Bush Camp Urges More Aggressive FBI 'Mole' Investigation
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (Reuters) - Aides to George W. Bush questioned the scope of an FBI inquiry into how secret campaign material ended up in rival Al Gore"s camp and said on Tuesday they would be willing to take lie detector tests. Bush"s Communications Director Karen Hughes urged law enforcement officials to be more aggressive in pursuing their investigation of who sent documents and a videotape of the Republican presidential nominee"s debate preparations to an adviser for the campaign of Vice President Al Gore, his Democratic opponent in the Nov. 7 election. "We think it"s incomplete when they only talk to Bush campaign people," Hughes told reporters during a visit to California. She said she had been given no indication the FBI had interviewed anyone on Gore"s staff. She pointed to the weekend reprimand of a 28-year-old Gore aide who allegedly joked about having a "mole" in Bush"s Austin, Texas, headquarters, saying: "The only campaign that has suspended an employee is the Gore campaign. We have not suspended any employees, we don"t have an employee who boasted about having a mole." At particular issue is a purloined videotape of the Texas governor preparing for his first presidential debate with Gore next Tuesday in Boston. The package, postmarked Austin, was received by former Rep. Tom Downey, who was helping the vice president with his own debate preparations. Downey turned the tape over to the FBI and recused himself. "I would suggest that a thorough and complete investigation of how Bush materials ended up in the Gore campaign involves both the Bush and Gore campaigns," Hughes said. Asked if she and other Bush staff would be prepared to take polygraph tests, Hughes replied that they had cooperated "fully and completely" with the FBI and added: "We would be willing to take lie detector tests." She said some, but not all, of those who had access to the tapes had been interviewed by the FBI, but would not be more specific. "PLAYING POLITICS" On Saturday, Hughes denounced the Justice Department for what she called "playing politics" by leaking information that a Bush staffer was suspected of giving the video to the Gore camp and said campaign manager Joe Allbaugh had requested to speak with FBI Director Louis Freeh. She said on Tuesday that another FBI official had returned his call on Monday but that Allbaugh was "not satisfied" and had again requested to speak to Freeh. Bush had been kept up to date by his staff and had expressed "absolute confidence" in them, Hughes said, adding that he also voiced concern about the Justice Department"s motives in leaking information about a possible suspect. Only Bush"s top echelon had access to the tapes, including Hughes, Allbaugh, chief political strategist Karl Rove, media adviser Mark McKinnon and a handful of others. "I"m convinced that no one who had authorized access to those tapes would have supplied them to the Gore campaign. Whoever took the tapes and copied them and delivered them to the Gore campaign did so by unethical means," she said. "We know where the legitimate tapes are and we have them all." Hughes also angrily denounced a published suggestion from the Democratic party"s chairwoman in Texas, Molly Beth Malcolm, that "this has Karl Rove"s fingerprints all over it." "First, consider the source," Hughes said. "That is ridiculous. Karl Rove has worked around the clock for years for Gov. Bush and to have Gov. Bush elected. That is absurd."
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