Lott not soft on pardon probe?

Aides to Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., say their boss is not engaged in an attempt to kill a Senate or a joint House and Senate investigation into a number of controversial last-minute pardons granted by former President Bill Clinton before he left office.

The denial was prompted by a New York Post report published Tuesday that said Lott was "unenthusiastic" about pursuing an investigation in the Senate.

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"Yesterday's Pardongate developments came amid signs that Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott -- who praised President Bush for ignoring the pardon issue -- is unenthusiastic about the probe," the Post said.

"And Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who was leading a separate pardon probe, appears to have temporarily shelved his investigation," said the paper, noting: "Several lawmakers added that the plan to merge the House and Senate pardon probes also is dead."

But an aide in Lott's office told WorldNetDaily late yesterday that the Senate majority leader has not ended his support for the probe.

"If you go back and review [statements] he has made over the past several days, where he has talked about that, you'll see … he's been fairly vocal about it when asked," the aide said, requesting anonymity.

When asked if Lott's office was unequivocally denying the report, the aide said, "I won't comment on that. I'll let his earlier statements speak for themselves."

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Critics are worried that Lott may be attempting to kill the Pardongate inquiries in the same way they believe he killed any effort in the Senate to seriously try Clinton during his impeachment in 1998.

Also, they see a pattern developing whereby the White House and prominent Republicans in Congress are content to let previous Clinton scandals escape scrutiny and alleged lawbreakers escape justice.

"Sen. Lott's actions obviously follow President George W. Bush's remarks that the Pardongate scandal should not be looked into and that instead, 'It's time to move on,'" said Judicial Watch Chairman and General Counsel Larry Klayman, in a statement.

"Sen. Lott … should be ashamed," Klayman added, saying his organization was planning an investigation of Lott's "fund-raising activities at the University of Mississippi."

On Tuesday, Lott -- during a press conference on Capitol Hill -- was asked about whether he was worried about fallout for Republicans.

"The principal responsibility for looking to see if some laws were violated with regard to the pardons rests in the hands of the lady that is a U.S. attorney in New York," Lott said, referring to Mary Jo White's announcement earlier this month that the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office would investigate the pardons.

"I have said all along that I thought that the Congress had a responsibility to carry out … to look into what happened and what did go on here and see if there is some action that we should take or can take," he said. "It's very different from some of the hearings … in the past. You try to find out all you can and see if some remedial action is necessary, and you move on to let the U.S. attorney do her job."

At issue are the dozens of pardons Clinton granted in the final hours of his presidency on Jan. 20 that did not receive Justice Department review.

Included in those was a pardon for fugitive billionaire Marc Rich, which congressional investigators believe may have been granted because of donations in excess of $1 million given by Rich's ex-wife Denise to Democrats and Clinton's library fund.

Marc Rich fled to Switzerland in 1983 to avoid prosecution as a tax cheat and charges he illegally traded with Iran during the hostage crisis.

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