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Morning News

Marc Rich Pardon to Undergo Criminal Investigation

Aired February 15, 2001 - 11:08 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A pardon issued by then-President Bill Clinton now under criminal investigation. A U.S. attorney is trying to determine if the pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich was, in effect, purchased. In a statement, Clinton said he looks forward to cooperating with any, quote, "appropriate inquiry."

Joining us from Capitol Hill with the latest on all of this, our Bob Franken.

Bob, what is the latest?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the latest is that the Justice Department has, in fact, designated this an appropriate inquiry. The president will be investigated by a U.S. Attorney he appointed, Mary Jo White of the southern district of New York, which is where Marc Rich was originally prosecuted when he fled the United States.

Mary Jo White is going to look into, as you pointed out, whether, in fact, political contributions by his ex-wife or others may have influenced the decision by President Clinton, as one of his last acts, to give a pardon to Rich, who fled the United States 17 years ago, facing prosecution for massive tax evasion -- alleged massive tax evasion -- and also for illegally trading with Iran. Now, Rich has spent the last 17 years in a very, very profitable exile -- self- imposed exile. He has repudiated U.S. citizenship; of course, there's a question whether his repudiation is enough for him to stop being a U.S. citizen.

But right now the focus is less on that than the fact that a federal inquiry, a criminal investigation has begun. That could very well mean that the congressional investigations which, of course, are much more public, might become much less public as the criminal investigation proceeds -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Bob, what are the federal laws that come into play here? What body of criminal law are they looking at?

FRANKEN: Oh, there could be a variety of them. There could be charges of bribery; there could be campaign finance differences; there could be any number of questions that could be raised. Right now the investigators are saying, it looks fishy, let's see if it is fishy.

O'BRIEN: Bob Franken on Capitol Hill; thanks very much. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com

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