John Conyers: “it would be useful for us to reflect on some of the matters that have transpired over the last several days in this…”

“it would be useful for us to reflect on some of the matters that have transpired over the last several days in this political thunderstorm that is the continuing efforts by independent counsel Kenneth Starr to get the President. I find most troublesome the recent conduct of the distinguished chairman of the committee I once chaired, the old Government Operations Committee. I refer to none other than the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton) and his actions on the day the grand jury returned the indictments against Mr. and Mrs. Webster Hubbell. Chairman Burton released private and confidential conversations of Mr. and Mrs. Hubbell, and Mr. Hubbell's attorney, carefully selecting those portions that he believed would be most damaging to the First Lady. This release was designed and calculated to embarrass the Hubbells and, in the bargain, to conceal those portions of the conversation that contradicted the tenor and content of the selected portions of the conversations that were disclosed. In addition, it has been reported that Chairman Burton and his staff not only withheld information, but they also made mistakes, serious mistakes, in transcription. At a minimum, these disclosures violated the spirit and, I believe, the letter of the law of the Privacy Act and the privilege any person enjoys when he or she speaks with a spouse or an attorney.”