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Reno 'Mad' at White House Over TapesBy Michael J. SniffenAssociated Press Writer Thursday, October 9, 1997; 10:27 a.m. EDT WASHINGTON (AP) – Attorney General Janet Reno said today she was ``mad'' when she learned that the White House had belatedly discovered videotapes of President Clinton's coffees and had not immediately informed her investigators. ``I was mad,'' Reno told her weekly news conference, describing her reaction Saturday when informed that tapes requested earlier by her campaign finance task force had just been found at the White House. She acknowledged the incident ``strains somewhat'' the department's relations with the White House. In a sternly worded statement, Reno said she was angry on two counts. ``Where the White House has a responsibility to produce documents, it's very, very frustrating when they are produced in a delayed fashion,'' Reno said. ``And I also thought we should have been told immediately.'' Nevertheless, Reno said the tapes her investigators have reviewed so far would not have changed her letter last Friday to House Judiciary Chairman Henry Hyde, R-Ill. She said then that there was no basis for invoking the indepedent counsel act to probe President Clinton's dealings with large contributors at the coffees or during overnight stays in the Lincoln bedroom. Even though the tapes showed one of the coffees occurred in the Oval Office as opposed to the resident area of the White House, Reno said the key issue is whether Clinton ``either solicited or received'' contributions at the events. Meanwhile, Senate campaign finance investigators are exploring fund-raising links between the Democratic Party and Teamster President Ron Carey, while a House probe is questioning donors who say they were reimbursed by party money man Yah Lin ``Charlie'' Trie.
© Copyright 1997 The Associated Press Go to Campaign Finance Report | Go to Politics Section
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