NBC Nightly News open - 1977-09-05

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:02] This is NBC Nightly News with John

[0:05] Chancellor and David Brinkley. Tonight,

[0:08] Monday, September 5th, with John

[0:10] Chancellor reporting from the NBC News

[0:12] Center in New York.

[0:14] >> Good evening. A call for Bert Lance's

[0:16] resignation was made today by the senior

[0:19] members of the Senate Committee, which

[0:20] is investigating Lance's dealings as a

[0:23] banker. In a dramatic holiday meeting at

[0:25] the White House this afternoon with

[0:27] President Carter, Senators Abraham

[0:29] Riboff and Charles Percy told the

[0:31] president that their committee had

[0:33] received allegations of illegality

[0:35] concerning Lance. They said the

[0:37] allegations were of a serious enough

[0:39] nature that they felt it their duty to

[0:41] inform the president. Lance, Mr.

[0:43] Carter's friend and budget director, is

[0:45] scheduled to testify before Ribikoff's

[0:47] committee later this week. Here's more

[0:49] from Bill Lynch at the White House.

[0:53] The president returned in midafter

[0:55] afternoon looking somber as he avoided

[0:57] waiting reporters and went straight to

[0:59] the Oval Office. He came back earlier

[1:01] than expected to meet with chairman

[1:02] Abraham Ribikoff of the Senate

[1:04] Governmental Affairs Committee and

[1:05] Senator Charles Percy, the committee's

[1:07] ranking Republican. They had asked for

[1:09] the meeting two days ago to pass on what

[1:11] they said were serious allegations that

[1:13] Bert Lance had broken the law. Both

[1:15] senators told reporters after the

[1:16] meeting they think Lance should resign

[1:18] as budget director. I think that it

[1:20] would be wiser for Bert Lance to resign.

[1:24] Uh I did I don't think that Bert Lance

[1:28] uh can be an effective OM director uh

[1:32] pending uh the hearings and pending the

[1:35] investigation uh of all the allegations.

[1:39] Uh I feel too that under 555, the public

[1:42] officials integrity act uh that this is

[1:46] the proper way to proceed and the

[1:48] legislation was passed to take care of a

[1:50] situation such as this. However, uh

[1:54] allegations that are made of such a

[1:56] serious nature, uh I don't think a man

[1:59] should be found guilty until he does

[2:01] have a full opportunity to be heard.

[2:04] Rivikoff and Percy declined to disclose

[2:07] the exact nature of the allegations that

[2:08] had prompted this Labor Day meeting in

[2:10] the Oval Office. Those allegations will

[2:12] be outlined to other committee members

[2:13] at a meeting called for tomorrow

[2:15] afternoon. Shortly after the meeting,

[2:17] the White House issued a statement

[2:18] saying the president appreciated the

[2:20] senator's report and looks forward to

[2:22] expeditious hearings at which Mr. Lance

[2:24] and others will have a chance to tell

[2:25] their side of the story. Bill Lynch, NBC

[2:28] News, the White House.

[2:30] There was a story in the Atlanta

[2:31] Constitution today that a former

[2:33] colleague of Lance's in the Calhoun,

[2:35] Georgia bank, now a convicted embezzler,

[2:38] has implicated Lance in an affidavit.

[2:41] His name is Billy Lee Campbell and he's

[2:42] serving eight years for embezzlement.

[2:44] Today, Senator Ribikoff confirmed that

[2:46] committee investigators have talked to

[2:48] Campbell recently. At the same time,

[2:50] Ribbeoff denied that the committee had

[2:52] an affidavit from Campbell. Also on the

[2:55] program this evening, Labor Day, the Mad

[2:58] Cap New York mayorality primary and

[3:00] Voyager 1 lifting off on a journey to

[3:02] Jupiter.

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[4:05] >> There. There.

[4:08] >> The Panama Canal campaign moved one step

[4:10] forward today as heads of state from

[4:12] Latin America began arriving in

[4:14] Washington. The treaty designed to turn

[4:16] over the canal to Panama by the end of

[4:19] the century will be signed Wednesday

[4:20] night by President Carter and the Latin

[4:22] heads of state. But there's a lot of

[4:24] opposition in the Senate which has to

[4:26] ratify