John Conyers: “I have just asked the Attorney General to investigate the possibility that independent counsel Kenneth Starr may have…”

“I have just asked the Attorney General to investigate the possibility that independent counsel Kenneth Starr may have improperly shared information and coordinated their activities with the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton), my friend, or his staff. In support of this request, I point out that Chairman Burton coincidentally released his selectively edited transcripts on the same day that Judge Starr announced his new punitive indictments of Mr. Webster Hubble. According to published reports, "The transcription and editing process of the tapes was a crash project aimed to coincide with last week's new indictment of Hubble." Recent reports have also made it clear that members of Chairman Burton's staff had developed several close contacts in Judge Starr's office and communicated with them regularly. For example, it was reported that several Republican sources confirmed that the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton), this is a quote, "refused to release the transcripts until the week Hubble was indicted for tax evasion and fraud, a committee source said. Mr. Bossee, one committee staffer, has several friends close to independent counsel Kenneth Starr and urged Burton to withhold the tapes until last week." Yesterday, a Republican aide on Mr. Burton's committee was quoted in the press as admitting that the timing looked "fishy," but he denied there was any coordination. Well, I agree that it looks bad and that it deserves investigation.”