Some FBI Files May Have Contained Tax Data, Too

By Mark Feldstein/CNN

WASHINGTON (June 25) -- Secret files obtained by the White House on officials from Republican administrations allegedly included IRS as well as FBI records.

In a letter to FBI Director Louis Freeh, Republican Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) says Judiciary Committee staff discovered IRS documents while reviewing the controversial files.

Grassley wants an explanation. The FBI declined comment to CNN. White House spokesman Mark Fabiani said he doesn't know if any of the disputed files also include confidential tax information, because the White House has now returned all of its files to the FBI.

The possible presence of tax information adds new questions to the file flap.

"FBI files are one thing; that's bad enough," says ex-IRS Commissioner Don Alexander. "But IRS files are worse (64K WAV sound)."

Alexander was the IRS commissioner under President Richard Nixon. Nixon used the IRS to dig up dirt on political opponents. Alexander then helped pass post-Watergate reforms to prevent it from happening again.

"I don't want some clowns in the White House, however high they might be, to go back to some days that I thought were finished forever in this country," Alexander said. "I was dumb enough and naive enough to believe that Watergate and some of its abuses could not happen again. Now I question that belief (224K WAV sound)."

It's unclear exactly what IRS records actually made their way to the White House, how many files are involved or how they got there in the first place. Officials are still trying to track all of the FBI files that ended up at the White House.

Last week, a source close to former White House security chief Craig Livingstone told CNN that the White House still hasn't released the names of at least five other "key" Republicans whose FBI files they obtained. The White House says it's turned over everything it has.

On Monday, Rep. William Clinger (R-Pa.) requested that the White House provide still more documents on the affair, including records of any reprimands of Livingstone. Sources tell CNN that Livingstone was rebuked months ago by an administration official for talking about the sensitive background reports. The committee and the White House already are battling over access to Travelgate files, which could lead to a contempt of Congress vote in the House this week.

Meanwhile, House Republicans will keep the pressure on. Wednesday will see the first public testimony from the central figures in the files case: Livingstone, on leave from his White House job as personnel security chief, and Anthony Marceca, the civilian Army investigator who actually requested the FBI files.

The committee will subpoena two unwilling figures in the files case to testify, Bernard Nussbaum, former White House counsel, and William Kennedy, former association counsel.

CNN's Bob Franken contributed to this report.

Some FBI Files May Have Contained Tax Data, Too

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