Here's an idea whose time is long overdue! From the Washington Times:
GOP pushes for task force on Justice
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By Dave Boyer and Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
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enate Republicans yesterday proposed a bipartisan task force to probe the Justice Department's handling of the 1993 Branch Davidian raid and to review plea bargains given in the Clinton-Gore fund-raising investigation, vowing to proceed without agreement of Democrats if necessary.
"There's a real concern . . . that the Justice Department is not doing its job," said Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, Utah Republican, who proposed the task force to Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott and Minority Leader Tom Daschle.
He said the probe would not single out Attorney General Janet Reno but would examine "whether the Justice Department is serving the American people."
Mr. Hatch, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and others have increasingly complained that Justice is providing President Clinton with political cover on issues ranging from the campaign finance scandal to his granting of clemency to Puerto Rican terrorists.
The task force also would look into the department's probe of thefts of nuclear secrets from U.S. weapons laboratories, Mr. Hatch said.
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Meanwhile, special counsel John C. Danforth took a firsthand look at the Davidian compound and called for a meeting with lawyers in a pending wrongful death lawsuit in the case. Mr. Danforth, named two weeks ago by Miss Reno to investigate government actions during the April 1993 raid, toured the site both from the air and on the ground during an unannounced visit on Monday.
The former three-term Missouri senator is investigating whether federal authorities made false or misleading statements, withheld or destroyed evidence, used incendiary or pyrotechnic devices, engaged in gunfire, or started or contributed to the spread of a wind-swept fire at the site that killed 86 persons, including 24 children. He also can probe whether there was any illegal use of the Army's Delta Force.
In letters to attorneys representing surviving Davidians and their relatives in the pending wrongful-death suit, Mr. Danforth asked for meetings during the next two weeks. He told the attorneys he wanted to obtain information "on any issues relevant to my investigation."
Mr. Danforth also asked the lawyers for information or views they had on the FBI's now-admitted use of incendiary devices on the day of the fire, the possible use of military troops during the siege, and for a list of the most important witnesses and evidence that investigators should contact or review.
The wrongful-death suit, which accuses the government of using excessive force during the raid, was postponed last week by U.S. District Judge Walter Smith in Waco to give the government time to produce evidence he has demanded. A new court date has not been set.
Judge Smith also ruled that discovery and depositions by the plaintiffs' attorneys and government lawyers be delayed for a month to give Mr. Danforth and his staff time to question witnesses on their own. The delay had been sought by the special counsel.
The FBI has said that the incendiary devices were fired several hours before the fire broke out and they did not contribute to or start the blaze.
During his tour of the site, Mr. Danforth spoke with Eugene and Filomena Hipsman of Chester, N.Y., who were visiting the site for the first time since their son, Peter, 27, died in an exchange of gunfire with Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents on Feb. 28, 1993. The agents had sought to serve warrants on Davidian members. That gunfight led to a 51-day siege and the raid by FBI agents on April 19, 1993.
"I'm real sorry about the loss of your son," Mr. Danforth told the couple.
In the task force probe, Mr. Daschle, South Dakota Democrat, and Sen. Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, left the closed-door meeting yesterday at Mr. Lott's office without agreeing to the task force.
"We're not sure what we're going to accept," Mr. Leahy said. "We could have a scope [of investigation] going all the way back to the Kennedy assassination. If you want to spend the next two or three years on this, you can look at everything."
Mr. Hatch said Capitol Hill Democrats would prefer to investigate the issues "one at a time."
But he said Republicans believe the matters "overlap" and should be investigated simultaneously.
Mr. Daschle said he wants to discuss the proposal with Democrats on the Judiciary Committee before responding to Republicans by the end of the week.
"I'm not sure why you need a task force to do what the Judiciary Committee already has the authority to do," he said.
The Senate task force would consist of three Republicans -- Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania as chairman with Sens. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa and Strom Thurmond of South Carolina; and two Democrats, Sens. Robert G. Torricelli of New Jersey and Charles E. Schumer of New York.
Mr. Hatch said the task force would begin its work this year and be conducted "with dispatch and in a bipartisan way." He could not estimate its budget.
Mr. Hatch said he expects Democrats to respond to his proposal today and if they refuse, "then we go ahead with the full [Judiciary] Committee."
He said the task force probe would be quicker and less costly than a full committee investigation of those issues, and that the inquiry would be different in its scope from an inquiry being conducted by Mr. Danforth.
Mr. Torricelli recently said he believes both Miss Reno and FBI Director Louis J. Freeh should be held accountable for "major failures" in federal law enforcement that are "coming almost routinely." |
