August 10, 1995 - Part 5
August 10, 1995 - Part 5
(14:35:17) Some of these contradictions may be able to be explained away. But I think that we have an obligation to get to the bottom of that, And so in an effort to do that, and in an effort to hopefully get a little more clarity as to how many phone calls were made and where they went, from Ms. Thomases to Ms. Williams to the First' Lady and vice versa, I believe it is necessary to get those records from the telephone company. So we will proceed along that line. Other-Members have suggested different things. But I would prefer not to have to bring back witnesses, and the Ranking Member and I have discussed this. In order to expedite and move these hearings, I think that we could do it on this basis. I just want- to conclude this aspect Senator SARBANES. I want to speak on this. The CHAIRMAN. Certainly. I wanted to conclude this aspect by thanking Mr. Nussbaum for his cooperation--oh Let me also say this, because I think it's very important, We have requested, and there is a very real question, as it relates to whether there were indices more complete than the one that we have seen. Mr. Chertoff has raised that today, but it really goes to an issue that I believe that Senator Bond had spoken to. He was interested in seeing whether they can, from the hard drive, the computer that Ms. Gorham used, recreate or get additional information. I have been advised by Judge Mikva, the White House Counsel, that he has asked the FBI to examine the hard drive of the computer of Mr. Foster's Executive Assistant. They have agreed to provide the Committee with the results of the FBI's examination of the hard drive. So I think we want to let that be known. Senator SARBANES. Mr. Chairman, let me just make this observation. First of all, the effort that's going on with respect to the computer was in response to a joint letter that you and I sent. The CHAIRMAN. Oh, yes. Senator SARBANES. On the telephone records, as I understand it, all the parties are voluntarily prepared to provide us this information. And it seems to me that, as we have done heretofore, we ought to proceed on that basis. If, in fact, there proves then to be a problem, I think we can examine the question of issuing subpoenas. But when you have people that are in effect saying, we're willing to work with you and cooperate with you and get these records, I think we should follow that path. I have no reason to expect any problem, but if for some reason a problem arises, then we could address the question of issuing the subpoena. The CHAIRMAN. Here's the problem. In the Past, Senator, we have asked exactly for that. We have not received cooperation from recipients of this request. We've been told records are unavailable, et cetera. Now, I believe that in order to. expedite this-and by the way, if the parties agree, and I think that it can be done relatively--it would have to be done before we leave today-to send a letter; we can draft a letter, both counsel, which would indicate that those records by the telephone companies be made available to this Committee Senator SARBANES. I thought they had sent us that as indicated 1395 The CHAIRMAN. No, they have not. I don't need or want a conditional response. I have agreed and I think both counsels-we have agreed that we're not looking to find out every phone call that was made, but we are interested in phone calls that were made to people in official positions, the White House, those people whom the Committee are examining, et cetera. But we're not interested in phone calls made to people -outside of the scope of this investigation. Now, if counsels can agree to the methodology to provide that production in a reasonable fashion-not that it's going to be made subject to someone's attorney reviewing it and then deciding, but rather the attorneys here-that's fine. But up until now, we have not been able to have that, or at least get the parties to agree. Therefore, before we leave for the next 3 weeks, I want to be in a position to say that if we can't do that, that we're going to vote subpoenas out. Senator SARBANES. Well, let's do this, because my perception of the letters that we got from people was that they were more forthcoming than you have just indicated. Why don't we have counsel work on that, along the path of getting a voluntary compliance, which I think is always preferable. And then we can address the issue you've raised in the aftermath of that.