Did White House smear FBI agent?

In a lawsuit related to Filegate, a former special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation is pressing his case that a White House “smear campaign” destroyed his credibility and forced him into early retirement.

Dennis Sculimbrene retired from the FBI on Aug. 2, 1996, following an alleged smear campaign, in which former White House Counsel Jack Quinn, former Special Counsel Lanny Davis and former FBI General Counsel Howard Shapiro allegedly conspired to discredit Sculimbrene’s undercover work concerning David Craig Livingstone, the director of the White House Office of Personnel Security and key figure in the Filegate scandal.

Sculimbrene particularly implicates first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Filegate encompasses Livingstone’s illegal collection of over 900 FBI documents about various appointees from the Reagan and Bush administrations. Although the first lady had earlier denied knowing Livingstone, Sculimbrene’s investigation points directly to her involvement in Filegate.

In Sculimbrene’s 1993 investigation, he interviewed then-White House Counsel Bernard Nussbaum, who linked Livingstone’s hiring to the first lady. Sculimbrene then wrote a memorandum for inclusion in Livingstone’s FBI background investigation file, stating, “Bernard Nussbaum, counsel to the president, advised that he has known the appointee (Livingstone) for the period of time that he has been employed in the new administration. He had come highly recommended to him by Hillary Clinton, who has known his mother for a longer period of time. …”

More than three years later, in July 1996, Shapiro discovered the memorandum, and alerted the White House Counsel’s Office to its existence, as it contained information damaging to both the first lady and the president. Shapiro then notified Congress and the Independent Counsel’s Office about the letter, since they were investigating Filegate.
After two FBI agents sent by Shapiro were unable to persuade Sculimbrene to
retract the memorandum, the alleged smear campaign began.

In response to Sculimbrene’s lawsuit, filed by Larry Klayman’s Judicial Watch, defendants Quinn and Shapiro are asking to be dismissed from the suit, claiming they are protected by the Civil Service Reform Act — which governs disputes regarding employment relationships between federal employees and their respective agencies. Judicial Watch believes Sculimbrene’s claims do not arise out of a dispute concerning CSRA, and that Quinn’s and Shapiro’s requests for dismissal from the case should be denied.

As part of the smear campaign against Sculimbrene, Quinn allegedly sent a bogus letter to FBI Director Louis J. Freeh in July 1996, accusing Sculimbrene of falsifying the Livingstone memorandum. Another co-conspirator in alleged defamation was Lanny Davis, a surrogate and spokesman for the Clinton White House. Appearing on CNN’s “Crossfire” in July 1996, and again on CNBC’s “Rivera Live” the following August, Davis accused Sculimbrene of falsifying his then-three-year-old memorandum of Livingstone’s ties with the first lady. Four months after appearing on “Rivera Live,” Davis was formally hired by the Clinton White House as special counsel and joined Quinn in the White House Counsel’s Office.

Although the alleged smear campaign against Sculimbrene was due, in part, to his interview with Nussbaum, another White House scandal taking shape at that time has bearing also. In May 1993, one month after the Nussbaum interview, the White House announced that its Travel Office staff was being fired for alleged financial improprieties.

“Travelgate,” as the new scandal was popularly known, became the subject of
congressional hearings, as well as an investigation by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr.

Soon after the firings, Sculimbrene was walking by the Travel Office when he observed that the office itself was open and that a number of unidentified people were going through files and throwing them away.

More than two years after witnessing the strange events in the Travel Office, and following an accident that nearly took his life, Sculimbrene testified as a defense witness at former Travel Office Director Billy Ray Dale’s criminal trial. His testimony helped clear Dale of all charges against him and gave both the FBI and the White House unfavorable press. However, due to the testimony, Sculimbrene was the object of repeated pranks. The current lawsuit names Quinn, Shapiro, Davis and five unnamed defendants in regard to these pranks as well.