,,,,,,,This is nothing new! "FBI Filegate" Remember that one.
Craig Livingstone...The White House personnel security office sought some 700 confidential FBI background files in 1993 and 1994, including files of top Republicans who no longer worked at the White House. Among the files obtained were those on former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft, former CIA Director Robert Gates, and former spokesman Marlin Fitzwater. Records were also obtained on former White House Travel Office employees after they had been fired in 1993.
According to administration officials, the files were obtained to update security records for access to the White House for employees from previous administrations. The administration says the security office relied on an outdated list.
DYNAMIC DUO
At the center of the firestorm, dubbed "Filegate," was Craig Livingstone , a former bar bouncer and campaign advance man who headed up the Office of White House Personnel Security. Livingstone worked on Democratic campaigns and helped organized inaugural activities for the Clinton administration. He announced his resignation while testifying at a congressional hearing June 26, 1996. He testified that he had not known that an aide he had hired was requesting the files.
Anthony Marceca, a civilian Army investigator who had also worked on Democratic campaigns, was hired by Livingstone to conduct background checks. Marceca submitted the requests for the files and later claimed he didn't know he was working from an outdated list. Marceca appeared before a congressional committee on June 18, 1996, but pleaded Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.
Clinton defends administration on obtaining FBI files.
THE EXPLANATIONS
President Bill Clinton at a news conference June 12, 1996, said obtaining the files was "an honest bureaucratic snafu" and not an attempt to collect damaging information on political opponents as Republicans had charged. The FBI admitted that the files were improperly obtained. FBI Director Louis Freeh said the FBI was "victimized" in the matter.
Former White House counsel Bernard Nussbaum, Livingstone's boss, said he had not known underlings had used preprinted forms with his name on them to ask for the files.
THE WHITEWATER CONNECTION
The requests for the files were uncovered by a House committee investigating another Clinton-administration controversy — the firing of White House Travel Office employees. On June 22, 1996, a federal appeals court granted Attorney General Janet Reno's request to give Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr authority to look into the matter and find out if anyone had acted improperly in asking for the files. |
