Clinton, Gore interviewed by federal prosecutors on campaign money

WASHINGTON - Federal prosecutors have interviewed both President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore in the government's long-running investigation into alleged fund-raising abuses in the Democrats' 1996 re-election campaign.

After Friday's White House disclosure, Gore's spokesman said the vice president's lawyer was assured Gore is not a target of the Justice Department Campaign Finance Task Force. Clinton's interview was Friday, Gore's Tuesday.

''The president and the vice president cooperated fully with the task force and voluntarily agreed to be interviewed this week,'' a statement from press secretary Joe Lockhart said.

Attorney General Janet Reno established the task force to investigate allegations that illegal foreign and corporate donations were made in the 1996 presidential campaign.

Federal prosecutors also are investigating whether the White House tried to obstruct investigators by failing to surrender e-mail related to 1996 campaign fund-raising allegations, including Gore's use of White House telephones and a Buddhist temple to solicit campaign contributions.

The White House refused further comment.

Gore held a press conference on his campaign plane returning to Washington from Michigan but said he couldn't discuss the substance of the task force interview.

''It's a legal proceeding that customarily is protected from open discussion, lest it somehow interfere with the success and fairness of the undertaking. That's just pretty traditional,'' Gore told reporters.

Asked if he would encourage the Justice Department to end its investigation before Election Day in November, Gore said: ''I don't think it's for me to encourage or discourage the conduct of this investigation in any particular way. I don't think that's my role. That's for them to decide.''

Gore, appearing relaxed, also was asked whether he worries that the investigation will harm his campaign for president. ''I have no feelings about it,'' he said.

Gore has been questioned five times under oath involving various investigations during the Clinton administration. ''I volunteered to cooperate fully, as I have from the beginning of their investigation,'' Gore said of the campaign finance task force.

''I of course answered every question fully and completely,'' Gore said, adding he didn't know whether he would be asked for further interviews. ''There are no outstanding - there are no requests,'' he said.

The Justice Department task force has indicted 24 people, including several Clinton-Gore donors and organizers of the April 29, 1996, event at a Buddhist temple in Hacienda Heights, Calif.

Gore attended that event but says he didn't know it was a fund-raising event. On various occasions, he has said he thought it was community outreach, finance-related and keeping donors happy - ''donor maintenance'' in political terms.

Gore's role in the fund-raiser has continued to dog his presidential campaign.

Chris Lehane, Gore's campaign spokesman, said the Justice Department has assured the vice president's private attorney, Jim Neal, that Gore is ''not a target'' of the investigation.

Gore was questioned for four hours Tuesday in the dining room of the vice presidential residence by Robert Conrad, head of the Justice Department task force.

At the White House, Lockhart was asked whether the president sticks by his earlier assertions that he has done nothing wrong. ''All of his statements still stand,'' the spokesman said.

Clinton's interview was under oath and, like Gore's, lasted four hours, said a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity. It took place in the Treaty Room on the second floor of the private White House residence, with White House counsel Beth Nolan in attendance, along with Clinton's private lawyers David Kendall and Nicole Seligman.

Five members of the task force conducted the interview: a prosecutor, four FBI agents and a court reporter.

The White House official would provide no information about what was discussed in the interview.

They took two short breaks, and the interview ended at approximately 4:30 p.m. The official said he believed this was Clinton's third interview on campaign finance. The others were Nov. 11, 1997, and Nov. 9, 1998.

Gore spokesman Lehane said the vice president was accompanied in his interview by his attorney, Neal, and by attorney Elizabeth Brown of the vice president's office.

Gore's staff said they delayed telling reporters about the interview at the request of President Clinton's private lawyers, who asked that public disclosure until after the president's interview.

Lehane said he didn't know whether Gore discussed his interview with Clinton.

Reno has taken heavy criticism from Republicans for opting for the task force instead of recommending an independent counsel. The federal prosecutors she put in charge of the probe in 1997 and FBI Director Louis Freeh both recommended an independent counsel.

A prosecutor who once led the fund-raising investigation said this month he wanted Reno to bring in an independent counsel partly to avoid the appearance of favoritism, not necessarily because charges needed to be filed.

Charles LaBella said such an investigation might well have failed to produce criminal charges. LaBella lost his Washington assignment after recommending an outside investigation of Clinton and other top White House figures.

Also this month, Clinton's chief of staff, John Podesta, said Reno had done nothing wrong and noted that the task force LaBella led was still in business.

''The Justice Department, I believe, followed the law in handling this case and did so appropriately,'' Podesta said.