Gore spared fund-raising probe

The decision will be a relief to a reinvigorated Al Gore

By Paul Reynolds in Washington

US Attorney General Janet Reno has decided not to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate fund- raising by Vice-President Al Gore during the 1996 election campaign.

The attorney-general had been asked to determine whether Mr Gore gave truthful answers to the investigation when he denied taking part in illegal fund raising.

I don't do things based on politics. I realise that politics will be hurled around my head. I just sit there and duck as it comes

Janet Reno

The question of whether a special prosecutor might investigate the case has hung over Mr Gore as he campaigned for the presidency.

Miss Reno's decision not to appoint one will come as a relief for him. The issue will now not cloud a campaign which has been reinvigorated by his speech to the Democratic party convention last week.

'Not prosecutable'

Miss Reno gave the reason for her decision at her weekly press conference.

"Because further investigation is not likely to result in a prosecutable case under applicable criminal law and principles of federal prosecution, I have concluded that a special counsel is not warranted," she said.

Janet Reno rejected advice to appoint a prosecutor

At issue was whether Mr Gore lied in a statement he made to the Justice Department in April, when he denied he knew that a meeting at a Buddhist temple in California and various coffee meetings at the White House were in fact fund-raising events of a type forbidden by electoral law.

The prosecutor leading the inquiry, Robert Conrad, himself recommended that a special or independent prosecutor be appointed, but Miss Reno has rejected this advice.

She said she believed that Mr Gore did not lie and that the argument was simply about definitions of what were or were not fund raisers.

Miss Reno is likely to be criticised by Republicans, but she said she was used to this and would just duck.