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Burton to seek immunity for Rich's ex-wife

Rich, with the Clintons at an event earlier this year, has reportedly contributed close to $1 million to the Democratic Party.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Rep. Dan Burton said Thursday he will seek immunity for the ex-wife of former fugitive financier Marc Rich to force her testimony before the committee looking into former President Bill Clinton's pardon of Rich.

Denise Rich has declined to appear before the House Government Reform Committee, claiming the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Critics of the pardon say her role as a major contributor to the Democratic Party and to Hillary Clinton's successful bid for a Senate seat may have influenced Clinton's decision to grant a pardon. She has donated roughly $1 million to the party over the years.

Burton, R-Indiana, is the chairman of the committee investigating the pardon.

VIDEO CNN's Bob Franken says Jack Quinn faced a day of tough questioning by Rep. Dan Burton, (R) Indiana. amd committee Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) CNN's Maria Hinojosa profiles Denise Rich Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   DOCUMENT • Indictment: U.S. v. Rich (FindLaw) Part I | Part II Documents in PDF format require Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing.

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The committee Thursday opened a hearing examining the circumstances surrounding Clinton's last-day-in-office pardon of Rich, who fled from New York to Switzerland after a 1983 indictment on tax and fraud charges.

The former prosecutor who built the case against Rich told the committee that proper consideration was not given to the case.

The pardon application "wholly and completely mischaracterizes the circumstances and facts surrounding the Marc Rich case," said Morris Weinberg Jr., former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Jack Quinn, the former White House counsel who represented Rich, defended the pardon.

"I remain to this day absolutely and unshakably convinced that the prosecutors constructed a legal house of cards in this indictment," Quinn said.

Weinberg said he was outraged at the pardon of Rich and a business partner, "who for the past 17 years have been international fugitives in what is the biggest tax fraud case in the history of the United States."

Weinberg said it appears that Clinton received no advice from anyone with any knowledge of the prosecution's side of the case.

Prosecutors in the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan, which brought the indictment, have told CNN they did not learn of the pardon until it was announced just hours before Clinton left office January 20.

Quinn told committee Burton that the pardon was not pushed through hurriedly, and he urged the White House to seek the views of the Justice Department regarding the case.

"The process this pardon followed gave the president the time and the opportunity to weigh the pardon fully," he said.

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Rep. Dan Burton - official House site

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