PANEL QUESTIONS ROLE OF POSSIBLE DONATIONS

Gore Aide Dismisses 'Fishing Expedition'

A House congressional committee is questioning whether donations from a
Houston rap entrepreneur to Vice President Al Gore might have played a role
in the suspension of a federal drug case targeting the entrepreneur and his
associates.

House Government Reform Committee Chairman Dan Burton, R-Ind., raised the
question Friday in a letter notifying Attorney General Janet Reno that his
committee wants to question nine Drug Enforcement Administration officials
about the possible impact of high-level political pressure on the case
targeting James A. Prince.

He told Ms. Reno that his investigators want to ask DEA officials in
Washington and Houston if they were aware "that Mr. Prince was promising a
large political contribution to the Gore campaign, DNC [Democratic National
Convention] or any other political committee," Mr. Burton told Ms. Reno.

A spokesman for the vice president dismissed the committee's questions as
baseless, adding that the vice president knew nothing about the Houston case.

"I would normally say that this kind of partisan fishing expedition is
motivated by the proximity of the election, but for Dan Burton, these kind
of witch hunts are a year-round activity," said Gore spokesman Jim Kennedy.

Mr. Prince could not be reached, and a spokesman did not return calls. He
has never been charged with criminal violations. A spokeswoman for his
recording company, Rap-A-Lot Records, said earlier this month that
"intimations" about a link between Mr. Prince and the vice president "were
kind of silly."

"Al Gore did make a speech at the church Mr. Prince attends," said the
spokeswoman, Phyllis Pollack. "Mr. Prince has never spoken to, met or sent
donations to political campaigns."

Earlier this week, the DEA gave the House panel internal e-mails indicating
that the agency's Houston division chief announced on March 14 that he was
closing the case because of political pressure and transferring its lead agent.

"Now we bow down to political pressure," the Houston DEA head, Ernest L.
Howard, told top DEA officials in Washington. "If I had known this, I would
have NEVER ... even pursued it. But it is over now."

Mr. Howard did not return telephone calls Friday.

House investigators said Mr. Howard earlier assured committee investigators
that the criminal probe of Rap-A-Lot was ongoing. Mr. Howard also told The
Dallas Morning News earlier this month that the case remained open, but DEA
and local police investigators who worked on the case said it had been
suspended since last September, when California Democratic Rep. Maxine
Waters complained to Ms. Reno.

Mr. Howard began sending the e-mails to Washington two days after Mr. Gore
made a campaign visit to a Houston church scrutinized during the DEA's
Rap-A-Lot probe because of its high level of financial support from Mr. Prince.

The church has not been accused of wrongdoing. Its pastor has confirmed
that Mr. Prince donated $1 million to the church, and contended that
generosity and Mr. Prince's status as a wealthy role model for Houston
blacks made him a target for police harassment.

Mr. Howard said in an e-mail four days after Mr. Gore's campaign stop in
Houston that Mr. Prince was present "with the VP at the church" on March 12
and "undoubtedly had a picture session as well."

The church's pastor, who could not be reached Friday, has confirmed that
Mr. Prince attended Mr. Gore's visit but said he knew of no meeting between
the two men.

Mr. Burton's three-page letter to Ms. Reno came after Justice Department
officials announced they would not allow DEA agents to be interviewed by
Congress until they learned more about the scope of the inquiry.

The DEA Rap-A-Lot probe has won more than 20 convictions on charges ranging
from police corruption to drug trafficking before its progress was halted
last year.

Justice Department spokesperson Gretchen Michaels said the agency was
"trying to work with people on the Hill in any way we can that will not
jeopardize any ongoing criminal investigation."

But she declined to say whether the Justice Department considers the case
targeting Mr. Prince and his associates to be ongoing. "I'm not going to
get into that."

DEA Director Donnie Marshall, who has previously said the Rap-A-Lot
investigation remains open, issued a statement Friday pledging full
cooperation with Congress. He also declared that anyone within his agency
"found to have allowed political pressure to interfere with a legitimate
law enforcement investigation ... would be held accountable."

House investigators said Friday that Justice Department and DEA officials
have downplayed Mr. Howard's e-mail remarks as "venting."

Catherine Shaw, head of DEA's Congressional Affairs office, said that Mr.
Howard has told officials in Washington that those e-mails were followed by
telephone calls in which his complaints were fully aired and resolved.

Ms. Waters complained last summer to the Justice Department about "rogue"
agents involved in the DEA case targeting Mr. Prince. Her complaint
prompted a yearlong DEA internal investigation.

DEA e-mails indicate that the agency's internal investigators updated Ms.
Waters on the progress of their investigation as recently as March. The
agents she accused of wrongdoing were notified this month that the internal
agency review found no evidence to substantiate Mr. Prince's allegations.