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From The Post Agency Apparently Got Partial Request (Oct. 13) News Analysis: Will the Public Force Action on Campaigns? (Oct. 13) Reno: No Part of Funds Probe Yet Completed By Susan Schmidt Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, October 13, 1997; Page A01 Attorney General Janet Reno said yesterday no aspect of the Justice Department's campaign finance investigation has been completed – including an examination of the president's activities – and she will not allow critics to bully her with "innuendo" and "shrill accusations." Reno said that on the recently discovered videotapes of White House coffees for big donors she has so far seen no indication of criminal activity by President Clinton or other officials covered by the Independent Counsel Act. But she insisted that her department's 11-month-old task force, whose slow pace has drawn criticism from congressional Republicans, is "conducting one of the most complex investigations in this country's history." "We are going to continue to explore and look at everything that is developed," Reno said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "Nothing has been closed. No one has been exonerated," she said, including the president. "We are going to look at anything that is developed. . . . We're going to pursue every lead and pursue everyone who has information." That could include interviewing the president, Reno said. Reno's handling of the probe, and her refusal so far to request appointment of an independent counsel to pursue allegations of campaign finance abuses, have been widely criticized by Republicans and even some Democrats. House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said Saturday that the White House made Reno "look like a fool" by not telling her promptly about the discovery of videotapes of White House coffees. Contrite White House officials have said their failure to find the tapes until almost two weeks ago and then to notify the Justice Department right away were "inexcusable" lapses. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), a former prosecutor, said yesterday on CBS's "Face the Nation" that the department's investigation has been incompetent and "there is a lack of sincere interest in getting to the bottom of what's really going on." Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), chairman of the House panel holding hearings on fund-raising violations, said: "We believe, many of us, that she [Reno] is trying to stand in the way of a good investigation. . . . She is fighting for the president of the United States instead of doing her job." He told CNN's "Late Edition" that the investigation may go until late next year. Since Thursday, when she told reporters she was angry at the White House for failing to turn over the tapes promptly, Reno has been on a public offensive, confronting her critics in Congress along with the White House. Yesterday she dismissed the "name calling" by Gingrich and other Republicans. "I follow the evidence, I follow the law. I don't follow innuendo. I don't follow shrill accusations," she said. "This is a massive, ongoing criminal investigation that I'm going to see takes us where the evidence is." One White House videotape shows Arief Wiriadinata, an Indonesian landscaper then living in Arlington, telling Clinton, "James Riady sent me." Riady was a principal of the Indonesia-based Lippo conglomerate, who had done business in Little Rock and had gotten to know the Clintons there. Wiriadinata and his wife gave $425,000 to the Democratic National Committee, all of which the DNC returned because of concerns the money might have come from Lippo or other foreign sources. Asked about the president's encounter with Wiriadinata at the coffee, Reno said she could not discuss specifics of the investigation. When asked whether it was an issue the task force might want to ask Clinton about, Reno seemed to agree. "Exactly," she said. Much of what is known about the tapes is not very revealing, but some bits of information on them may advance aspects of the Senate and Justice Department investigations. One tape, for example, shows five businessmen – described in a White House memo as being good for $100,000 each – having coffee with the president in the Oval Office, an official area of the White House where fund-raising is prohibited. Within a week of the meeting, four of the businessmen had contributed $100,000, campaign records show. Ten days ago, in response to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry J. Hyde's Sept. 3 request for an independent counsel to investigate the president, Reno said she had seen no evidence that Clinton had engaged in any criminal activity in several specific areas raised by Hyde. Hyde (R-Ill.) cited a number of potentially improper or illegal fund-raising activities, including possible attempted bribery by donors seeking action by the federal government. An issue that surfaced after Hyde wrote Reno – the possibility that Clinton made fund-raising phone calls from the White House in violation of the law – is under review by the Justice Department. Reno must decide by Wednesday whether to take the next step in the independent counsel process and open a preliminary investigation or end the review of Clinton's phone calls from the White House. Reno acknowledged her anger at the failure of White House lawyers to notify her about the videotapes until after she had written Hyde addressing issues that included the legality of the coffees. She said she has not told Clinton directly, but "I think the president understands where I stand." © Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company Back to the top Go to Campaign Finance Report | Go to Politics Section