Burton Apologizes In Hubbell Tapes Furor
House committee investigator quits; Democrats want Burton out
WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, May 6) -- With House Republicans taking major-league heat over the release of the Webster Hubbell prison tapes, Rep. Dan Burton has apologized to his GOP colleagues for the mishandling of the recordings, and a House committee investigator has quit his job at Burton's request.
In a May 5 letter obtained by CNN, Burton has apologized to his Republican colleagues for "any embarrassment" the controversy over the tapes may have caused, and admits that "mistakes and omissions were made" in tape transcripts released to the public.
The chairman of the House investigation into campaign fund-raising, however, denied "any intent to deceive anyone."
Burton said he was "sickened by the thought" that anyone believes he would purposely release less-than-accurate material. His letter concludes with an invitation to Republicans to telephone Burton "if you have any concerns."
As the uproar continued, Burton's committee Wednesday quietly released the last of the promised Hubbell tapes, which appear to be as ambiguous, and inconclusive, as the first batch.
And Burton's apology closely followed word that committee investigator David Bossie, an advocate of releasing the Hubbell audio tapes, has quit at Burton's request.
"We had a few things happen in the last week that he [Bossie] felt bad about and so he has chosen to resign," Burton said. Sources say he was asked to resign because of handling of the tapes and resulting furor.
"Once again the White House spin machine has effectively changed the subject from the substance of the tapes to their release," Bossie told CNN.
According to committee sources, Bossie had been the strongest advocate for releasing the Hubbell tapes, over the objections of other staff attorneys and investigators. Burton followed Bossie's advice, but now has given in to leadership demands that Bossie depart.
House Republican sources say that many believe releasing the tapes was a public relations mistake. According to one committee source, "Dan backed [Bossie] all the way, but the leadership did not."
Burton said a delayed meeting of his House Government Reform and Oversight Committee to vote on immunity for several prospective witnesses will probably happen next Wednesday.
In public, the GOP is circling the wagons in defense of Burton. Privately though, some Republicans say the party has been hurt by events of the past week.
House Speaker Newt Gingrich told a Capitol Hill news conference Wednesday he was proud of Burton and believes he did the right thing, and Burton is a victim of "spin" from the Clinton Administration.
Gingrich said he concurred with the release of the tapes. He said he asked Burton to make sure portions of the tapes dealing with "certain sensitive issues" not be released and they were not.
Gingrich said the key information on the tapes, despite the varying versions, was that the White House pressured Hubbell's wife by threatening her job.
"The heart of the tape is a convicted felon saying he is going to roll over one more time and a federal employee saying to her husband, 'I'm being squeezed by the White House.' That's the heart of these tapes," Gingrich said.
Asked if he still had confidence in Burton to lead the House
investigation, Gingrich said, "Forget about beating up on Dan Burton. Doesn't it bother you all a little bit that an Interior Department, federal government employee could be threatened by the White House so badly that she felt compelled to tell her husband in a taped conversation while he's in jail that she thinks if he talks she's going to lose her job?
"Isn't that the complete clear implication of that tape? And shouldn't somebody at the White House have a law enforcement responsibility to find out did the White House, in fact, threaten her job. Shouldn't that person be fired summarily?" Gingrich asked.
Gingrich praised Burton for showing courage in going after the Clinton Administration. "He is a decent man trying to get at the truth," Gingrich said of Burton.
Despite the strong public show of support, Gingrich raised several concerns with Burton Tuesday night after several House members complained at a Republican leadership meeting that Burton was hurting the party with his handling of the investigation of the Clinton White House.
The issue arose at a House leadership meeting in Gingrich's office, where Rep. Rick Lazio (R-N.Y.) complained about Burton's decision to release the Hubbell tapes, according to three GOP leadership sources.
The sources said Gingrich applauded the work of Burton's committee and said it had uncovered significant evidence of White House wrongdoing. But the speaker said he, too, had concerns about Burton's aggressive tactics and that he planned to speak with him, sources said.
One source said Gingrich pulled Burton, an Indiana Republican, aside on the House floor at about 6 p.m. EDT and shared his concerns.
The sources said Gingrich encouraged others at the meeting who had
concerns with Burton's committee stewardship to speak with him.
"He did not order them to talk to him or say we need to rein him in," one sources said. "What he said was there were concerns, that he shared some of them, and that people should feel free to talk to the chairman about it."
The source also said Gingrich made clear it was important for Republicans not to publicly undermine Burton and play into Democratic attacks. Democrats have tried to shift the focus from the substance of the tapes to their release by Burton.
A third source said Gingrich said Burton did "not comport himself well" in recent days and suggested other committee chairman make the case to Burton that the way in which his staff released the Hubbell tapes looked unprofessional and "did not convey the seriousness with which Republicans should take an investigation of this nature."
Burton said that while some House Republicans have voiced some concern about the recent developments the "vast majority, 99 percent of the conference, is very supportive." And he added, "The Speaker is very supportive."
Meanwhile, Democrats have stepped up their attacks on Burton, but Republican sources say removing Burton or transferring the inquiry to another House committee are not being considered.
House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt said Wednesday Burton has forfeited his right to head the House campaign finance inquiry. But Gephardt said he has decided not to offer a "privileged resolution" Thursday to have Burton removed as chairman of the House campaign finance investigation.
House Democrats had considered having Gephardt offer the parliamentary motion for consideration Thursday.
"The government reform committee has a hearing scheduled for next week and Rep. [Henry] Waxman would prefer to offer the measure in the committee," said Gephardt spokeswoman Laura Nichols.
Nichols, however, acknowledged that if the committee maneuver fails, Gephardt is likely to offer the motion on the House floor sometime next week.
"We believe that he's [Burton] disqualified himself because of the way he's conducted himself; he has not been shown to be impartial and objective; he has put out hundreds of subpoenas without a vote from the committee for the first time in the history of the committee; and lately he's been putting out edited transcripts of what should have been confidential conversations, but he's gone the further step of editing them to make them look bad for the administration," Gephardt said.
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the Government Reform and Oversight Committee, told reporters he hopes they will not have to get to the point of having to vote to remove Burton.
"I'm hoping that it will not be necessary," Waxman said. "I'm hoping the Republican leadership will take the appropriate action in putting someone else to head the investigation other than Dan Burton.
"I don't think Dan Burton is the right person for the job, and he has acted in a reckless partisan way, as if this investigation were his and his alone; he's run roughshod over the rules of the House and he's acted as if he's above the law," Waxman said.
Waxman promised that if Burton is removed, and if the committee abides by what the same rules followed by Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) during his campaign fund-raising investigation, the Democrats on the committee wouldn't have any problem voting to grant immunity for the four witnesses.
But Waxman said, "We're not going to vote for immunity if Dan Burton is the chairman and they ignore the rules."
At a news conference, President Clinton was asked what he thought of the release of the Hubbell tapes.
"Well, I think it was clearly a violation of privacy of Mr. and Mrs. Hubbell for the tapes to be released," Clinton said. "And I think virtually everyone in America now recognizes it was wrong to release selected portions of the tapes apparently to create a false impression of what they -- the whole record -- indicated."
CNN's Candy Crowley, Ann Curley, Bob Franken and John King and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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