Aldrich tried without success to get the Brinkley panel to question him about the flouting of security requirements in hiring staff and handling classified documents the Clinton White House. Sam Donaldson acknowledged that this is "a gut part of that book which clearly is correct," but only after Aldrich departed and White House spokesman George Stephanopoulos took his seat in front of the cameras.
Donaldson pressed hard to get Stephanopoulos to admit that "for months and months people that were hired to go to the White House declined to go to FBI interviews in order to get permanent passes." Stephanopoulos, who subsequently charged that "not a single, solitary charge" in the book "has been proven in any way" seemed not to know that this was one of the major charges. He replied, "I'm not sure it's exactly correct as you characterize it. It is clear that we had a problem with the backlog. I'm not sure that people declined to go to the FBI interviews." This dialogue ensued:
Q: What do you see to be the problem if for months and months, people including DeeDee Myers, who was the press secretary, decline or refuse or can't make it, or don't have the time to get interviews for permanent passes?
A: Most people did go get the interviews, most people got their passes. If there was slippage, that was a mistake. It was wrong.
Q: Aldrich says hundreds.
A: I'm not sure that's true. I don't think we can believe anything that he says.
Q: Well wait a moment... How many?
A: This was all covered back in 1993.
Q: No, no -- let's cover it now, Mr. Stephanopoulos. How many?
A: I don't have the exact number. I do know that people were required to go through their background checks, were required to do the interviews and that's what this operation update was all about.
Allowing that whopper to pass without comment, Donaldson raised Aldrich's charge that the Clinton White House hired people with records of extensive drug use. He asked if a senior official in the White House who had allegedly used drugs extensively prior to being hired in 1993, would be fired if Aldrich disclosed his name. Stephanopoulos replied, "Those are very subjective terms. I don't know what it means ‘to have used drugs extensively.' Everybody's required to go through an FBI check. Everybody's required to pass all of the tests of the FBI. Everybody's required to get a security check and to be cleared to work at the White House."
Aldrich has suggested that was one of the reasons so many employees were so reluctant to fill out their forms and go through the required FBI interview. Donaldson pointed out that the White House Counsel's office, not the FBI, decides whether or not they should be hired. |
