It's Tamraz' Turn

But House hearings are delayed after immunity problem surfaces

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, Sep. 17) -- The focus of the Senate's campaign-finance hearings shifted today from John Huang to Roger Tamraz, a U.S. businessman whose $300,000 in contributions to Democrats and visits to the White House have caught the senators' interest.

But House hearing rooms were dark as the three witnesses scheduled to appear today unexpectedly said they would not testify without immunity.

The three would-be House witnesses, Manlin Foung, Joseph Landon and David Wang, are the sister and two friends of Charlie Trie, another central figure in the inquiry. They made their immunity demand just on Tuesday.

Leaders of the Government Reform and Oversight Committee cancelled today's hearing and instead wrote a letter to the Justice Department asking it to state its position on immunity for the witnesses "expeditiously."

The delay is another black eye for reform panel chairman Dan Burton, an Indiana Republican who has taken flak for how he has handled the probe so far.

Senate Republicans spent the day showcasing Tamraz as a living example of access for sale. Tamraz is a U.S. citizen now but was born in Egypt, raised in Lebanon and currently lives in Paris. He's trying to build an oil pipeline that skirts Russia by going instead through Azerbaijan, Armenia and Turkey.

After giving money to Democrats he was invited to a White House coffee with Vice President Al Gore, then disinvited when national security aides objected.

One of those aides, Sheila Heslin, was the committee's sole witness today and laid the groundwork for Tamraz' testimony.

Heslin was in charge of an administration interagency working group which oversaw support for such projects as Tamraz' pipeline deal. She recommended that Tamraz not be allowed to meet with the president because she believed he was misrepresenting the United States' position on his pipeline project, and that his project was a sham.

Before the committee, she disputed the testimony of former Democratic Party Chairman Don Fowler, who said he did not remember speaking to the CIA about Tamraz. Heslin said Fowler called her and said, "'Bob' of the CIA will be sending you a report on Roger Tamraz so you will understand about his background and won't have any concerns about him going into the White House."

She says she was also pressured by the CIA's "Bob," and by a senior Energy Department official, Jack Carter. Fowler testified he doesn't remember talking with "Bob."

Tamraz says Fowler called him, embarrassed about his being uninvited to the White House coffee. Tamraz gave more money, including $100,000 Fowler delivered personally to the Virginia Democratic Party.

Tamraz was then re-invited -- more than once -- to see President Bill Clinton himself, on several occasions including a reception, a dinner, a small coffee, a White House barbecue and movie party dinner.

Energy Department officials got involved after Tamraz mentioned administration resistance to his pipeline deal while meeting with Clinton. The president told then-White House chief of staff Mack McLarty to "follow up" on the matter. McLarty then took the matter up with Kyle Simpson, another senior Energy Department official, who passed it on to Carter.

Heslin testified that Carter told her McLarty "really liked [Tamraz'] proposal," and told her that another meeting between the president and Tamraz "would mean a lot of money for the DNC."

Heslin testified that when she put Carter off, "He told me not to be such a Girl Scout."

"I never had a conversation with Jack like that because he is a gentleman and he was not very gentlemanly in that talk," Heslin said. "It was a very aggressive conversation, one which I wish I never had."

Ranking Democrat John Glenn read a statement from McLarty, whom the committee has not called to testify. In it, McLarty said Clinton "did not ask me to support Mr. Tamraz's project or to direct others in the administration to do it," and said that he never directed the Energy Department to review the plan "or give it a 'second look.' I requested only information."

Committee sources say that in his deposition Carter says he remembers mentioning the potential donations to Heslin but says he didn't feel like he was pressuring her. Simpson, according to the committee, is a "minority witness" because he will testify he never communicated any monetary figures to Carter.

The hearings were delayed for an hour and a half this morning while senators discussed new information that suggests Tamraz accused one of the president's ambassadorial nominees of raising illegal campaign money.

The information came from a Senate staffer, who says she got a phone call from a man identifying himself as Tamraz, who also told her if the story became public he would deny it.

On Capitol Hill waiting to testify, Tamraz denied the account: "I don't know the gentleman. As I said three years ago, he called me on a cold call looking for a job, and I never heard about him since. So I am really shocked about the allegations that you heard about this morning."

The committee is expected to call Tamraz on Thursday, and will turn to Carter and Simpson after that.

Tamraz' pipeline remains a pipe dream, no closer to approval than before. Tamraz says his donations were more about ego than business. He first contributed $20,000 to Democrats in 1995 after they sent him a fund-raising letter that got his first name wrong. He said, "I wanted my name recognition."

CNN's Brooks Jackson and Candy Crowley contributed to this report.

In Other News:

Wednesday Sept. 17, 1997

• It's Tamraz' Turn
• Tobacco Money Shifts To Republicans
• Clinton Proposes Change To Tobacco Pact
• Senior FBI Official To Head Justice Probe

E-mail From Washington:
• House Fund-raising Delayed Again
• Jones' Deposition Set For Nov. 12