[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 90 (Tuesday, June 18, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H6481-H6482]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               WHITEWATER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Indiana [Mr. Burton] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I was kind of distressed today 
when I turned on the television set and saw the report that came out 
from the Senate Banking Committee on Whitewater. I was not upset about 
the report; I was upset about how it was presented by the media and 
that it was pooh-poohed as though it was nothing significant.

[[Page H6482]]

  The fact of the matter is it is very, very significant and there were 
some very real possibilities of violations of law and obstruction of 
justice. For instance, Hillary Rodham Clinton, the President's wife, 
said she did not know anything about or have copies of the billing 
records from the Rose Law Firm that dealt with Castle Grande in the 
Whitewater episode.

                              {time}  1845

  Yet 2 years after they were subpoenaed by the independent counsel, 2 
years after they were requested by the Congress of the United States, 
they were found in her living quarters in the library right next to her 
bedroom. Not only that, her fingerprints and the fingerprints of Vince 
Foster were all over the documents. For her to say that she did not 
know that those documents were there, did not have any idea or 
recollect where they were and they were next to her bedroom for 2 years 
and many believe were taken out of Vince Foster's office right after 
his death is just hard to believe.
  The billing records contradict her previous sworn statements that she 
did very little work on the Castle Grande real estate project which 
helped bring about the downfall of Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan 
and the conviction of Jim Guy Tucker of Arkansas. The records document 
that Mrs. Clinton had 14 meetings or discussions concerning Castle 
Grande and drafted an important legal document. She said she had 
nothing to do with it. That is just one thing.
  Second, during the last week of May, the House was scheduled to vote 
to hold White House counsel Jack Quinn in contempt of Congress for 
refusing to turn over thousands of pages of documents concerning 
another matter called Travelgate. At the last moment he turned over 
1,000 pages of documents. However, the White House has refused to turn 
over 2,000 pages of documents that are more sensitive and have to do 
with this scandal. The White House is claiming executive privilege so 
it can keep these documents secret; they must contain some very 
damaging information.
  These documents include 600 pages relating to Vince Foster, whose 
body was mysteriously found over at Fort Marcy Park. They include a 54-
page analysis of custody and disclosure of Foster's travel office file, 
a 22-page chronological analysis of the handling of Foster's documents, 
and 33 pages of handwritten notes that were in his briefcase that 
nobody even knew about until just now. His briefcase was empty when 
they found it, and they started talking about it. They found two little 
pieces of paper that was allegedly a suicide note, but nobody has ever 
mentioned these 33 pages of documents that they are trying to keep the 
Congress from seeing.
  Then we have now the confidential FBI files. The White House asked 
for and received files on 408 people, Republicans, and they were sought 
without justification. The Secret Service has said there was no way 
that they could have accidentally provided the White House with this 
out-of-date list. Usually, almost always, when the White House asks for 
evidence or an FBI background check on somebody, it is prospective, to 
find out if there is anything wrong with that person before they hire 
them and bring them into the Government. These were people who had 
already been investigated and they went back and got 408 files of 
Republicans, and we believe it was because they wanted to find some 
dirt on them that they could use in later political campaigns for 
political purposes.
  The files of two of the Travel Office employees, Billy Dale and 
Barnaby Brasseux, were requested with the explanation that they were 
seeking access to the White House. This was several months after they 
had been fired from the White House. Apparently the White House was not 
content with launching an unjustified FBI investigation of these two 
men. They apparently decided to dig up a little dirt on them 
themselves.
  The FBI Director appointed by Bill Clinton, Louis Freeh had this to 
say about the incident in his report to the public. This is an 
appointee by the President himself. He called the White House actions 
``egregious violations of privacy.''
  He went on to say, ``The prior system of providing files to the White 
House relied on good faith and honor. Unfortunately, the FBI and I were 
victimized.''
  That is really a criticism, a severe criticism, of the White House 
and their policies.
  Once again, Craig Livingstone is at the center of a White House dirty 
tricks operation. He will be called before our committee to testify 
before too long. As you will recall, earlier in 1993, he was seen by a 
Secret Service agent leaving the White House counsel's suite with a box 
of documents from the deceased assistant to the President, Vince 
Foster. However, it does not stop there.
  Craig Livingstone is 37 years old. He is a midlevel White House aide. 
He would not be gathering these political intelligence reports from the 
FBI without authorization from somebody up above. We need to find out 
who that was and whether there was obstruction of justice or a 
violation of the law.

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