr. Foster's death, calling her in Little Rock after 9:00 p.m. Maggie Williams told this Committee that Mrs. Clinton called her from the airplane before she landed and told Ms. Williams to sit by and to wait for a call back when she landed. The fact is that, after the plane landed at 8:40 Eastern Time, Mrs. Clinton - told Ms. Williams about the Foster death. Now, did indeed Mrs. Clinton make that first call from a land line in Little Rock? Did she call from an airplane? Who did inform Mrs. Clinton, and when did she know? The times just do not and the accounts just do not match up.