Senator says aide saw IRS records in FBI files
June 25, 1996
Web posted at: 12:15 a.m. EDTWASHINGTON (CNN) -- Secret files obtained by the White House on officials from Republican administrations allegedly included Internal Revenue Service records as well as FBI files, according to a Republican senator.
In a letter to FBI director Louis Freeh, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said that his judiciary committee staff discovered IRS documents while reviewing the controversial files.
Grassley said the aide who saw the documents did not take a close look at the IRS documents he saw "because of the confidential nature of IRS information." The senator told Freeh in the letter he wanted an explanation by Thursday.
The FBI declined to comment, but a report released recently by FBI General Counsel Howard Shapiro on the background files does not mention the IRS.
White House spokesman Mark Fabiani said that officials there don't know if any of the files included confidential tax information because all of the documents were returned to the FBI.
Former IRS commissioner Don Alexander, who served under President Richard Nixon, said the new allegations are disturbing if they are true.
"FBI files are one thing, that's bad enough, but IRS files are worse," Alexander said. (54K AIFF or WAV sound)
Alexander helped draft post-Watergate reforms after that scandal revealed that Nixon had used the IRS to dig up dirt on political opponents.
"I don't want some clowns in the White House .. to go back to some days that I thought were finished forever in this country," he said. (220K AIFF or WAV sound)
Reforms put into place after Watergate make it illegal for unauthorized persons to look at tax files. Treasury Assistant Secretary Howard Schloss said that a request for IRS files would have to be signed by the president, and "there's never been such a request" during the Clinton administration.
It is unclear exactly what -- if any -- IRS documents actually made their way to the White House. Ari Fleischer, a spokesman for the House Ways and Means committee, said that "taxpayer information is legitimately examined by administrations as part of background checks."
But, he said, it would be a problem if IRS files on former employees turned up in the FBI files.
Last week, a source close to former White House security chief Craig Livingstone told CNN that the White House still has not released the names of at least five key Republicans whose FBI files they obtained. The White House says it has turned over everything it has.
On Monday, Republican Congressman William Clinger requested that the White House provide still more documents on the affair, including records of any reprimands of Livingstone. Sources have told CNN that Livingstone was rebuked months ago by an administration official for talking about the sensitive background reports.
The controversy will flare further this week when two Congressional committees plan for the first time to hear public testimony from White House officials involved. According to inside sources, some will have to be subpoenaed to testify.
CNN Correspondent Mark Feldstein and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- FBI files, travel office case dog Clinton - June 23, 1996
- White House fields fallout over FBI files - June 19, 1996
- Aide involved in files flap placed on leave - June 18, 1996
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