Candidate Gramm Withdraws From Senate Whitewater Panel
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WASHINGTON — Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas, a Republican presidential candidate, is withdrawing from a special Senate committee investigating Whitewater matters that affect President and Mrs. Clinton.
Gramm said Tuesday that he would withdraw from the committee “in fairness to both President Clinton and my colleagues in the Senate.”
“Given my candidacy, participation in the investigation could be construed as inappropriate and potentially damaging to the integrity of the inquiry,” Gramm said in a statement.
The Senate two weeks ago established a committee to investigate the Clintons’ Whitewater links. The special committee comes under the jurisdiction of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, of which Gramm is a member.
The Whitewater affair began with questions over a failed investment by the Clintons in an Arkansas land development, in partnership with the head of a savings and loan association that later became insolvent. Independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr has been investigating Whitewater, including Clinton’s financial affairs as governor of Arkansas.
Gramm was among the most aggressive questioners when the banking panel held a first round of Whitewater hearings last year.
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