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 For Immediate Release
Oct 11, 2000 Contact: Press Office
202-646-5172
OFFICE OF INDEPENDENT COUNSEL REFERS WHITE HOUSE AND ATTORNEYS TO FILEGATE COURT FOR APPROPRIATE REMEDIES

Independent Counsel Provides Evidence That Michelle Peterson Lied During Testimony Solicited by Judicial Watch

Sheryl Hall, The Whistleblower Who Revealed The E-Mail Scandal, Previously Testified That Statements Were Made by Ms. Peterson Indicating The Clinton-Gore White House’s Strategy Was To Delay The Proceedings Until The Clintons Left Office

(Washington, D.C.) In documents released today by the Honorable Royce C. Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, it was revealed that the White House and its counsel Michelle Peterson – the individual who Sheryl Hall testified told her of a plan to delay Judicial Watch’s Filegate lawsuit until the Clintons left office – may be subject to harsh penalties for allegedly providing false evidence in Judicial Watch’s ongoing Filegate lawsuit. A letter from the Office of Independent Counsel (OIC), signed by Jay Apperson, Deputy Independent Counsel, states in part:
    The ongoing litigation in Alexander over which you have presided, has included the testimony of former members of the White House Counsel’s Office concerning record search and production practices within that office, including their practice with respect to searches and production in connection with this Office’s investigations. On August 28, 2000, Michelle Peterson, former Associate Counsel to the President provided testimony suggesting that the policy and practice of the White House Counsel’s Office during her tenure there was to disclose to investigative entities when responsive records were discovered after the time in which they should have been produced and to explain to the investigators why such records had not previously been found and produced. The transcript of her testimony ... reflects that Ms. Peterson testified:

      . . . with respect to both Congress and the Independent Counsel, it was unfortunately not that uncommon that documents would turn up after we had made a production, and we would have to produce them and explain why they hadn’t been found before.

      . . . I recall it happening on more than one occasion with respect to Independent Counsel Office.
    . . .

    The transcript . . . then reflects the following question and Ms. Peterson’s answer:

      Q. Is it your policy nevertheless to make those disclosures whenever it occurred that there were incomplete responses made?

      A. It was certainly my practice and it was certainly the policy and practice of Mr. Ruff who headed the office as soon as anything was found that had not been produced, we were required to immediately produce it.
    . . .

    This Office is aware that this testimony is contrary to the practice of that office during the time period in which Ms. Peterson was Associate Counsel, and perhaps more important, that Ms. Peterson should reasonably be aware of this fact in that she personally participated in such contrary practice. This Office has an obligation to assure that inaccurate testimony is corrected, and assure that counsel fulfill their professional obligation to assure such correction.
Ms. Peterson was the White House lawyer who conducted the so-called “test” upon which the Clinton-Gore Administration relies to justify the non-disclosure of the missing e-mail, which is the subject of the ongoing e-mail evidentiary hearings before Judge Lamberth. The referral by the OIC to Judge Lamberth calls into question the White House claims of a “good faith bureaucratic snafu,” particularly since Mr. Apperson’s letter also reflects that White House counsel Lanny Breuer’s practice was not to bring after-discovered documents to the attention of appropriate tribunals.

“Judicial Watch applauds the diligence of Deputy Independent Counsel Jay Apperson in bringing these serious matters to the attention of the Court. They point to a pattern and practice by the Clinton-Gore White House of obstructing justice and lying in the various Clinton-Gore scandals,” stated Judicial Watch Chairman and General Counsel Larry Klayman.

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