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CNN Live At Daybreak

GAO To Sue for Cheney's Energy Documents

Aired January 31, 2002 - 06:06   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Two branches of the government could be taking their dispute to court.

CNN's Allan Dodds reports on the efforts of congressional investigators to access White House notes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLAN DODDS FRANK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The General Accounting Offices proposed lawsuit against the vice president, if indeed it goes forward, will be the first in the 80-year history of the congressional agency. Yet the current dispute involving Vice President Cheney's national energy policy group reminds many of the controversy surrounding the 1993 health care task force chaired by then First Lady Hillary Clinton. A private lawsuit pressured the Clintons to release information and ultimately after the Clinton health care proposals failed in 1994, the White House released information voluntarily.

SAMUEL ISSACHAROF, COLUMBIN LAW SCHOOL: They remember Hillary Clinton was not an elected official, was not formerly a part of the executive branch, and so none of these defenses available to the executive branch against the legislature applied. So that's the big difference. So we don't really have a direct precedent for this type of request by the GAO.

DODDS FRANK: The GAO insists it has limited its document request, but added "failure to provide the information we are seeking serves to undercut the important principles of transparency and accountability in government. So far the Bush administration has not asserted so-called executive privilege, the principle that inflamed relations between Congress and the Nixon Administration over Watergate. The political issue here is Enron's dealings with Cheney's group.

MARK TUSHNET, CONSTITUTIONAL LAW PROFESSOR: The more the president resists or the vice president resists disclosure, the more suspicion there will be that there's something that being hidden.

DODDS FRANK: Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group that repeatedly sued the Clinton administration, also is suing the Bush administration over this one.

LARRY KLAYMAN, JUDICIAL WATCH: The Bush administration has learned ironically from the Clinton administration that when you force legal proceedings, because of the delay, that by the time the courts actually get around to ordering the documents be produced the scandal may effectively be over.

DODDS FRANK: Some constitutional law professors predict a threatened lawsuit will in fact force a compromise with some sort of limited release of documents. If that does not happen, these experts say Congress itself might have to issue subpoenas as part of an investigation to improve the legal grounds for forcing disclosure.

Allan Dodds Frank, CNN Financial News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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