JIM LEHRER: The Justice Department is also conducting a fund-raising investigation. Phil Ponce looks at the developments there.

PHIL PONCE: That investigation went through a maker shake-up yesterday when Attorney General Janet Reno replaced the top federal prosecutor and the FBI agent in charge with more experienced senior personnel. For more on this we’re joined by NewsHour regular Stuart Taylor, correspondent for Legal Times and the American Lawyer, and Dan Klaidman, Justice Department correspondent for "Newsweek." Dan Klaidman, before we get into the question of the changes that the attorney general has made in the task force, what exactly are they looking at?

DANIEL KLAIDMAN, Newsweek: Well, among the principal allegations is that the Clinton administration systematically solicited contributions, millions of dollars in contributions from foreign donors, which is illegal, and that in some instances perhaps tried to disguise the source of those contributions by laundering through–laundering them through legal donors. Among the other allegations, most serious allegations, is that in exchange for political contributions contributors got certain favors, perhaps policy changes, access.

That would be a bribe, and that’s very serious but very difficult to establish the quid pro quo. Then there are the allegations involving Vice President Gore, essentially soliciting contributions from federal offices, and under some analysis what he did is illegal. And that remains to be seen. But most serious–potentially the most incendiary of the allegations is the Chinese government had a plot to subvert the American–the 1996 presidential and past congressional elections. That remains to be seen as well.

PHIL PONCE: And what exactly prompted her to make these changes? What was the motivation there?