CLINTON PRIVATE INVESTIGATORS TRYING TO SMEAR JOURNALISTS
XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT BREAK XXXXX 19:37:06 PST SUN FEB 22 1998 XXXXX
DIGENOVA FALLOUT: WHO'S PAYING THOSE INVESTIGATORS?
Reporter building West Coast connection
**Exclusive**
"No one at the White House or anyone acting on behalf of the White House or any of President Clinton's private attorneys has hired or authorized any private investigator to look into the background of Mr. DiGenova, Ms. Toensing, investigators, prosecutors or reporters."
White House press secretary Mike McCurry in a statement quickly issued after DiGenova told Russert on MEET THE PRESS that investigators were hired to dig up dirt on him and his wife, former Bush administration official Victoria Toensing.
DiGenova has been a regular television commentator on MSNBCCNBCNBC where he's been highly critical of the President's handling of the Lewinsky crisis.
DiGenova asserted on MTP that he had been informed by a reporter "that word had gotten around town that I and my wife... were being investigated by a private investigator with links to the White House and the attorneys representing the president."
He added, "If the White House is condoning the investigation of private citizens, looking into their lives ... that is truly a frightening, frightening development."
DiGenova said reporters told him Investigative Group Inc. [IGI], headed by Terry F. Lenzner, is doing the digging.
Has DiGenova been given bad information?
Or could "friends of the White House" really be going for dirt on DiGenova, Peter Baker & Sue Schmidt of the WASHINGTON POST, Jeff Gerth & Stephen Labaton of the NEW YORK TIMES, Drudge, Michael Isikoff at NEWSWEAK, Jackie Judd of ABC NEWS and others?
McCurry called DiGenova's assertions "blatant lies," but who might be bankrolling these investigations?
Readers of this report log on for answers!
The DRUDGE REPORT has learned from several sources directly involved with the situation that one reporter, who apparently "shared" with DiGenova, is busy preparing a deep and detailed print story on the situation.
Publication date: not known, but one well-placed source in Washington says the reporter will show how the money for investigators is coming from California, from one extremely wealthy person who has spent private time with Clinton.
It's a turn that promises to rock media circles as well as the grand jury.
One East Coast publishing source says the reporter is also zeroing in on a senior White House official who may be acting as a "go-between" -- coordinating with "The Purse" and PIs digging around in the field.
FOOTNOTE: Editors at the WASHINGTON POST have some fun with the "White House Denies Hiring PIs" story on Monday when reported-targets Peter Baker and Sue Schmidt are the very ones assigned to cover DiGenova's MEET THE PRESS claims!
Baker & Schmidt end their piece on a curious beat. Without any build or background they meow: "Mickey Kantor, who represents Clinton as a lawyer in the Lewinsky matter, refused to say whether he has hired [IGI]."
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