White House Admits It Got FBI Files on GOP

White House officials acknowledged Friday that they had obtained FBI files on such prominent Republicans as former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, former White House Chief of Staff Kenneth M. Duberstein and Tony Blankley, spokesman for House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.).

Republicans pounced on the disclosure as proof of abuse of power. But White House officials insisted that the transfer of files was an innocent mistake that occurred because low-level White House staffers mistakenly believed that background information was needed on former White House pass-holders.

The files were among 330 requested from the FBI by the White House security office and were stored in the office’s vault from late 1993 to 1994.

Craig Livingstone, an Army employee on loan to the White House security office, had sought the files because he mistakenly believed they were needed to keep security information current, Randall Turk, a lawyer for Livingstone, said. Livingstone’s requests yielded FBI files on former White House employees whose names began with the letters “A” through “G.”

Also among them were dossiers on former Press Secretary James S. Brady and former White House Counsel A.B. Culvahouse.

Before further requests were made, however, Livingstone’s successor decided that no more files were needed. Those that had been obtained were returned to the FBI, Turk and White House officials said.

The disclosure came amid a congressional investigation of how the White House had obtained information on Billy R. Dale, a central figure in the controversy over the White House travel office.

Rep. William F. Clinger (R-Pa.) revealed Wednesday that Dale’s FBI file had ended up at the White House in January 1994, seven months after he had been fired. Clinger, who suggested Wednesday that the White House had been trying to build a case against Dale, suggested Friday that Clinton administration officials were trying to do something similar with the additional files.

“After several days of changing and conflicting stories regarding the Billy Dale FBI records, the White House’s latest explanation raises more questions than it answers,” Clinger charged.

Blankley went further. “This is the kind of systematic abuse of a constitutional protection that people have been saying elevated Watergate over Whitewater,” said Blankley.

“Now we have a systematic attempt to use the FBI against [administration] enemies.”

But the White House countered that the Republicans were doing some election-year politicking.

Mark Fabiani, a White House lawyer, insisted that information in the files was never seen by White House officials. He called the latest charges “typical overreaching by the Republicans. . . . What we have here is obviously an innocent bureaucratic mistake and the bottom line is that Mr. Dale’s file was not singled out as Mr. Clinger has charged.”

FBI officials have said they routinely receive and honor requests for such background information. But they hinted Friday that they had questions about the way the files on former employees got to the White House.