Justice Department gathers documents on pardon of fugitive

From CNN Justice Correspondent Kelli Arena and Producer Terry Frieden

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Justice Department officials, responding to a congressional request, Monday began collecting documents relating to the controversial Clinton presidential pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich.

The Justice Department was responding to a letter received Friday from House Government Reform Chairman Dan Burton, R-Indiana, requesting documents for an investigation of circumstances surrounding President Clinton's last day in office pardon of Rich, who fled from New York to Switzerland following a 1983 indictment on tax and fraud charges.

Burton told CNN Friday he doubted many Justice documents exist, charging Rich's attorney had circumvented the regular process of filing a pardon request with the U.S. pardon attorney. Acting Attorney General Eric Holder, the then-Deputy Attorney General whose office is the link between the pardon attorney's office and the White House did not return calls seeking comment. His aides also declined to comment. Other officials familiar with the case did not dispute the assertion by Rich attorney Jack Quinn that he had first mentioned to Holder in November of plans to pursue the pardon directly with the White House.

But those officials said Holder was not aware the pardon was under serious consideration until the evening before the president approved it.

A letter from Quinn reached the U.S. pardon attorney's office on January 17, and the information reached Holder on the evening of January 19, the officials said.

Prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan, which had brought the indictment, told CNN they did not learn of the pardon until it was announced just hours before Clinton left office on the day of George W. Bush's inauguration -- January 20.

Burton's committee staff members said Monday this Wednesday's date for the submission of Rich pardon documents by the Justice Department and private attorneys was a target, not a rigid deadline. One committee official said if documents are received in a timely fashion an open hearing on the issue could be called within a matter of weeks.

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