White House Belittles Alleged Expose

The White House on Friday dismissed a new book by a retired FBI agent who worked in the Clinton White House as “fiction” and “trash” even as conservative backers of the book planned to promote its allegations.

“Unlimited Access,” by 30-year FBI veteran Gary Aldrich, alleges various kinds of improper conduct in the White House, including breaches of security.

A central allegation in the book, first made by Aldrich in a recent Wall Street Journal opinion page article, is that Hillary Rodham Clinton pushed to hire D. Craig Livingstone, a low-level campaign advance man, as head of White House personnel security. Livingstone is now at the center of a controversy over hundreds of FBI files that were improperly gathered by the Clinton administration.

Aldrich wrote that when he expressed concern to White House lawyer William H. Kennedy III about hiring Livingstone, Kennedy said: “It’s a done deal. Hillary wants him.” Kennedy has denied the allegation.

In the book, Aldrich acknowledges that he himself did not witness many of the other improprieties cited, but he says they were related by sources he considered credible.

Aldrich, who retired in 1995 in what he called “disgust” at what he had seen at the Clinton White House, said he was driven to write his account because Congress and the media have covered up the Clintons’ offenses.

Aldrich’s work was supported by the conservative Southeastern Legal Foundation and published by Regnery Publishing Inc., which publishes conservative tracts almost exclusively.

The publication of the book is being promoted by a conservative public relations firm that also held the 1994 news conference at which Paula Corbin Jones leveled her sexual harassment charges against Clinton.

Among Aldrich’s allegations is one attributed to an unnamed source that the president frequently sneaked out of the White House complex in an unmarked car. Aldrich says this was a threat to national security because the president was unaccompanied by security agents and out of contact for hours at a time.

He also alleges assorted improper behavior by White House staff members.

The book is “absolutely ridiculous,” said White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry, traveling with the president in Lyons, France. “It’s fiction. That’s our position.”

Aldrich submitted the manuscript to FBI headquarters, as required of former agents wishing to publish books about their service, but went ahead with publication before the review was completed. However, legal action against him is considered unlikely.

Publicity for Aldrich is being handled by GOP consultant Craig Shirley. Shirley said that Aldrich is scheduled to appear on numerous television talk shows.