Aide Denies First Lady Dismissed The Idea Of A Senate Appearance White House Says L.A. Times Drew Inaccurate Conclusion

First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton did not dismiss the idea of holding a news conference or appearing before a Senate committee to answer questions about the Whitewater real estate deal, contrary to a report in the Los Angeles Times, a White House spokesman said Saturday.

“The Times drew an inaccurate conclusion from the first lady’s actual words when The Times wrote that the first lady had ‘dismissed the idea of holding a news conference to answer Whitewater questions or to appear before the Senate committee investigating Whitewater,”’ White House associate counsel Mark Fabiani said in a written statement.

“Second, The Times erroneously reported that the first lady said the committee ‘would not be a fair forum,”’ he said.

An article based on the interview was published in Saturday’s Times.

In the interview, Hillary Clinton repeatedly questioned the fairness of those who are investigating the Whitewater affair and other issues.

“This is an investigation in search of a scandal,” she said. ” … This is not about finding out the truth. And I regret it very much.”

Asked whether she would appear voluntarily before the Senate panel or call a news conference to clear the air, the first lady did not say yes or no, but repeated her promise to “do whatever it takes to cooperate” with the Senate probe and other investigations. She added, however, that “the people asking (the questions) don’t want to know the facts. … No matter what we answer and no matter how it’s validated, it’s never enough.”

In an interview Saturday evening, Fabiani said Hillary Clinton did not mean to question the committee’s fairness with those comments.

“We don’t think it’s our business to characterize those hearings,” he said. “No matter what we think deep down inside about these hearings … the important thing is that we are cooperating.”

He said Hillary Clinton has not decided whether to appear before the Senate panel.

“Our decision will be based on whether or not such a forum will be a useful way to answer people’s questions,” he said.

As for a news conference, he noted that the first lady is doing a series of interviews to talk about her recently published book. “She’s answering everybody’s questions already,” he argued.