Today U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth will receive a motion filed
by
the public-interest legal group Judicial Watch, asking for George
Stephanopoulos to be held in contempt of court.
Judicial Watch is requesting that the court fine Stephanopoulos
$10,000 per day until he conducts a proper search for documents and
resubmits himself for deposition in Alexander v. FBI, a $90 million
civil lawsuit. Judicial Watch filed the suit on behalf of Republican
officials and others, whose confidential FBI files were improperly
obtained by the Clinton administration.
Judicial Watch first deposed Stephanopoulos March 9, 1998. After
reviewing the transcript Judge Lamberth concluded that Stephanopoulos
had not conducted a proper search for subpoenaed documents, and had not
been truthful in parts of his testimony.
The court then ordered Stephanopoulos to conduct another search for
documents and to appear for a second deposition. The court also ordered
Stephanopoulos to pay the costs incurred by Judicial Watch incident to
the second deposition. Larry Klayman, chairman of Judicial Watch, has
estimated those costs could run as high as $15,000-$20,000.
Judicial Watch conducted the second deposition of Stephanopoulos Feb.
20. During the deposition Stephanopoulos abruptly walked out of the
room, apparently to consult with his attorney. When he returned he
failed to provide straightforward answers to questions. Stephanopoulos
claimed to have conducted a second search for documents, but only in his
office at Columbia University where he is a professor. He apparently did
not search in other locations where responsive documents might possibly
be stored.
When Judicial Watch sought to establish precisely where the search
was
conducted, Stephanopoulos terminated the deposition and left. According
to Klayman, “It was not within his power to terminate the deposition,
and he did that at his own risk.”
Stephanopoulos’ testimony is pertinent to the suit because he was in
the
Clinton White House during the period when Filegate occurred. He played
a role in the damage control operation after the story broke that the
administration was in possession of more than 900 confidential FBI files
of former members of the Reagan and Bush Administrations, as well as
Republican members of Congress.
