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 For Immediate Release
Apr 25, 2000 Contact: Press Office
202-646-5172


INDEPENDENT COUNSEL RAY'S ACTIONS IRRATIONAL

Decides to "Investigate" E-Mail Scandal After He Concludes Filegate "Investigation"

JOINT INVESTIGATION WITH RENO JUSTICE DEPARTMENT PRESENTS FATAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST

(Washington, D.C.) The Associated Press has announced that Independent Counsel Robert Ray has now "decided" to investigate the burgeoning e-mail scandal, where hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of electronic communications containing incriminating evidence on Filegate, Chinagate, Lewinsky and other Clinton-Gore scandals were hidden from investigators.

This so-called "investigation" occurs after Ray already rejected demands that he not conclude his Filegate investigation until he had seen all of the e-mail and related evidence.

Most troubling is the reported fact that Ray has decided to conduct his "investigation" in conjunction with the Reno Justice Department's Campaign Finance Task Force. This is improper, as the Independent Counsel is to be just that -- independent. By rolling his investigation into Reno's, Ray compromises his inquiry, even if it were sincere, which is unlikely. Indeed, why would the prosecutor now investigate the e-mail scandal, after having already sent his Filegate report to the three-judge panel which oversees his findings? The answer is simple; Ray has been harshly criticized by supporters of Judicial Watch for failing to do his job. As a result, his e-mail investigation is cosmetic and face-saving.

In addition, Judicial Watch's Filegate case has revealed that Ray and his staff have still not talked with most material witnesses in the Filegate case, including Linda Tripp, Mack McLarty and others.

"In the words of Woody Allen, Ray's investigation would appear to be a ‘mockery of a sham,' intended only for public consumption," stated Judicial Watch Chairman Larry Klayman. "As usual, the Washington media takes the bait ‘hook, line and sinker,' since it makes for nice headlines. But, results speak louder than words, and every time the ‘government' sinks its hooks into investigating a scandal in this Administration, it nearly always gets botched or covered up. The best hope of getting at the truth is in the Court of Judge Royce Lamberth. This Thursday, the Court will hold a hearing at 10:00 A.M. to decide whether to grant Judicial Watch's request to hold a full evidentiary hearing on the e-mail scandal, where witnesses would be called to testify under oath, with full rights of legal cross-examination, free from the influence of politics," added Klayman.

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