[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 90 (Tuesday, June 18, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H6429]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                FILEGATE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of May 
12, 1995, the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Mica] is recognized during 
morning business for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MICA. Mr. Speaker, Shakespeare said, ``Something is rotten in 
Denmark.''
  Mr. Speaker, I say something is rotten in the White House. I am 
talking today about the case of Filegate, which has raised so many 
eyebrows, which has raised so many concerns. Each day a new revelation 
comes out on this matter. Each day I continue to be shocked and the 
American people become more concerned about what they learned. First we 
heard that the FBI had turned over or the White House had obtained 330 
names to peruse. We understand the list went from ``A'' to ``G.'' Then 
we heard the number raised to 341 names. Recently we heard the FBI 
state that requests were made for more than 400 files. I learned today 
that one file was returned on June 10. I learned also today that 71 
files were turned over on June 17. What is shocking is I learned today, 
too, that the White House still has 17 of these files.
  Mr. Speaker, the more we learn about this situation, the more I 
become concerned. Mr. Freeh, the Director of the FBI, said that the FBI 
was victimized. I think the FBI was victimized. I think the Congress 
was victimized. Even the Washington Post, one of the administration's 
most ardent supporters, now feel in their editorials yesterday and 
today that they were victimized.
  Mr. Speaker, this all came about because the committee on which I 
served, Government Reform and Oversight, requested files. We requested 
files for almost 2 years, and what did we get? We got stonewalled. It 
got so bad that we had to issue this contempt report to John Quinn, 
counsel to the President, requesting this information after our 
preliminary investigation saw the misuse and abuse of the FBI and the 
IRS in the Travelgate fiasco. That is how this came about.
  The more questions that we see being raised, the more questions we 
have. We do not know how many files were obtained. We do not know how 
many files were copied. We do not know how the files were used. We do 
not know whose civil rights or privacy rights were abused. Filegate 
came to light because of our investigation.
  Most disturbing to me as a member of the committee that was 
investigating this, Government Reform and Oversight, is that the FBI 
files of three of our subcommittee staff directors were obtained by the 
White House. To me, this is a clear and direct violation of the 
firewall which has always existed between the legislative branch, the 
executive branch, and the chief Federal law enforcement agency of our 
Nation.
  The Committee on Government Reform and Oversight is charged with 
investigations and audits of the executive branch of Government. Our 
committee has been stonewalled in repeated requests for documents 
relating to travelgate during the past 2 years. Only after we took this 
drastic step of threatening to issue a contempt citation of Congress 
did we receive one-third of the documents requested. It was through 
these documents that we discovered the unbelievable tale of the misuse 
of FBI files in the manner we have heard described, the manner we see 
here.
  Mr. Speaker, in light of what has been revealed, I believe it is 
incumbent upon this Congress to move forward immediately and issue this 
contempt citation to Mr. Quinn and the others. It is not sufficient for 
the White House and Mr. Quinn to suspend Mr. Livingstone. It is now 
absolutely critical that the Congress obtain all of the 2,000 missing 
documents, the documents that have been withheld from this Congress, 
withheld from our subcommittee, and that we conduct a thorough and 
complete investigation and review of this matter and this entire sorry 
chapter in this administration.
  Mr. ROHRABACHER. Will the gentleman yield for a question?
  Mr. MICA. Yes, I would be glad to.
  Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Speaker, does the gentleman believe that it is 
possible that the White House received all of these files from the FBI 
and that perhaps they were just trying to look into one or two people 
in those files that they really wanted to get, and that the rest of 
those files were just a cover against, a vendetta against individuals 
that they do not want to admit who they are?
  Mr. MICA. Mr. Speaker, I do not know. We do not have the 2,000 
documents we requested, and I call on the Congress to issue the 
contempt citation.

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