The Justice Department official in charge of pardons told a Senate committee Wednesday that White House officials did not tell him that Marc Rich was a fugitive in the hours before former President Clinton granted him clemency.
As Democratic senators joined Republicans in condemning Clinton's action, U.S. Pardon Attorney Roger Adams testified that the White House counsel's office told him in a midnight phone call only that that Rich and his partner, Pincus Green, had been "living abroad for several years."
Meanwhile, the chairman of a House committee said Wednesday he was told by the Justice Department it will be "at least one week" before officials there act on the panel's request to grant Rich's former wife, Denise, immunity from prosecution in exchange for her testimony to the panel.
Denise Rich contributed an estimated $450,000 to the Clinton Presidential Library, more than $1.1 million to the Democratic Party and at least $109,000 to Hillary Rodham Clinton's Senate campaign.
In a statement Wednesday night, Clinton again denied any impropriety in granting the pardon.
"As I have said repeatedly, I made the decision to pardon Marc Rich based on what I thought was the right thing to do," Clinton said. "Any suggestion that improper factors, including fund raising for the DNC or my library, had anything to do with the decision are absolutely false. I look forward to cooperating with any appropriate inquiry."
Claiming constitutional protections against self-incrimination, Denise Rich has refused to answer questions from the House Government Reform Committee chaired by Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind.
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The committee has subpoenaed her American bank records, along with records from Clinton's presidential library and the Democratic National Committee in its probe of the pardon.
A source familiar with the case told The Associated Press that U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White in New York "is trying to determine if there was a transfer of money to buy the pardon."
White also wants to examine bank records, telephone records and other documents to determine whether there was anything criminal in Clinton's decision to grant Marc Rich a pardon, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Marc Rich has lived in Switzerland since just before he was indicted in New York on federal charges in 1983, including evading more than $48 million in taxes, fraud and participating in illegal oil deals with Iran.
At the Senate hearing, Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said the Rich pardon "certainly raises the appearance of impropriety."
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said she has "concerns not only about the Rich pardon but about a number of" others granted clemency on Clinton's last day in office.
Adams told the committee that he learned of Rich's fugitive status "from the FBI" after the White House told him records checks should be done on Rich and Green.<
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