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HYDE STAFFER: "MR. PRESIDENT,
CALL OFF YOUR GOONS!"
Committee Could Demand White House Phone Records
**Exclusive**
Washington erupted again late Wednesday when Salon1999.com went with a story that detailed what
it claimed was a sex affair between Rep. Henry Hyde and a woman that occurred back in the
1960's. Hyde, the House member leading the impeachment review of President Clinton, admitted
Wednesday to an affair with a woman Salon identified as Cherie Snodgrass.
The affair was carried on from 1965 to 1969. Hyde was 41 when the affair began and Ms.
Snodgrass was 12 years younger, the story said. Salon found the woman's former husband, Fred
Snodgrass, who revealed that the affair destroyed his marriage.
A senior staffer in Hyde's office told the DRUDGE REPORT late Wednesday that the congressman is
convinced that the White House is behind the hit.
"Mr. President, Call off your Goons!" declared the well-placed staffer, who asked not to be
identified.
"Drudge, there is no doubt here that this is coming from the White House."
Press secretary Mike McCurry said the White House was in no way connected to the story and has
made it clear that anyone who peddled such information would be fired.
"We were under strict orders from the president and everybody else not to have anything to do
with anything like this," McCurry said. "It's the last thing we wanted. It would take a
complete idiot to go out and do something like this. And if we have an idiot on the staff, we
want to get rid of him."
The Hyde staffer told the DRUDGE REPORT late Wednesday that the Judiciary Committee may ask the
White House to hand over phone records of suspected White House employees to determine if "help
calls" have been made to SALON.
"We may quickly get into this during upcoming hearings. Blackmail will not work. Any effort to
intimidate lawmakers or interfere with the House's official duties would violate U.S. criminal
law and compound the White House's problems."
The Hyde source strongly suspects that only a few individuals are involved in setting the
"Scorched Earth."
The Hyde staffer explained: "Chenoweth, Burton, now this... [seem] to be coming from the same
place and fit a pattern of intimidation."
An official of the Democratic National Committee tells KNIGHT RIDDER that the party has "no
organized or unorganized effort to look into the private lives of Republicans. We are
absolutely not looking into personal lives of members of Congress," the official said. |
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