Throughout the Travelgate saga, the White
House has had shifting stories and accounts of their interactions
with the FBI. Over the past week, the White House has put out
a changing story, First they said obtaining Billy Dale's background
file was part of "routine'' background checks on White House
employees. This was false. Then the White House tried to say the
GAO was responsible for the request but the GAO said they were not. Finally they claimed
this was part of an "innocent mistake" wherein they
were seeking over 300 FBI background files of Reagan and Bush
officials. The White House initially clained nobody reviewed the
files but now we know somebody did and reported on "derogatory"
information. The story continues to be in flux and questions abound.
It's time for Bill Clinton to do some explaining
about who he put in charge of these highly sensitive security
matters and what they did with that power, How much incompetence
does President Clintun tolerate and if this mistake was unexcusable
why hasn't anyone been fired?
The person Bill Clinton placed in charge
of the White House Security Office, Craig Livingstone, worked
on the Clinton/Gore campaign. His supervisor at the White House
was former Rose Law firm partner Bill Kennedy. And the White House
says no one should be worried about political people having access
to their records?!
These are the same Clinton Administration
people who fired Travel Office Director Billy Dale citing
that "gross mismanagement" and shoddy record-keeping
necessitated an immediate dismissal -- so that a 24 year-old cousin
of Bill Clinton and his Hollywood pal Harry Thorrlason could take
over the travel office.
The name of another Travel Office employee,
Barney Brassleux, whose file was requested by the White House
has not shown up on his list. The White House says it is still
trying to find another list! They continually can't get their
story straight!
Who else at the White House knew about these
records being obtained in December, 1993, and when did they know
it?
This is the same White House that didn't
get backgrownd checks on its own political appointees for over
a year and a half, yet they were gathering files on Reagan and
Bush political appointees?
The so called "list" the White
House has produced indicating whose files were pulled includes
both Reagan and Bush political appointees. No explanation of this
list has been provided.
Why didn?t anyone at the FBI raise any red
flags when files of former Secretary of State James Baker, Bush
Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater, and Reagnn White House Counsel
A,B. Culvahouse were requested by the Clinton White House?
Why didn't the White House send the records
back when they learned of the mistake? Who has seen them?
FBI Director, Louis Freeh is already taking steps to change the
process by which they disclose FBI files.
Why is the President still claiming executive
privilege over 2000+ other pages of Travelgate documents?
What other so called "innocent "mistakes" are they
hiding?
Where are the missing notes that White House
lawyer, Neil Eggleston, took of the Travelgate interviews
with the First Lady and other White House officials? The
President still hasn't explained this matter. What other
"innocent mistakes" might these notes reveal?
We still don't have the real facts. The White
House dripped out its usual half-truths last week and in fact
floated allegations that the GAO or some other agency requested
Billy Dale's FBI file before admitting the While House "inadverteutly"
requested over 300 other files.
If Chairman Clinger hadn't brought this to
light, we wouldn't have known about this incredible breach in
security procedures at the White House, We don't" know who
had access to these files, if any copies were made, and what happened
to the "derogatory information" that the military aide
was directed to pull from these files for Craig Livingstune?
Billy Dale has every reason to be uncomfortable
and upset about this. We know that the White House was trying
to dig up dirt on him - this premise is supported by other documents
the Committee has obtained during the course of its investigation.
President Clinton's First Friend, Harry Thomason,
made the allegations that got BiIIy Dale fired and
then the White House worked hard to try to back up Mr. Thomason's
allegations to no avail. Mr, Dale has been acquitted of all wrongdoing
but at a significant cost to himself and his family. Now we find
out that thirty years of his confidential FBI background information
was in the very hands of the people who ran him out of the White
House in a windowless van without any chance to respond to allegations
of criminal wrongdoing being made about him by the White House.