Washington Section News - Page B3a
CLINTON ORDERED WHITE HOUSE STAFF "HANDS-OFF" FBI RECORDS, HE SAYS!
by Staff Journalists, The Daily Republican OnLine Newspaper
WASHINGTON DESK - The Clinton administration has been under siege for problems about misuse of secret FBI background files since his promise to fire anyone who searched such files for political purposes.
Clinton's fixation on obtaining FBI and other government records apparently stems from concern about his own FBI file. He claimed that his file was searched during the 1992 presidential campaign. The culprit, he said was a State Dept. appointee of George Bush. Clinton said State was looking for political ammunition concerning Clinton's Moscow connections during the Vietnam War. At that time, Clinton admitted that he was a street demonstrator in Britain and during the time he was a traveler to Moscow while a student at Oxford University in London.
As president-elect, Clinton a told reporters at his transition headquarters in Little Rock, Ark. "I just want you to know that the State Department of this country is not going to be fooling with ... politics, and if I catch anybody doing it, I will fire them the next day."
Within a few months into the Clinton administration a State Dept. employee's confidential personnel folder, with information from a secret FBI background investigation, was pulled by the Clinton White House liaison officer at State, and leaked to the Washington Post newspaper.The Clinton White House did not investigate the 'leak'.
However, in the aftermath of the Clinton White House 'leak' more double-dealing was discovered in the Clinton White House. For example it was learned that more than 150 additional confidential personnel folders from Reagan-Bush officials had been removed from locked State Dept. archives. Those records were searched by Clinton aides for derogatory information such as medical histories or law enforcement reports placed there by the FBI.
Following a leisurely two-month 'investigation' Clinton Attorney General appointee, Janet Reno decided to ignore requests of Republican senators for a special prosecutor for a criminal prosecution. Clinton's Secretary of State, Warren Christopher then fired two officials, Joseph Tarver, a 15 year career employee the White House liaison officer at the State Department, and Mark Schulhof, an 11 year employee who was assistant to Tom Donilon, the assistant secretary of state for public affairs.
Michael Mitchell was indignant when he learned his was one of the files searched by Clinton. He said the attorney general could not fairly investigate the Clinton White House admission that FBI files were searched.
In the wake of more disclosures on Monday that the Clinton administration also obtained FBI background files on an additional 339 former Republican presidential aides, even White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta issued public apologies Sunday. However, there has been no indication that there have been any dismissals of White House aides.
Apparently, for the Clinton administration, it is just business-as-usual as Clinton officials continue their unproductive search for derogatory information about Republicans. The White House appears to be vindictive after the assistant legal counsel to Clinton, William Kennedy was denied clearance by the FBI because of reports of Kennedy's background of drug abuse, nonpayment of taxes and many other problems resulting in denial of a security clearance for access to the Clinton White House.
Kennedy's background check by the FBI discovered his nonpayment of $1,352 in Social Security taxes owed for a part-time employee in his Little Rock home in the year 1992. Kennedy was a former Rose Law Firm partner of first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. He has since, returned to the Rose Law Firm in Little Rock.