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- <text id=94TT1148>
- <title>
- Aug. 29, 1994: Whitewater:Feeding the Beast
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1994
- Aug. 29, 1994 Nuclear Terror for Sale
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- WHITEWATER, Page 37
- Feeding the Beast
- </hdr>
- <body>
- <p> Two Treasury officals turn in their resignations
- </p>
- <p>By Christopher John Farley--Reported by Suneel Ratan/Washington
- </p>
- <p> Attention, Washington pundits: Those of you who bet that Whitewater
- would sink three top Treasury officials before you had to write
- your annual thumb-suckers about Why Presidents Need Summer Vacations
- lost last week. Treasury chief of staff Joshua Steiner--ridiculed
- for questioning the accuracy of his own diary during the Senate
- hearings on Whitewater three weeks ago--seemed safe for now.
- "He's being handled in juvenile court," sneered a congressional
- G.O.P. staffer discussing the youthful Steiner. "I find it disturbing
- that he's not being tried as an adult."
- </p>
- <p> The two adults, however, dutifully fell on their sword. On Wednesday,
- Deputy Treasury Secretary Roger Altman submitted his resignation
- amid accusations that he misled lawmakers during Senate testimony;
- the next day Treasury general counsel Jean Hanson resigned.
- </p>
- <p> Altman had been accused of lying to the Senate in February about
- the breadth of White House-Treasury contacts over Whitewater.
- During House and Senate hearings, Altman strove mightily to
- salvage his credibility. He failed. Although it had been reported
- that Altman decided to resign on Aug. 10, sources close to him
- say he knew as soon as his Senate testimony was over that his
- departure was likely.
- </p>
- <p> Hanson too was aware that her days were numbered. Her version
- of events surrounding the White House-Treasury contacts contradicted
- those of Altman and Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen. Bentsen
- was reportedly furious with her.
- </p>
- <p> Altman and Hanson will probably not be the last Whitewater sacrifices.
- Warns an Administration source: "The people who have fed the
- beast should not assume the beast is happy." Last week the New
- York Times reported that before being replaced, independent
- counsel Robert Fiske had widened his inquiries to include the
- finances of Clinton's 1990 gubernatorial campaign.
- </p>
- </body>
- </article>
- </text>
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