Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 30, 1993 TAG: 9309300141
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
In a display of presidential support, Clinton walked with Brown into the Roosevelt Room at the White House for an announcement of a new export strategy. With Brown sitting a few feet from Clinton, the president heaped praise on his commerce secretary's stewardship and dismissed a reporter's question about whether the issue would undermine Brown's effectiveness.
"He's told me that he hasn't done anything wrong," Clinton said. "He's done just about everything right as commerce secretary. I think he's done a great job, and I have no reason not to believe him."
For all the laying on of presidential praise, the fact that Clinton had to rally behind his commerce secretary reflected the cold undercurrents of concern beginning to tug at the White House since Ly Thanh Binh began talking to the authorities. Binh, a former associate of a Vietnamese businessman in Florida, Nguyen Van Hao, said Hao had told him of a plan to pay Brown $700,000 in exchange for his help in lifting the U.S. trade embargo against Vietnam.
At first, Brown's aides left the impression in comments to reporters that Brown did not know Hao and had no dealings with him of any kind. But Monday, Reid H. Weingarten, Brown's lawyer, said the commerce secretary had met three times with Hao, twice before Brown joined the Clinton administration and once after he took over at the Commerce Department.
The disclosure of the meetings has led Republicans to hint at scandal and a few have pressed the Clinton administration to appoint an independent prosecutor. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California and Dan Burton of Indiana called for the appointment in speeches on the House floor.
At a hearing of a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee Wednesday, Burton and Rohrabacher asked Brown about the issue, but the commerce secretary would not answer specific questions, citing the confidentiality of the criminal investigation.
"He was incredulous that anyone could have interpreted what he said as meaning that he had never met with Hao," said Rohrabacher of Brown's responses at Wednesday's hearing. "The guy's press secretary said he did not remember meeting Hao. His answers aren't good enough."
A federal grand jury in Miami has been investigating the assertions of Binh for weeks. Administration officials who have followed the inquiry said that at first they dismissed Binh's accusations as the complaints of a disgruntled former partner. But in recent days, the investigation has taken a more serious cast as details of Brown's meetings with Hao emerged.
by CNB