[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 51 (Thursday, April 30, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H2695]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM INVESTIGATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sessions) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I came here tonight to speak about what we 
had accomplished today over in the Cannon Building where we were 
talking to the American public about how we, the Republican majority, 
are going to talk about and have a discussion with the American public 
on drugs. But I am compelled now to change that topic and to speak on 
the comments that were just made by Members of the Democratic Party.
  I want you to know I serve on the Committee on Government Reform and 
Oversight, and for the last 15 months we have seen a charade that is 
taking place where Members of the Democratic Party have not only 
ignored every opportunity to be bipartisan in their attempts to work 
with us in the majority on dealing with the abuses of the White House 
in campaign finance, but we have also seen that what they will do is 
not only not tell the truth but what they will do is to obstruct 
justice.

                              {time}  1815

  Just last week we had a vote whereby we were going to have four 
people who we were attempting to grant immunity to. These four people 
are individuals who are involved in the campaign finance scandal of 
foreign money influence upon the White House.
  And what happened is that we very carefully laid out a case by which 
these four people, they are not high level and they are not involved in 
a big way, but to where we wanted to talk to these four people and to 
grant them full immunity from prosecution. We had worked directly with 
the Department of Justice, and they had indicated that they had no 
problem with us issuing this immunity.
  Yet on a 19-to-nothing vote we were not able to grant these four 
people immunity because it requires a two-thirds vote of the committee. 
Not one Democrat wanted to issue immunity because they did not want 
these four people to tell the truth and to tell their story.
  This White House, and I can tell my colleagues that this Democrat 
Congress and the Members of the Democrat Congress who are Members of 
the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight repeatedly have 
attempted to block every single request that we have made that is 
reasonable and normal.
  And I tell my colleagues that back in 1974, when Richard Nixon was 
involved in not only illegalities but constitutional questions, it was 
the Republican Party that stood up with Senator Howard Baker and asked 
the tough questions. It was Senator Howard Baker who made sure that not 
only were the tough questions asked but that he made sure that this 
President did not escape telling the truth and the whole truth.
  Mr. SUNUNU. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. SESSIONS. I will be happy to yield.
  (Mr. SUNUNU asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks and to include extraneous material.)
  Mr. SUNUNU. I think it is interesting that the gentleman mentioned 
the circumstances in 1974, because the previous speaker made the point 
that somehow the call for the President to be forthcoming, the emphasis 
that no one is above the law, seemed to be unprecedented. Not only were 
the speaker's comments fair, I think they stand in stark contrast to 
the comments of the Speaker of the House in January of 1974, when the 
Speaker of this body called for the resignation of President Nixon 
months in advance of any bipartisan investigation.
  So at that time there was not only a willingness to move forward 
without any thought of a bipartisan discussion of the issues but the 
Speaker of the House was calling for a resignation before that 
impartial investigation could even move forward.
  I would finally like to note that in the gentleman's discussion of 
the obstruction that the committee has run into, not only were those 
four immunity requests, that had been approved by the Justice 
Department, voted down by all 19 Democrat members of the committee, 
there have been, to date, 92 individuals that have either taken the 
fifth amendment or fled the country or refused to talk to authorities 
that have obstructed the progress of the committee's investigation.
  And, Mr. Speaker, I include for the Record a list of all 92 
individuals that have obstructed the investigation in that way.

                Witnesses Who Have Fled or Plead the 5th

               (Full Committee Hearing--December 9, 1997)

       Mr. Burton. Have you ever experienced so many unavailable 
     witnesses in any matter in which you have prosecuted or on 
     which you have been involved?
       FBI Director Freeh. I spent about 16 years doing organized 
     crime cases in New York City, and many people were frequently 
     unavailable.


         53 house & senate witnesses asserting fifth amendment

       John Huang, Gene Lum, Gin F. J. Chen, Mark Middleton, 
     Nolanda Hill, Jane Huang, Duangnet Kronenberg, Maria L. Hsia, 
     Webster Hubbell, Yogesh Ghandi, Steven Hwang, Gilbert Colon, 
     Irene Wu, Mike Lin, Zie Pan Huang,* Michael Brown, Simon 
     Chen, Kent La, Johnny Chung, David Wang,* Siuw Moi Lian,* 
     Seow Fong Ooi, Bin Yueh Jeng, Hsiu Chu Lin, Jen Chin Hsueh, 
     Chi Rung Wang, Jou Sheng, Judy Hsu, Jane Dewi Tahir, Maria 
     Mapili, Jie Su Hsiao, Hsiu Luan Tseng, Mark Jimenez, Woody 
     Hwang, Sioeng Fei Man, Terri Bradley, Man Ya Shih,* Keshi 
     Zhan,* Yi Chu,* Joseph Landon,* Nora Lum, Larry Wong, Na-chi 
     ``Nancy'' Lee, Hueutsan Huang,* Yue Chu,* Man Ho,* Manlin 
     Foung,* Yumei Yang, Arapaho/Cheyenne Indians, Hsin Chen Shih, 
     Shu Jen Wu,* Charles Intriago, and Jessica Elinitiarta.
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     *Granted Immunity after plead 5th Amendment.
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                   21 witnesses have left the country

       Charlie Trie (has returned to United States), Antonio Pan, 
     Arief Wiriandinata, Subandi Tanuwidjaja, Susanto Tanuwidjaja, 
     Yanti Ardi, Laureen Elnitiarta, Pauline Kanchanalak, John 
     H.K. Lee, Ted Sioeng, Soraya Wiriadinata, Suryanti 
     Tanuwidjaja, Nanny Nitiarta, Sandra Elnitiarta, Ming Chen, 
     Agus Setiawan, Dewi Tirto, Felix Ma, Subandi Tanuwidjaja, 
     Yopie Elnitiarta, and Sundari Elnitiarta.


 18 foreign witnesses have refused to be interviewed by investigative 
                                 bodies

       Ng Lap Seng, Ken Hsui, Eugene Wu, Suma Ching Hai, Ambrose 
     Hsuing, Bruce Cheung, Stephen Riady, John Muncy, Mochtar 
     Riady, James Riady, Lay Kweek Wie, Wang Jun, Roy Tirtadji, 
     James Lin, Stanley Ho, Daniel Wu, Li Kwai Fai, and Hogen 
     Fukunaga.

  Mr. SESSIONS. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Speaker, the facts speak for 
themselves. We are attempting to run a fair and open bipartisan 
investigation of the wrongdoings of the Clinton White House. It will 
require a minimum of one Democrat asking to seek to have the truth.
  The bottom line is, in 1974, Senator Howard Baker stepped forth and 
insisted. We ask for that same resolve today.

                          ____________________