Feds close IRS-gate, Filegate, Livingstone-gate

A long-awaited report detailing the findings of a congressional
investigation into politically-motivated audits performed by the
Internal Revenue Service was released yesterday and posted on the Joint
Tax Committee's website just as Independent Counsel Robert Ray cleared
the White House of wrong-doing in "Filegate."

As Bill Clinton closes the chapter of his presidency, a plethora of
White House scandals close with it: IRS-gate, Filegate and
Livingstone-gate were all put to bed yesterday with the release of two
reports which concluded that not enough evidence exists to indict the
Clintons, Vice President Gore or administration officials.

Yesterday's public release of the
Joint Tax Committee's report on
IRS audits left victims of the
agency's 1990s audit spree feeling they had been denied justice by a
Congress too willing to cover for itself.

"It's a cover-up by Congress," said Judicial Watch spokesman Tom Fitton, "because both
Republicans and Democrats misused the IRS. And rather than expose their
own problems, Republicans let the Clinton White House and their Democrat
colleagues get away scot-free. They ignored the smoking-gun evidence
that the Clinton White House instigated the audit of Western Journalism
Center."

Dozens of non-profit organizations perceived to be "anti-Clinton"
were audited during the 1990s, including Western Journalism Center,
founded by WorldNetDaily Editor and CEO Joseph Farah.

A non-profit legal foundation, Judicial Watch represents WJC in its
ongoing legal battle against the IRS for the agency's actions.

"Judicial Watch, unlike Congress, will pursue this and hold those
responsible accountable in the courts," Fitton added.

As the committee report vindicating the IRS was released, Independent
Counsel Robert Ray also announced yesterday that he found no credible
evidence that first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton or senior White House
officials were involved in seeking more than 900 FBI background files of
Republicans.

Ray also said there is no credible evidence that former White House
counsel Bernard Nussbaum lied to Congress about the hiring of the White
House security chief whose office gathered the files.

Nussbaum was quoted in an FBI interview summary as saying Mrs.
Clinton had recommended hiring Craig Livingstone. But Nussbaum told the
House Government Reform and Oversight Committee on June 26, 1996 that
the FBI's summary was incorrect.

"There was no substantial or credible evidence that Mrs. Clinton was
involved in the hiring of Mr. Livingstone," Ray said in a two-page
statement. "Accordingly, this office declined prosecution and has closed
the Nussbaum matter" as well as its investigation into whether the files
were misused.

Ray's office "determined that there was no substantial and credible
evidence that any senior White House official, or first lady Hillary
Rodham Clinton, was involved in seeking confidential Federal Bureau of
Investigation background reports of former White House staff from the
prior administrations of President Bush and President Reagan."

The White House has claimed the gathering of files was a bureaucratic
blunder based on outdated Secret Service lists of White House entry
passholders.

In response to Republicans seeking redress for violations of their
privacy, Ray said his office does not have jurisdiction to investigate
alleged violations of the Privacy Act of 1974 -- a tactic administration
critics like Judicial Watch consider the hair-splitting legal
maneuvering of a corrupt government to get around the law.

"The congressional report in conjunction with the recent actions by
Independent Counsel Robert Ray have proven to Americans that their
government is worthless and no longer respects the law," said Judicial
Watch President Larry Klayman. "The American people must now do it for
themselves through Judical Watch and other private entities."

The Independent Counsel's report on the FBI files investigation is
being sent to three federal appeals judges, who will give the people
named in it 90 days to respond before releasing the report along with
any responses.

The Filegate report is to be followed by two others -- one on Hillary
Clinton's role in the purge of the White House travel office and another
on the Clintons' Whitewater land dealings in Arkansas, which will also
deal with Mrs. Clinton's legal work for her Whitewater partners' failing
savings and loan.

See Joseph Farah's column:

A congressional whitewash

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