GOP Questions Gore-Russia Deal
Oct. 17, 2000 -- Republicans are questioning why Al Gore did not tell Congress about Russia’s nuclear dealings with Iran, after Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin informed the vice president about them in 1995.
Late this afternoon, John Czwartacki, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, told ABCNEWS the Senate was considering launching an investigation into the matter, after a December 1995 letter from Chernomyrdin to Gore on the subject was made public today in the Washington Times.
“Hearings are under active consideration and the subject of serious discussion,” Czwartacki said.
Another congressional aide told ABCNEWS that Capitol Hill Republicans are “planning to hold the administration’s feet to the fire for immediate answers. We want a high-level briefing immediately and if we don’t receive satisfactory answers, we will hold hearings to see if U.S. law was broken by the vice president.”
But Gore aides insist there is nothing suspicious about his dealings, and question the timing of the disclosure.
“It’s obvious that the motivation for this leak is political,” Gore spokesman Jim Kennedy told the Washington Times.
Kennedy added the letter was “part of the overall United States effort to encourage the Russians to break off or limit their nuclear relationship with Iran.”
Separate Issues at Stake
In the letter, Chernomyrdin told Gore about Russia’s confidential nuclear deal with Iran, but added that the information was “not to be conveyed to third parties, including the U.S. Congress.”
It is the second time in less than a week that dealings between Gore and Chernomyrdin have been made public.
On Friday, The New York Times reported that Gore made a separate 1995 arrangement with Chernomyrdin to let Russia continue selling conventional arms to Iran without sanction by the United States.
Under terms of that agreement, Russia pledged to stop sales to Iran by 1999. In return, the United States agreed not to pursue sanctions against Russia, although a 1992 law — originally co-sponsored by Gore, then a senator, and Sen. John McCain — calls for sanctions against countries dealing weapons to nations sponsoring terrorism.
Iran is on the State Department’s list of countries abetting terrorist activities.
Gore Aide: ‘Nothing Was Lost’
Friday, Gore’s Republican opponent for president, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, called the report “a troubling piece of information.,” adding, “I look forward to an explanation” of the deal.
Republican Sens. Lott, Jesse Helms of North Carolina and Sam Brownback of Kansas sent a letter to President Clinton on Friday, asking if the White House broke the law by making the deal with Russia.
Over the weekend, Gore’s foreign policy aides defended the vice president’s actions, saying they did not violate the law.
Aides say the pact was legitimate because the Russian-Iran arms contract was already in existence when the law was passed, and because the Clinton administration still had the option to apply sanctions if Russia broke the deal.
“Nothing was lost by trying to make this agreement,” said one foreign-policy adviser.
Aides to the vice president have also pointed out that much of the current U.S. information about Russian arms sales comes from the Gore-Chernomyrdian deal.
In the letter made public today, Chernomyrdin assured Gore that Russia’s role in helping to build a nuclear reactor in Iran would be limited to training technicians in Russia and delivering fuel.—ABCNEWS’ Dana Hill, A.B. Stoddard and Rebecca Cooper and The Associated Press contributed to this report.