Keating Five Veterans for Truth

Courtesy of Lexis/Nexis, a segment from a 2/29/2000 Boston Globe article about the Keating Five:

CAMPAIGN 2000;
PLUCK, LEAKS HELPED SENATOR TO OVERCOME S&L SCANDAL
By Walter V. Robinson, Globe Staff

In 1990, Cranston complained bitterly to the committee about the leaks in a letter that suggested McCain was responsible. DeConcini, in a recent interview, said he has little doubt that McCain was responsible, but he said Fleming could not find enough corroborating evidence to say so. Whatever evidence Fleming did assemble is now in the National Archives - under seal for 42 more years. Fleming declined to be interviewed.

Hall, who led the earlier GAO investigation, said the circumstantial evidence against McCain was overwhelming, and he said there was documentary evidence to buttress the GAO's suspicions, although he said he was barred from discussing it.

When he interviewed McCain, and laid out the evidence, Hall said, McCain lost his temper. "Senator McCain has a reputation as a stand-up guy, but his reaction that day was to point the finger at others. He said I ought to look at De-Concini, I ought to look at Riegle, and at their attorneys," Hall recalled.

Hall, who is now a corporate investigator, said he found McCain's finger-pointing "contemptible" and "consistent with the leaks themselves, which were intended to shift the blame elsewhere."

The blame for the leaks ended up with an anonymous "overzealous aide." Fun fact: Victoria Clarke worked for McCain back then. Just sayin.