Gore Confidant Turns in Debate Plans

W A S H I N G T O N, Sept. 13, 2000 -- A mysterious package arrived in the mail today for a key confidant of Al Gore.

The package contained a videotape and documents relating to George W. Bush’s preparations for presidential debates with Gore, sources told ABCNEWS.

But the confidant, former New York Rep. Tom Downey, who received the package at his Washington office this morning, said he wanted nothing to do with it.

“Clearly, this is something that should not have been sent to me,” he said in a statement.

FBI Takes Possession

After playing the enclosed VHS videotape for less than a minute and looking through the half-inch thick packet of written documents, Downey immediately called his lawyer, Marc Miller, a Gore aide said.

Miller then contacted the FBI, which took possession of the package at 4:32 p.m. ET.

“When Mr. Downey determined what it was or what he thought it was,” Miller told ABCNEWS, “we decided we didn’t want to have anything to do with it.”

As for who sent the mysterious materials, Miller said the package, which was sent via 2-Day Express Mail, had an Austin, Texas postmark and a return address. The attorney added that the package contained a typed, unsigned cover letter addressed to Downey, but would not reveal any further details.

It is not known whether the contents of the package were actually Bush campaign materials or merely a hoax.

Bush Camp Notified

Miller also alerted William Daley, chairman of the Gore campaign, who then notified Don Evans, his counterpart at the Bush campaign, of the package.

“We do not know what the Gore campaign claims to have in their possession and we would like to review the material,” Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer told The Associated Press. “Our attorneys are in the process of asking to review it.”

Bush campaign lawyer Ben Ginsburg told ABCNEWS he called Downey’s attorney and asked if he could examine the contents of the package, but Miller told him he preferred to simply turn the materials over to the FBI.

“The best and most appropriate thing to do,” said Miller, “was to turn it over to authorities and let them decide what it was and what to do with it.”

Ginsburg said he planned to contact the bureau later today.

One Bush official involved in debate preparation told ABCNEWS that there are “fewer than a dozen” tapes of the Texas governor’s practice debate sessions and that the campaign is taking an inventory of the tapes to see if any are missing.

As a result of today’s incident, Downey said he would no longer participate in Gore’s debate preparation efforts “in order to ensure the integrity of the debate process.”

ABCNEWS’ Mark Halperin and Terry Moran and The Associated Press contributed to this report.