The Treasury Department's top lawyer was attacked by Senate banking committee Democrats and Republicans Monday for failing to quickly correct errors in earlier Senate testimony by one of her bosses.
Treasury counsel Jean Hanson's testimony is key to the Whitewater hearings because she has contradicted the stories told by Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen and Deputy Secretary Roger Altman.
Hanson sat behind Altman on Feb. 24 when he testified that he'd had only one substantive contact with the White House about the probe of Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan, owned by Clinton Whitewater partner James McDougal.
Altman failed to mention other White House contacts and didn't mention that he'd discussed removing himself from the Whitewater case at the Feb. 2 White House meeting - omissions Hanson says she knew of as he spoke.
"If you're sitting there and you have the information and it's withheld, that is not proper in my view," Sen. Donald Riegle, D-Mich., told Hanson.
Hanson said she expected Altman to fix his testimony and would have done so herself but couldn't get a transcript.
Altman changed some of his testimony in a March 2 letter, but Hanson said she saw no immediate need to correct all mistakes in his remarks then.
The Clinton administration was relieved after last week's Whitewater appearances by White House aides ended with few fireworks. But the credibility of Hanson and Altman is taking a beating.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., after Hanson told why it took so long for Altman to correct his testimony, said, "I think that is a tortured answer."
Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, R-N.Y., said Hanson's explanation for how much information the Treasury passed to Clinton aides "is so distorted it is not worthy of belief."
Altman will be grilled today on whether he testified honestly when he said Feb. 24:
-- He and his staff had only one substantive contact, on Feb. 2, with the White House. While up to 40 contacts have been reported, Altman says he didn't know of them on Feb. 24.
-- On Feb. 2, he discussed only the deadline for suits involving Madison. It's now known he also discussed with White House aides whether he should step aside.
During Monday's hearing, lasting until nearly midnight, Hanson said she told Bentsen about the Madison probe soon after she learned of it - contradicting Bentsen's statements he learned of it in newspaper reports in October.
She also stuck with her story that Altman told her to brief the White House about the probe. Altman says he did not.
But she defended their actions as appropriate and their flawed memories as understandable: "Frankly, the differences here are not important . . . because no one, not me, not anyone at Treasury and no one at the White House attempted to interfere" with the probe.
Also Monday, former regulator William Roelle testified he gave information to Hanson about the Madison probe with a plea it remain confidential.
Hanson said she told White House aides three days later to prepare them for press leaks.
Roelle, an ex-Resolution Trust Corp. official, also said the Bush administration sought information about the Madison probe in 1992. Former Bush aides say they don't recall that.
