White House Requested Travel Worker's FBI File

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, June 6) -- The so-called Travelgate scandal got new life after documents showed that former White House counsel Bernard Nussbaum requested an FBI report on ousted travel office director Billy Dale seven months after his dismissal.

Attorney General Janet Reno promptly announced that the Justice Department would coordinate an investigation of the matter with the FBI, and release the results to independent Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr, who is also looking into the travel office firings.

Dale's FBI report turned up in 1,000 long-sought Travelgate documents the White House reluctantly surrendered to House investigators. House Republicans immediately said it was further evidence that after firing Dale and six other longtime travel workers, the White House trumped up bogus corruption charges to justify filling their positions with political cronies. House Government Reform and Oversight Committee chairman William Clinger (R-Pa.) suggested aides wanted "to see if there was anything to Billy Dale's past that could be exploited for political advantage." More ominously, Clinger charged the maneuver could be "a criminal violation of privacy statutes."

The documents show that Nussbaum asked for Dale's file so Dale could get clearance to come to the White House. But Dale said Wednesday he had never attempted to go there since he had been "red-flagged" -- jargon that means he was barred from the White House.

In a written statement, Nussbaum denied making the request or ever seeing Dale's file, while White House lawyer Jane Sherburne told the Associated Press that Dale's file "may have mistakenly been sought" by "White House record-keepers."

It all portends further embarrassment for the White House as congressional investigators and independent Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr attempt to establish whether administration officials -- Hillary Clinton among them -- have been truthful about the travel office firings.

Related Stories:

• A Travelgate Compromise -- May 30, 1996
• Demanding The Documents -- May 29, 1996