Aug. 22, 2000

In the Olympic bribery scandal case, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee appears to be playing hardball with the two men charged with federal crimes.

President Mitt Romney today shared a new plan to deal with the thorny issue. News Specialist John Daley is covering this story.

The bottom line from Mitt Romney: "Don't pay their fees," unless Welch and Johnson agree NOT to sue organizers later.

Olympic athletes get downright aggressive when the stakes are at their highest. Apparently, so do the guys in suits who run the Games.

Olympic CEO Mitt Romney passes out funny "lawyer glasses" as props to reporters. It's the only light moment, at a news conference where Romney delivers what amounts to a legal roundhouse punch to Tom Welch and Dave Johnson.

Lawyers for the pair say they need organizers to keep paying their fees in order to mount a decent defense in the federal case against them.

But Romney says SLOC will continue to pay the fees only if Welch and Johnson agree to NOT turn around and sue the SLOC in the future.

Mitt Romney/SLOC President: "SO NET-NET, TOM AND DAVE WOULD GET THE FEES THEY NEED TO PREPARE FOR THEIR DEFENSE. WE WOULD GIVE UP OUR CLAIM AGAINST THE INSURANCE COMPANY. BUT TOM AND DAVE OF COURSE WOULD GIVE UP ANY CLAIM THEY MIGHT HAVE AGAINST SLOC."

But Tom Welch is responding by throwing a few verbal punches of his own.

He told Eyewitness News late this afternoon that deal is "unaccepable." He says "The obligation to fund our defense is a contractual right I'm entitled to."

What's more, Welch offers an ominous legal threat to Romney himself, saying, "I think Mitt has taken positions that could put him and SLOC in jeopardy."

But--hardball or not--Romney contends what might sound like a threat, is really a unique opportunity for Welch and Johnson.

Mitt Romney/SLOC President: "I WOULD HOPE THEY WOULD SEE THIS AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO GET THE FEES THEY NEED TO DEFEND THEMSELVES, WHICH WOULD BE A VERY POSITIVE THING IF I WERE FACING THIS KIND OF INDICTMENT."

All this comes to a head on Friday morning when organizers hold a meeting to decide what to do.

Expect them to follow Romney's lead and cut off the fees to Welch and Johnson, unless the two agree to play ball.