Hume claimed "spear-chucker" Glenn "buffaloed" Thompson's campaign finance probe, ignored GOP role

On the June 3 edition of Fox News Sunday, discussing a 1997 Senate Governmental Affairs Committee investigation led by then-chairman Fred Thompson (R-TN) into President Clinton's 1996 campaign finances, Fox News Washington managing editor Brit Hume claimed that Sen. John Glenn (D-OH), then the committee's ranking Democrat, had "effectively buffaloed" Thompson, with the result that the probe "went nowhere." Hume added that Glenn is "not somebody you would normally think capable of being a real partisan spear-chucker who could undo an investigation." But, in fact, Thompson reportedly suspended the investigation after Republicans expressed concern that committee Democrats planned to investigate potentially embarrassing GOP fundraising practices, including those of two Republican committee members, as Media Matters for America documented.

During the panel segment of the show, host Chris Wallace asked Hume "how reliable and strong a conservative and how effective a politician" Thompson is. Hume said that he had a "mixed record in the Senate" and then recalled the 1997 investigation into alleged campaign fundraising abuses:

HUME: I particularly remember an investigation that occurred after the Clinton-Dole campaign. We were new here at Fox News, and we carried a lot of the hearings live.

It was in the campaign finance alleged irregularities, with money supposedly seeping into the American political campaign of Bill Clinton from Chinese sources and so on. It was pretty juicy stuff. It looked like a very big deal.

Fred Thompson was the chairman of the investigating committee, and it went absolutely nowhere. He was effectively buffaloed in that investigation by none other than John Glenn, who was a wonderful man, but not somebody you would normally think capable of being a real partisan spear-chucker who could undo an investigation.

The Washington Post reported at the time that "[t]o the very end [of the inquiry], Thompson and Glenn reflected the deep partisan division within the committee" and that Glenn had called the hearings "a partisan donnybrook." Indeed, an August 2 article in the Columbus Dispatch reported that Glenn had said he tried "to bring balance" to the hearings and insisted that the committee "take a look at the whole picture" and not just Clinton's fundraising practices. According to the Dispatch, Glenn maintained that "Republicans have tried to keep Democrats from bringing Republican improprieties to light by quashing subpoenas Democrats have tried to issue." Yet Hume ignored reports that Thompson ended the investigation, not at Glenn's urging, but because members of his own party advised that continuing the inquiry would shed light on questionable GOP fundraising practices. A November 1, 1997, Boston Globe article (fee required) reported that Thompson ended the investigation "[a]fter Republicans expressed concern that the Senate campaign-finance investigation could lead to a probe of GOP practices" and that "the most outspoken advocate for ending the hearings is Senator Don Nickles, an Oklahoma Republican, who serves on the committee."

A November 1, 1997, Los Angeles Times article (fee required) further reported that Democrats "had planned to call witnesses to show" that Nickles and Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS), both members of the committee, were involved in questionable fundraising practices:

The chairman of the Senate panel investigating campaign fund-raising abuses suspended hearings Friday after nearly four months, saying he believes they established that President Clinton politically exploited the White House in ways his Republican predecessors never did.

Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) said that after 32 days of hearings, his committee has no more vital information worthy of additional public sessions.

But Democrats noted another motive -- that going further would have required Thompson to give them another turn at playing prosecutor, calling their own witnesses to expose events that could embarrass the Republican Party.

[...]

Although Thompson said he reserved the right to resume hearings before the committee's Dec. 31 cutoff date if dramatic new evidence turns up, Democrats noted the suspension came as they were about to examine how two Republicans on the panel had benefited from secret donations given to a conservative consulting group.

Democrats had planned to call witnesses to show that the group, Triad Management Services, accepted donations totaling $ 400,000 to help Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) win election last year. Triad also paid for advertisements to benefit Sen. Don Nickles (R-Okla.), according to documents.

The day before Thompson announced his decision, The New York Times reported that "[d]ocuments released by Senate investigators today identified 20 donors to a private conservative organization [Triad Management Services] that worked outside the normal political channels in ways that benefited conservative Republicans," namely Brownback and Nickles. The Times article reported that the documents revealed that Nickles' political action committee "received tens of thousands of dollars in donations in 1996 from some of Triad's biggest donors" and that funds well over the amount an individual is allowed to donate to a political candidate were funneled through political action committees working with Triad to Brownback's 1996 U.S. Senate race.

In 1998, the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) concluded (fee required) that Triad had violated federal campaign laws by not registering as a federal political committee. According to a December 7, 2002, Kansas City Star article, the FEC found that "Brownback's in-laws, John and Ruth Stauffer of Topeka, violated federal election laws by funneling excessive campaign donations to him in 1996" through Triad and political action committees working with Triad. The FEC also ordered Brownback's campaign to refund to the U.S. Treasury $19,000 in over-the-limit contributions.

A Media Matters for America search of the Nexis database did not find any reports that Nickles' reported involvement with Triad resulted in any legal action.

From the June 3 edition of Fox News Sunday:

WALLACE: So, Fred Thompson, before we get to the effect that he is going to have on the other front-runners, let's talk about him. Brit, how reliable and strong a conservative and how effective a politician?

HUME: Well, I think he had kind of a mixed record in the Senate. And he's a man who always seemed somewhat -- frustrated, bored by the Senate.

I particularly remember an investigation that occurred after the Clinton-Dole campaign. We were new here at Fox News, and we carried a lot of the hearings live.

It was in the campaign finance alleged irregularities, with money supposedly seeping into the American political campaign of Bill Clinton from Chinese sources and so on. It was pretty juicy stuff. It looked like a very big deal.

Fred Thompson was the chairman of the investigating committee, and it went absolutely nowhere. He was effectively buffaloed in that investigation by none other than John Glenn, who was a wonderful man, but not somebody you would normally think capable of being a real partisan spear-chucker who could undo an investigation.

So it didn't go very well, and I think Fred Thompson has acknowledged since then that it wasn't his finest hour. But I think at the moment, Chris, it's sort of the idea of Fred Thompson -- very attractive and a very likable guy -- that is what's running this. He's built expectations up, though, by this anticipation of when or whether he'll get in. They're over the moon -- very hard -- very hard -- for him to live up to them.