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| For Immediate Release | |
| Nov 19, 1998 | Contact: Press Office 202-646-5172 |
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Starr Flames Out in Rerun of O.J. Simpson Case EVIDENCE SHOWS STARR HAS NOT FULLY INVESTIGATED FILEGATE Underscores Need For Full Probe of His Activities Ken Starr has failed to do his duty as an independent counsel. After three years of remaining in private practice, earning over $1 million per year, the evidence now shows that his mind was not "on the store," and that he was poorly served by his staff. His impeachment hearing testimony which became public yesterday evening states, in less than a few inches of text, that he has found no evidence of wrongdoing in the Filegate and Travelgate scandals. This is consistent with Judicial Watch's findings, based on its $90 million dollar class action suit, that the independent counsel has been busy thrashing around in Whitewater and Lewinsky, but never bothered to fully investigate Filegate and Travelgate. The evidence of this speaks for itself. First, in deposition after deposition, Judicial Watch has asked key Filegate witnesses if they have ever talked to Starr's people, much less been called before a grand jury. Except in a few instances, the answer is always no. Even Mack McLarty, the President's closest friend and the White House Chief of Staff when the FBI files were illegally obtained, was not questioned. Nor was Terry Good, the keeper of the FBI files. And, Hillary Clinton, who Dick Morris has called the mastermind of Filegate, and who hired Livingstone -- a bar bouncer -- was questioned for only 9 minutes, and then over tea and coffee. Second, Linda Tripp will testify -- based on discussions Judicial Watch has had directly with her -- that she saw FBI files being misused in the White House Counsel's Office. Lucianne Goldberg has stated that Linda also saw them being loaded onto White House computers. William Kennedy, former Rose Law Firm partner of Mrs. Clinton, and the person who supervised Livingstone and Marceca, literally choked when asked by Judicial Watch if he had Republican files in his office. When asked if he reviewed the FBI file of James Baker, he went silent, and then asked which James Baker was being referred to -- before making a weak denial. A document Judicial Watch discovered also shows President Clinton thanking Marceca for a job well done. Third, Judicial Watch has uncovered the White House practice of keeping government files in general about perceived adversaries. And, James Carville was forced to admit that he and the President discussed releasing information from a government file about Kathleen Willey. Judicial Watch -- not Ken Starr -- uncovered that Linda Tripp's Pentagon file information was released by Clinton appointees. Others in the White House routinely release information in files to the media. All this violated the Privacy Act -- which carries criminal penalties. Last but not least, FBI Director Louis Freeh has admitted that the release of the FBI files was an "egregious violation of privacy ... without justification." "Ken Starr -- who may become known as the next Gil Garcetti, after Judicial Watch wins its civil Filegate lawsuit -- disagrees. Let's hope that Starr's lack of competence is not intentional and that he will, at a minimum, be remembered as a modern day Inspector Clouseau, rather than the pliant pawn of a Congress that wants to dump impeachment. Nevertheless, a full investigation is warranted to determine why Starr has not done his job," stated Larry Klayman, Chairman of Judicial Watch. |
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