ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, October 1, 1996 TAG: 9610010087
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Below
THE FORMER SINGING STAR also said the CIA was involved in a "hit squad" in Haiti.
U.S. Rep. Sonny Bono said Monday night in Roanoke that President Clinton is "a criminal" and charged that the CIA has a "hit squad" in Haiti that is killing people to keep that nation's U.S.-backed leader in power.
A White House spokesman said any allegations about Central Intelligence Agency "hit squads" are false and coming from "out of left field."
Bono, a California Republican who came to Roanoke to stump for U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, cited his allegations about the CIA and Clinton's involvement in the Whitewater affair as some of the reasons why he thought Clinton was a criminal.
The former star of TV's "Sonny and Cher Show" said it is crucial that the nation elect GOP nominee Bob Dole in order to oust Clinton from office.
"If anybody even dares to compare Bob Dole to Clinton, then they're comparing a criminal to an honest man," Bono said.
Under Bill Clinton, Bono said, "we are lowering our moral and ethical standards to criminals."
"If that prevails," he added, "I'll find an island and take my kids there."
Bono made the charges in a speech to about 275 GOP contributors at the Hotel Roanoke. He began with self-deprecating jokes and compliments for Goodlatte, a Roanoke Republican whom he called a friend and mentor.
But he ended with a scathing attack on the Clinton administration.
"We have a hit squad in Haiti," Bono said during the speech. "You know what our CIA does - they kill people." He said the assassinations were designed to keep Haitian President Rene Preval - who was elected in December - in power.
Asked afterward if he had evidence of CIA assassinations in Haiti, Bono said Republicans have tried to subpoena Clinton administration records, but "they won't give us the documentation." But "it's there," Bono said. "They're keeping the current president [Preval] in power by killing people."
"If you can get the memos," he told a reporter, "let us know."
David Johnson, a White House deputy press secretary, said "I have no idea what the Congressman is referring to."
Earlier this month, Johnson said, officers from the U.S. State Department's diplomatic security service did go to Haiti to help with a reorganization of the Haitian president's security unit. But Johnson said no one connected with the U.S. government is involved in a "hit squad."
Johnson said that until now, Congressional Republicans had never raised allegations about a "hit squad" in Haiti. They have tried to subpoena a number of presidential documents relating to the administration's general Haiti policy. He said the administration has refused to release them under a long-standing policy - invoked by both Democratic and Republican presidents - that keeps the president's discussions with his closest advisers confidential. However, Johnson said, the administration has offered to brief the chairman of the House International Relations Committee on the contents of the documents.
After his speech, Bono stood by his remarks calling Clinton a criminal: "I think he is. He's a draft dodger."
Asked if he agreed with Bono that Clinton was a criminal, Rep. Goodlatte said, "I think you have to have the evidence to make that statement. I think there are a lot of things we've asked for that they haven't given us. And they ought to be more forthcoming."
During his speech, Bono said the Democrats will take revenge on the Republicans if they regain Congress from the GOP.
"They will be concerned with frying us, grilling us and humiliating us and doing anything possible to do harm to us people," Bono said. "As far as they are concerned, the country can be damned."
Bono said House Speaker Newt Gingrich "is disliked because he's got the guts to say 'In your face.' He's a great leader."
He said the Republican majority in Congress has been unfairly criticized for having "gone too far." But "we haven't gone far enough."
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: NHAT MEYER/Staff U.S. Rep. Sonny Bono plays with Sonnyby CNBand Cher dolls at a fund-raiser Monday night in Roanoke for U.S.
Rep. Bob Goodlatte, right. (photo ran with this story in the New
River edition.) KEYWORDS: POLITICS CONGRESS PRESIDENT