Dole Knocks Clinton On FBI Files, Russia Policy

EDISON, New Jersey (AllPolitics, June 16) -- Bob Dole accused President Clinton of using FBI files on prominent Republicans as a political tool, and said a Dole White House would never use the FBI in such a partisan manner.

Speaking at a $1,000-$1,500 per plate GOP fund-raiser Saturday organized by New Jersey Gov. Christie Whitman, Dole blasted Clinton for the White House's 1993-4 request for 400 background files, including those of a number of prominent Republicans.

"If the FBI can't trust the Clinton White House, how can the American people trust the White House?" Dole asked the more than 3,000 in attendance at the black tie affair.

Clinton has apologized for what he called an "innocent bureaucratic mistake."

Dole also rapped Clinton for his policies on Russia, saying the president "excused troubling Russian behavior toward other" former Soviet republics and moved too slowly in the plan to allow former Warsaw pact nations into NATO.

"For too long, President Clinton has delayed real action on enlarging NATO, putting the threats of Russian nationalists before the aspirations of democratic countries like Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary," he said.

Dole also promised, if elected, he would take a hardline stance toward Russia should a communist leadership return to power there.

"No matter who wins the election, America has to pursue our interests and I believe our interests have been neglected," Dole said.

The GOP fund-raiser Saturday night brought in over $4 million for the state Republican party. Clinton won the state in 1992, the first Democrat to do so since 1964.

Dole called the 1994 elections, in which Republicans swept to majorities in both the House and the Senate, the "first referendum on the Clinton presidency.

"I want to say that my election in 1996 will be remembered as the last referendum on Bill Clinton," Dole said.

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