ASHINGTON - A memo by a former prosecutor says Vice President Al Gore may have given false statements to FBI agents and that President Clinton should be investigated in connection with a business executive's $1.5 million in donations to the Democratic Party, lawmakers were told yesterday.
Senator Arlen Specter described portions of former prosecutor Charles LaBella's unreleased 1998 memo, which urges appointment of an independent counsel to investigate Gore, Clinton, and former deputy White House chief of staff Harold Ickes, the president's fund-raising coordinator for the 1996 election.
Attorney General Janet Reno declined to appoint an independent counsel to investigate campaign fund-raising and Republicans have been urging the Justice Department to release LaBella's memo ever since.
Specter and his staff have read the memo and other Justice Department documents on campaign fund-raising in recent weeks.
According to Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, the memo says that the vice president ''may have given false statements'' and that Gore's lack of recollection about fund-raising is ''reminiscent'' of his ''lack of recall of the Buddhist temple matter.'' Gore maintains he did not realize a 1996 event he attended at a Buddhist temple was a fund-raiser.
At issue in the LaBella memo are Gore's denials that he knew some of the money he was raising in phone calls from the White House was being placed in ''hard money'' accounts, which go to candidates, as opposed to ''soft money,'' which goes toward general party-building.
LaBella's report cites 13 memos that Ickes sent Gore referring to ''hard'' money. Gore says he never read the memos.
LaBella also said former White House chief of staff Leon Panetta recalled that Gore was attentive in meetings where the subject was discussed and that notes by Gore's chief of staff reflect discussion of the matter at a meeting attended by the vice president. Gore said he did not pay close attention to the details of fund-raising and took restroom breaks during meetings because he drank so much iced tea.
LaBella said his memo should remain confidential.
