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January 10, 1996
Web posted at: 8:40 p.m. EST
From Correspondent Claire Shipman
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Republicans kept up the Whitewater mantra Wednesday, continuing to accuse the White House of withholding information.
Senate Whitewater Committee Chairman Sen. Alfonse D'Amato said the White House has demonstrated a pattern of "delay" and "deceit withholding," and said that the committee has not received requested documents. (136K AIFF sound or 136K WAV sound)
The committee is investigating the possibility that funds from a failed savings and loan firm may have been diverted improperly into Clinton's 1984 gubernatorial campaign and to Whitewater Development Corp., an Arkansas real estate venture jointly owned by the Clintons.
D'Amato said he was looking for a briefing book, e-mail, and a newspaper article about Whitewater on which the president allegedly made hand-written notes.
But the White House says D'Amato is looking for trouble instead of facts. "He's a Republican attack dog. He's been unleashed. The charges he made today are totally irresponsible. We've provided every document he's asked for," said White House spokesman Mark Fabiani.
D'Amato's accusations are a prelude to the resumption of the Whitewater hearings Thursday, where the focus will remain on the first lady.
The chief witness Thursday will be Rick Massey, a partner at Mrs. Clinton's Rose law firm and the attorney who she claims did most of the work on behalf of the failed Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan. Investigators say the S&L's collapse cost taxpayers at least $40 million.
A source tells CNN that Massey is not expected to directly contradict earlier statements made by Hillary Rodham Clinton concerning her involvement in the matter. But Republicans say billing records recently released by the White House make clear that she did much more work on the account than she has indicated. Legal experts say the issue is probably unresolvable. (68K AIFF sound or 68K WAV sound)
"Questions of whether participation is a lot or a little are very difficult. Her participation seems to have been somewhere on the cracks or in between," said Paul Rothstein of the Georgetown Law Center. "As yet I see no crimes here, but it's something that warrants a further look."
If anything is certain, it's that Republicans think Whitewater and Clinton credibility are winning election issues. And they don't show any signs of lowering the level of rhetoric. "What they probably have in mind is to try and keep the focus at a certain election-year level from here on in," said political analyst Kevin Phillips.
The recent explosion of media attention has left many at the White House anxious. With the first lady set to go on a week-long tour promoting her new book on raising children, the timing of the Whitewater focus couldn't be worse. There was some thought given to curtailing the tour, but aides decided that would send the wrong message.
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