White House gets deadline
to release Whitewater notes

December 14, 1995
Web posted at: 9:30 p.m. EST

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The White House has until 9 a.m. Friday to hand over some notes to the Senate Whitewater Committee. The question now is: Will they?

The Whitewater Committee on Thursday rejected a last-minute White House offer to turn over, with conditions attached, documents that committee Republicans are demanding.

The documents include notes taken by former associate White House counsel William Kennedy at a November 5, 1993, meeting he attended with Clinton's personal lawyers on the Whitewater investigation. The White House says that what went on at that meeting is protected by attorney-client privilege.

The White House has set five conditions for turning over the information:

• The committee must agree that the November 5 meeting is protected by attorney-client privilege.
• Only White House lawyers, not private Clinton lawyers, can be questioned about the meeting.
• The committee must agree that it will not argue that any confidentiality privileges with respect to other Whitewater lawyers' meetings have been waived as a result.
• The committee must get other investigative bodies to agree to the above conditions as well. Those would include the Whitewater prosecutor's office, congressional committees and investigating federal agencies.
• Mutual agreement from Democrats and Republicans is required before the committee investigates any other matters covered by the attorney-client privilege.

In rejecting the conditions, Republicans voted to enforce subpoenas for the notes unless they are turned over by the Friday deadline.

The argument over the documents sparked bitter exchanges between the committee's Chairman Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, R-New York, and committee member Sen. Paul Sarbanes, D-Maryland.

"Look, I realize that this is a political exercise. And the majority is intent on trying to provoke a confrontation with the White House," Sarbanes fired at D'Amato.

"I'm sorry that you continue to characterize undertaking our job in that fashion. We've attempted to extend to the White House every opportunity to avoid this," D'Amato countered. (231K AIFF sound or 231K WAV sound)

White House counsel Jack Quinn accused the Republicans of playing pure politics. "We said all along that the notes are not what this fight is about. There's nothing to hide. The notes will be forthcoming as soon as we can have an agreement that in providing the notes to Senator D'Amato and the committee, the president will not, as a result ... be foregoing his opportunity to have a confidential relationship with his private attorney." (286K AIFF sound or 286K WAV sound)

If the documents are not released, Republicans plan to turn up the heat by pursuing civil contempt charges against Kennedy.

Related stories:

• Mrs. Clinton answers Whitewater questions
• Hillary Clinton in Whitewater focus

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