In the latest deposition taken by the public interest legal group Judicial
Watch, Linda Tripp reaffirmed earlier testimony that Independent Counsel
Kenneth Starr never questioned her substantively on issues related to
Filegate and other important matters on which she had inside knowledge as an employee of the White House counsel’s office.
Judicial Watch Chairman Larry Klayman said that Tripp “once again had much to say on Filegate and related issues.”
“She testified that Ken Starr and his staff never questioned her
substantively on Filegate and other important matters,” he said.
Judicial Watch is currently gathering testimony from Tripp in its $90 million civil lawsuit on behalf of former Reagan and Bush staffers whose FBI
files were allegedly obtained illegally and misused by the Clinton administration.
Tripp’s testimony this week included details about Hillary Clinton’s involvement in the firings at the White House Travel Office, Tripp’s interaction with Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr on Filegate, the misuse of FBI files by the Clinton White House, as well as who may have hired former bouncer Craig Livingstone as White House security chief.
Early in the deposition, Tripp said that she believed William Kennedy and
the late Vincent Foster “worked for Mrs. Clinton,” but added, “Was it on a
wiring diagram so indicating, no, it was not.”
Klayman asked if she remembered whether or not the first lady issued any
specific orders to either Foster or Kennedy.
“I remember an order having to do with the firing of the Travel Office from Mrs. Clinton to Mr. Foster, yes,” she replied.
Tripp answered questions about Travelgate, and, specifically, what she
observed while working in the White House in 1993-94. She testified that she had seen a memo written by Mrs. Clinton to Foster and Kennedy, which laid out her intentions to replace career officials in the White House Travel Office.
“In handwriting on a memo in Mrs. Clinton’s hand signed HRC, which said, we
need these people out, out underlined, we need our people in, in
underlined, ‘HRC’,” she said. “I believe I have stated in the past that it was my belief that these individuals had a direct line of communication with Mrs. Clinton and did not seem to have that same interaction with the immediate office.”
Tripp also told lawyers that she remembered seeing Kennedy carrying
what she believes were numerous FBI files into Foster’s office.
“Several locations, traveling in by the hand of Bill Kennedy into Vince Foster’s
office prior to Vince Foster’s death, not exiting that office with Mr. Kennedy when he left,” she said. She also saw similar files in Kennedy’s office and that of Livingstone.
Tripp told Klayman that she first saw the files in Kennedy’s office, but
did not immediately recognize them as being FBI files.
“At the time I didn’t know what I was seeing,” she said.
She testified that “stacks of files” were “everywhere” — on tables and on
the floor of Kennedy’s office. “The stacks were what caught one’s eye” when
people would enter Kennedy’s office, she said.
“My impression of Bill Kennedy’s office from that day forward never
changed, and that was that he was the keeper of more files than I’d ever seen in my life,” Tripp told Klayman. That “was why when the FBI issue — excuse me, FBI file issue became a public issue, I was surprised at the number that seemed to be associated with the file issue because it seemed so very many more than 900, if those, in fact, were the FBI files.”
At that point, Klayman attempted to ask Tripp to give him an estimate of the
number of files she saw that she recognized as being those of Republicans. But when she had trouble remembering even a “ballpark” figure, her
attorney, Anthony Zaccagnini, advised her not to answer if she couldn’t be certain. Tripp did tell Klayman that she recognized some of the files as being those of Bush administration officials.
“I do know that when I revisited the published list in the newspaper and
actually went over it line by line, it helped me remember those names that I
had seen, because I remember saying, ‘I saw those’,” she said.
She also reaffirmed an earlier claim she made regarding what she had
perceived as a veiled threat in a note left at her Pentagon desk by Monica
Lewinsky. The memo read simply, “Linda, just thought you might find this
of interest,” and it was attached to another note with the names of close
friends and associates of President Clinton that are now dead. Tripp
acknowledged during questioning that even though the handwriting did not
appear to be Lewinsky’s, she believes, however, that the former intern gave it to her.
Tripp then testified that the note “was the second such piece of information in that form that I received from Monica Lewinsky.” Of the two she received, she testified that she wasn’t certain which was left first because neither of them were dated.
“One was in late summer and one was in the fall time frame” in 1997, she added, and both notes contained the names of deceased Clinton associates.
She said she never asked Lewinsky directly if the White House intern had
left her the notes, but that the subject came up indirectly when they
discussed whether or not Tripp would testify honestly about Kathleen
Willey’s encounter with Clinton. Zaccagnini refused to allow Ms. Tripp to say from whom she believed the alleged threat came.
Tripp also said that it was her impression that Livingstone didn’t know President Clinton well, that “it was always Mrs. Clinton” with him.
Klayman asked, “Did anyone else ever tell you, other than Craig Livingstone
himself, that Craig Livingstone had been hired by Mrs. Clinton?” “No,” she
said.
About the continuing deposition testimony, Klayman said: “One thing is for sure, Judicial Watch will follow up on her important testimony, and so should Congress.”
Tripp is scheduled for another deposition by Klayman Jan. 22.
See Jon E. Dougherty’s daily column. He may be reached through E-mail at [email protected].
