Arlen Specter: “This memorandum, dated December 9, 1996, is from Director Freeh to one of his top deputies, Mr. Esposito. It relates to…”

“This memorandum, dated December 9, 1996, is from Director Freeh to one of his top deputies, Mr. Esposito. It relates to a conversation which Mr. Esposito had with a top-ranking official in the Department of Justice named Lee Radek of the Public Integrity Section. The kernel of the memorandum is contained in paragraph 4 which I will now read: I also advise the Attorney General of Lee Radek's comment to you that there was a lot of ``pressure'' on him and PIS, Public Integrity Section, regarding this case [and that refers to the Democratic national campaign matter which is the caption of the memorandum] because the ``attorney General's job might hang in the balance'' or words to that effect. Now, this conversation between Mr. Esposito and Mr. Radek occurred in December of 1996 at the precise time when President Clinton had not stated whether he would reappoint Attorney General Reno. There was an enormous furor over the issue of campaign finance irregularities. The Governmental Affairs Committee conducted an extensive investigation in 1996. Now, had this memorandum been disclosed, as I think it should have been, and had the Senate known a top Department of Justice official was going easy on this investigation because of protecting the Attorney General's job, the demands for independent counsel might have come out entirely differently. That was a major matter.…”