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Politics : Bill Clinton Scandal - SANITY CHECK -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tom Clarke who wrote (61156)	9/30/1999 8:40:00 AM
From: jlallen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 67261

White House smear of Tripp confirmed: newsmax.com Wednesday September 29, 8:49 AM White House Admits Link to Tripp Smear Documents filed by the White House with a Washington, D.C., court last December acknowledge a link between Clinton press secretary Joe Lockhart and the Pentagon's release of confidential information from Sexgate taper Linda Tripp's personnel file. Tripp filed suit against the Office of the President and the Defense Department on Monday, claiming the leak violated her privacy rights. The documents, first made public in July, cover a series of Clinton administration responses to interrogatories submitted by Judicial Watch as part of its $90 million Filegate class action suit. Press attention at the time focused on other testimony indicating that Mrs. Clinton had a role in the administration's attempt to discredit White House sexual assault victim Kathleen Willey. But media accounts last July overlooked passages dealing with White House contacts between its press office and New Yorker reporter Jane Mayer, who broke the story of Tripp's teenage arrest on a larceny charge at the height of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Tripp was set up by friends as part of a youthful prank and the charge was subsequently dropped. Mayer's reports were fueled by a key detail from Tripp's confidential personnel file, which showed she had denied ever being arrested on a Pentagon security clearance form. Two sections of the White House's response to the Judicial Watch interrogatories name Clinton Press Secretary Joe Lockhart as the person responsible for directing the New Yorker reporter to the Defense Department. "Interrogatory No. 13 Describe any and all knowledge you have about the release or use of information from Linda Tripp's Department of Defense files." White House aides Sidney Blumenthal, Rahm Emanuel, Bruce Lindsey, and Ann Lewis denied having any knowledge about the release of Tripp's file. But Justice Department lawyers, who prepared written responses for all witnesses, could not offer the same categorical denial for then-White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry: "Mr. McCurry has no knowledge about the release or use of information from Linda Tripp's Department of Defense file, other than what he may have read or heard in the public media. Mr. McCurry does recall being informed by his deputy Joe Lockhart that Mr. Lockhart had received a telephone call about Linda Tripp from Jane Mayer of The New Yorker, and that he referred Ms. Mayer to the Department of Defense." The subject of Tripp's Pentagon file came up again in Interrogatory No. 41. Under McCurry's name, Justice Department lawyers wrote: "As stated in Response No. 13, Mr. McCurry also recalls being informed by his deputy Joe Lockhart that Mr. Lockhart had received a telephone call about Linda Tripp from Jane Mayer of The New Yorker, and that Mr. Lockhart referred Ms. Mayer to the Department of Defense. Mr. McCurry does not recall specifically what was stated by Mr. Lockhart or himself." The White House response continued: "The date of the conversation was shortly before The New Yorker article was published. The conversation was oral, in person, and took place either in Mr. McCurry's office or in Mr. Lockhart's office in the West Wing. Mr. McCurry does not recall that there were any other participants. In addition, as relayed to the press in response to a question at a public briefing, Mr. McCurry had a telephone conversation with [Pentagon Spokesman] Ken Bacon, subsequent to the publication of The New Yorker article, in which Mr. McCurry advised Mr. Bacon that the White House would not be commenting on the matter." Lockhart, who succeeded McCurry as White House Press secretary last year, was not a subject of this round of Judicial Watch interrogatories. JLA