MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Now, on to the widening investigation into the Marc Rich pardon. A federal prosecutor in New York has launched a criminal probe into whether money played a role in that pardon. Former President Clinton says money had nothing to do with his decision. CNN's Bob Franken joining us from Capitol Hill, where the pardon is under scrutiny and the story just keeps going on and on -- good morning, Bob.</s>BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Now, what's interesting is is now that the fact that it has, in effect, escalated to a federal criminal investigation, it makes it less likely that the public hearings, the congressional hearings, will have quite the impact, because just about anybody who might consider himself or herself legally exposed is going to tell the congressional committee the last thing that he's going to want to do is to appear in public answering questions that could in fact affect a criminal probe. So that is where it stands right now. The criminal investigation is under way by the U.S. attorney in the southern district of New York, Mary Jo White, who by the way, was appointed by President Clinton. And the former president said that "As I've said repeatedly, I made the decision to pardon Marc Rich based on what I thought was the right thing to do. I look forward to cooperating with any appropriate inquiry." And of course, it now is an investigation into weather there was some sort of exchange of financial consideration for a pardon. Everybody involved denies that, including the president, the ex- president saying it was done strictly on the merits. Marc rich, to remind everyone, is the billionaire financier who 17 years ago fled the United States as his faced prosecution for massive tax evasion and for illegally trading with Iran -- Miles.</s>O'BRIEN: All right, CNN's Bob Franken, on Capitol Hill.
Federal Prosecutor Launches Criminal Probe Into Pardon of Marc Rich