American Politics Journal

Feud
Things turn ugly between the White House staff and the FBI
by Jeff Koopersmith

Tuesday, March 11th, 1997 -- NEW YORK (APJP) -- The FBI warned White House officials of a suspected Chinese plan to buy U.S. political influence -- but asked them not to tell higher-ups, leaving President Clinton in the dark, Clinton's spokesman said Monday.

The warning was received last June by two intelligence specialists at the National Security Council, which advises the president on security issues, spokesman Mike McCurry said. He told reporters it "dealt with allegations of Chinese attempts to funnel money to congressional candidates."

A friend at the Attorney General's office told me it's illegal for foreign governments, citizens or business interests to contribute to U.S. Political campaigns. But there seems to be a lot of evidence that such efforts took place that raise questions as to whether the objective was to buy influence over U.S. foreign and trade policy decisions. McCurry said he did not know why the FBI's concerns, which directly pertained to U.S. national security, were kept from Clinton and other policy makers. This seems almost unbelievable.

President Clinton said he had not been aware of the FBI's briefing "during the election period last year," when he was reelected. Had he known, he said, he would have asked for them to be investigated.

"Yes, I believe I should have known. No, I didn't know. If I had known, I would have asked the NSC and the chief of staff to look at the evidence and make whatever recommendations were appropriate," he told a news conference yesterday. "This is a very serious allegation. But as far as I know, it is only that," the president said. He added that it would be a "foolish error" for any foreign power to try to sway the outcome of a U.S. election. "Anyone who understands the sort of interplay of American politics, the scope and scale of the issues, the amount of investment involved, I mean, it would just not make very much sense," said Clinton.

When one reporter suggested that he did not seem angry and asked him why, Clinton replied, "What I seem and what I feel may be two different things....The older I get the more I become aware of the fact that there's some things there's no point of expending a lot of energy on. It didn't happen. It should have happened. It was a mistake."

The problem of course is that the FBI claims they did not ask the two National Security Council senior staffers to keep this information from White House higher-ups, including the President.

Oops!

With the President's poll numbers down about 5% to 55% approval, the unrelenting media pressure on White House fundraising practices may have begun to take its toll. Now, this open feud between the FBI and the White House will certainly serve to fuel the fire of GOP leaders seeking a special prosecutor from Attorney General Janet Reno.

Why?

Because how can the Justice Department investigate itself?

What's truly amazing is that the FBI waited only a few hours before attacking a White House statement saying that the FBI had told the NSC to "keep it to themselves." This is not the first time that the FBI and the President have come to loggerheads.

And given the extent of animosities, you can be sure it won't be the last.

I would be remiss if I didn't bring your attention to Hillary Clinton's remark that she too may have made calls from the White House looking for money. Nothing illegal there -- probably -- but just another log on the fire.