Clinton Angry About File Flap Response

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, July 24) -- An administration spokesman says President Bill Clinton is "angry" about the White House's inability to provide better answers about how and why it improperly obtained more than 400 FBI background files.

Press Secretary Mike McCurry told reporters today Clinton wants independent counsel Kenneth Starr to get to the bottom of the flap, which has turned into a major, election-year embarrassment for the president.

"The president is very angry that fundamental questions cannot be answered," McCurry told reporters aboard Air Force One. "The White House certainly hopes and expects that Mr. Starr will get answers to the questions."

Two Congressional committee already have started hearings on the mess. The White House insists obtaining the files was the result of a bureaucratic snafu, but GOP critics suggest that Democratic political operatives in the administration may have been looking for dirt on prominent Republicans who worked in the Reagan and Bush administrations.

Meanwhile, Rep. William Clinger (R-Pa.), chair of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, has written White House Counsel Jack Quinn requesting documents concerning former personnel security chief Craig Livingstone and others involved in the FBI files matter.

These documents are in addition to the 2,000 pages of disputed records related to the Travelgate firings that the White House is thus far witholding from the committee, claiming executive privilege.

In his letter, Clinger seeks documentation to answer several questions, including who hired Livingstone and checked his background and when did Army civilian investigator Anthony Marceca obtain his security clearance.

In Clinton's other election-year embarrassment, a slight majority of Americans -- 52 percent -- think the president did something illegal in the Whitewater scandal, according to a new Harris Poll released today.

But only 22 percent of those surveyed said they felt worse about Clinton because of the Whitewater affair. The survey interviewed 1,008 adults between June 6 and 10 and has a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points.

The numbers who say they think Clinton did something illegal are sharply higher than in a recent CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll. In that survey, only 21 percent thought Clinton had done anything illegal, although another 40 percent suspected him of unethical conduct. That survey was conducted June 18-19.

Clinton Angry About File Flap Response

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