Friday, Jan. 12, 2001 2:04 a.m. EST
Secret GOP Files Could Nuke Dems' Ashcroft Attack
Republicans on Capitol Hill angry over the latest Democratic strategy to scuttle John Ashcroft's attorney general nomination have a secret weapon. The only question is, will they use it.
One day after Bush's labor secretary pick, Linda Chavez, withdrew her name from consideration after being targeted by a Clinton-style "search and destroy" dirt-digging blitzkrieg, the Democrats announced they were ready to use the same tactics against Ashcroft - this time using opposition research files compiled by his late Senate opponent Mel Carnahan.
The Carnahan dirt on Ashcroft includes everything from background on his opposition to Clinton judicial appointee Ronnie White to accusations that he dodged the draft.
But the GOP is sitting on files of its own, material so powerful that it could have Democrats crying uncle at the mere hint it might get out.
The Clinton impeachment files, still kept secret by the Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee and slated to remain sealed till 2049, are believed to contain everything from Clinton rape accuser Juanita Broaddrick's never-released account to the FBI to new allegations of sexual harassment by female Secret Service agents assigned to guard the president.
Reportedly Broaddrick was so traumatized recounting the rape that agents decided to stop the interview rather than force her to relive all the gruesome details. Later when she talked to NBC for eight hours straight, the network censored all but 23 minutes of her bombshell account.
Other information contained amidst the suppressed impeachment evidence: confidential files from Rick and Beverly Lambert, the Paula Jones investigators who interviewed dozens of women with whom Clinton had relations, consensual and otherwise.
"If they want a pattern of aggressive sexual behavior, we have that," Beverly Lambert told NewsMax.com in 1999.
Six months after Clinton was acquitted by the Senate, Georgia congressman and former House impeachment manager Bob Barr told NewsMax.com that the files would stay sealed unless the American people demand thier release.
And while that's unlikely to happen, GOP congressmen, who grow more frustrated by the day over Democratic low blows, may finally decide to fight fire with fire.
Should the Clinton files somehow emerge during a knock-down-drag-out fight over Ashcroft's confirmation, one Democrat is sure to be particulary distressed - newly elected Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. |
