White House Aide Won't Testify About FBI Files

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, June 28) -- After testifying before a House committee Wednesday, a former White House aide today refused to discuss his role in improperly collecting some 700 FBI files at the personnel security office.

The surprise announcement came during Senate hearings into the flap. Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) read from a letter prepared by attorneys for the aide, Army civilian employee Anthony Marceca.

"He will assert his right to remain silent under the Fifth Amendment in response to any question," the letter read. Hatch said lawyers would investigate the validity of Marceca's maneuver, which may have been prompted by Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr's probe into whether any laws were broken.

Marceca's refusal to testify means "this investigation is getting somewhere," Hatch said, adding, "The more we dig, the more we learn." The White House, in a statement, said it was "disappointed" in Marceca's decision not to testify, noting "The president has reaffirmed his instructions to White House staff to cooperate fully to provide the complete facts to the public."

Two witnesses who did appear before the Senate committee were former personnel security office head Craig Livingstone, who resigned his post Wednesday, and Marceca's successor, Lisa Wetzl. Both reiterated their testimony from two days ago that the Secret Service had provided an outdated list of names of people who needed security clearance at the White House. While collecting the files had been a mistake, they acknowledged, no improper or devious use of the information had taken place.

That line has been echoed by House and Senate Democrats, but Republicans still aren't satisfied. Senators pressed Livingstone for a precise recollection of who hired him at the White House. As before, Livingstone struggled to provide a simple, direct answer, explaining at length an elaborate and vague chain of events that led to his position as head of personnel security.

Hatch has asked Starr to conduct fingerprint analysis on the files returned by the administration to the FBI. "I am deeply concerned that these files could have been examined by individuals who either did not have security clearances or did not have an authorized purpose to see the files," he wrote Starr.

Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) suggested the Secret Service may have provided an outdated list to the White House, but a secret service agent testified that Livingstone admitted making an error. "Using the old list was our fault," agent Arnold Cole recalled Livingstone told him earlier this month. "We had the current list you guys gave us," Cole quoted Livingstone. "I don't know what happened."

White House Aide Won't Testify About FBI Files

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