How High Will the Probe Go? : Passport affair gets a special prosecutor

The appointment of a special federal prosecutor to probe allegations that senior White House officials knew of efforts to obtain Bill Clinton’s passport files underscores just how serious a breach of law and propriety this campaign episode was.

Former U.S. Atty. Joseph E. diGenova, now in private practice, was picked as special counsel by a federal court panel. But the impetus for the move unexpectedly came from Atty. Gen. William P. Barr, who acted after a preliminary inquiry indicated that at least one high-ranking official was involved. The independent counsel law requires the attorney general to seek appointment of a prosecutor when crimes are alleged involving certain high-level officials.

Barr’s move is significant because the State Department’s own internal investigation last month found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing, fraud, corruption or an effort to subvert U.S. foreign policy. What it did confirm was an improper use of authority--originating, it was then said, with a few political appointees--that was intended “to influence the outcome of the presidential election.”

State Department officials initially insisted that only “low-level people” and “mid-level clerks” had violated department regulations by rush-ordering an investigation of Clinton’s records. But this claim wasn’t credible.

Elizabeth M. Tamposi, chief of the department’s consular bureau, was fired after it was learned she phoned U.S. embassies in London and Oslo to order the searches. Clinton’s files were searched to explore rumors that he tried to renounce his U.S. citizenship while studying overseas. No such evidence was found. Searches of Clinton’s mother’s files and those of independent candidate Ross Perot were also carried out under Tamposi’s auspices.

The State Department’s inquiry also concluded that White House political director Janet G. Mullins knew of the passport file search as soon as it occurred in September and that she had earlier let it be known she was eager to learn what the files contained. Mullins, along with White House communications director Margaret D. Tutwiler and White House Chief of Staff James A. Baker III, are all covered by the independent counsel act. Although the specific targets of the probe are not public, the results could lead to felony criminal prosecution.

Barr’s decision to seek an independent prosecutor has surprised some because he had long made clear his great dislike for the special counsel act and recently came under strong criticism for refusing to seek a special counsel in the Iraqgate scandal. A heavy burden now rests on DiGenova to get to the bottom of this troubling affair.