Political Quotes

“Yes. As the Senator, of course, knows, the attorney fee provision in the independent counsel law is unique. There is no other instance in Federal law in which we allow the subjects of a criminal investigation to get their attorney fees reimbursed with taxpayer dollars. Now why is that? That is because Congress has long recognized that the independent counsel law is highly unusual and places those persons who fall under its coverage in a unique situation. Although the objective of the statute is to treat high level Federal officials no better and no worse than any other member of the public when it comes to criminal investigations, in fact there are situations in which such investigations are more intense, more thorough, take longer, and can pursue more issues and individuals than a normal criminal investigation would. Moreover, the statute requires filing of a final report, and we have learned that preparation of such reports can involve investigations not normally done in the usual criminal case. Responding to such investigations can be expensive, and to the extent the cost is solely because the investigation is being conducted by a statutory independent counsel and under the auspices of that statute, it is only fair that the public pay for a reasonable portion of that cost.”