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| For Immediate Release | |
| Mar 8, 2000 | Contact: Press Office 202-646-5172 |
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Judge's Ruling Supports Judicial Watch's Filegate Lawsuit; Grants Requests for Essential Documents from Pentagon (Washington, D.C.) The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled Monday that the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) violated Linda Tripp's privacy when it released information from her personnel file to the New Yorker magazine. U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth's ruling requires the Clinton-Gore Department of Defense to turn over all records to Judicial Watch concerning the release of Linda Tripp's confidential information to the media. Judicial Watch is investigating the (Privacy Act-protected) Tripp information release as part of its Filegate lawsuit on behalf of those whose FBI files were wrongly taken and misused by the Clinton-Gore White House. The Court additionally ruled that the Pentagon should have turned over a letter to Judicial Watch that referred to confidential information about Linda Tripp. The letter from Les Blake, who serves as Chief of the Office of FOIA and Privacy in the DOD, detailed the grave consequences of an earlier memo about the circumstances of the release. "...this is a very serious issue which could involve the impeachment of the President," said Blake. Judge Lamberth said the court is concerned that the Pentagon continues to state it was not required to release the letter to Judicial Watch. "Simply put, DOD's assertion that the Blake letter is not responsive to [Judicial Watch's] request is incredulous," said Judge Lamberth. "Moreover, DOD's excessive parsing of the request in order to avoid production of a responsive document calls into question both the adequacy of DOD's search for responsive documents and its good faith efforts to comply with the subpoena." "Evidence that Linda Tripp's privacy was violated goes to prove that the same thing occurred with the nine hundred-plus government FBI files improperly obtained by the Clinton-Gore White House," stated Larry Klayman, Judicial Watch's Chairman and General Counsel. A complete copy of Judge Lamberth's ruling and other information on the Filegate case can be accessed through Judicial Watch's website at www.judicialwatch.org. |
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