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US Attorney General Promises Probe Cooperation with Congress
US Attorney General John Ashcroft said Monday that he would cooperate with Congress in its investigation of former president Bill Clinton's pardon of billionaire fugitive Marc Rich.
At his first formal meeting with the media in the Justice Department since being sworn in earlier this month, Ashcroft said that he would consider granting some form of immunity to Denise Rich, Rich's former wife, to permit her to testify before House and Senate investigative panels.
"I respect the right of the United States Congress to get information and to grant immunity," Ashcroft said. "And I respect the need for cooperation."
He said that he would cooperate with the Congress "as much as possible," but refused to comment when asked whether he would name a special counsel to investigate Clinton's pardons.
Marc Rich, who was among 140 Americans pardoned by Clinton two hours before he left office on January 20, has lived in Switzerland since 1983 when he was indicted on charges of tax evasion, fraud and participation in illegal oil deals with Iran.
Rich's former wife Denise Rich, a major contributor to the Democratic Party and to Hillary Rodham Clinton's Senate campaign, reportedly donated some 450,000 dollars to the former president's library foundation.
Objections to Clinton's presidential pardon of Marc Rich have rejuvenated the possibility of another impeachment against Clinton.
Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, a senior member of the Judiciary Committee and a former prosecutor, told "Fox News Sunday " that former President Clinton "technically could still be impeached."
The Senator said that the Rich pardon had left Clinton open to possible impeachment "because a president may be impeached for the emoluments of office, such as the substantial sums being spent on the library, such as the bodyguards, such as his pension."
The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold its first hearing on Clinton's pardons on Wednesday.
However, legal experts were divided on whether the Constitution allows Congress to pursue an impeachment case -- either over a president's use of his pardon power or against a president who has left office.
According to the Newsweek magazine published today, Mary Jo White, US attorney for New York, is considering opening a criminal probe into Clinton's pardon of Rich.
White was likely to pursue Mrs. Rich's bank records to determine if she was used as a conduit for contributions from her ex-husband, Newsweek said.
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