Aide Says He Lied About FBI Files
By Pete Yost Associated Press Writer
Friday, July 28, 2000; 5:04 p.m. EDT
WASHINGTON �� The key figure in the FBI files controversy
admitted lying to Congress and to a federal grand jury, but a
final report revealed Friday that he could not be prosecuted
because he was granted immunity by Independent Counsel Ken Starr.
A special federal appeals court issued the final report on the
activities of Anthony Marceca, an Army detailee who, as a
temporary White House employee, collected hundreds of FBI
background files in 1993-94 based on an outdated Secret Service
list. Many of the files were those of ex-White House
pass-holders from the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George
Bush.
When Marceca's actions were discovered in 1996, Republican
critics alleged that the Clinton White House was waging a
campaign to gather dirt on political enemies.
Independent Counsel Robert Ray closed out his investigation of
the FBI files issue in March without prosecuting anyone,
concluding that none of the sensitive material had been misused.
But the final report released by the court reveals that under
Starr's grant of immunity, Marceca admitted last September "that
he had knowingly testified falsely" to a grand jury and twice to
the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee in 1996
shortly after the controversy erupted.
In response to the report, Marceca's lawyers attributed
"inconsistencies" in their client's statements primarily to
"confusion" between Marceca and his interrogators concerning "the
purport of the questions."
In his immunized testimony, Marceca admitted that in the midst of
his gathering of FBI files, he realized that he was collecting
data on some people who were no longer at the White House and
didn't have passes anymore.
Marceca admitted testifying falsely in 1996 by having told
Congress and a grand jury the opposite � that it didn't occur to
him that some people on the Secret Service list he was using were
no longer pass-holders, according to Ray's final report.
In his immunized testimony, Marceca also admitted that he lied by
telling congressional investigators in 1996 that "he didn't waste
time" reading some of the background reports.
According to Ray's final report, Marceca admitted that he read
the FBI files as soon as he received them, seeking information
for "previous arrests, ... that sort of stuff."
Marceca testified that his superior, White House security
director Craig Livingstone, "told him to review the reports for
derogatory information that might reflect on suitability for
White House employment," said the final report.
In his immunized testimony, Marceca said he reported derogatory
information to Livingstone just three times.
Of his answer four years ago to congressional investigators
saying that he didn't read some of the reports, Marceca admitted
to prosecutors last September that "it was obviously false. The
answer is false," according to Ray's final report.
Noting that Marceca's immunized testimony "could never be used to
prosecute him," Ray's report stated that the "central issue" for
the independent counsel was whether "Mr. Marceca's conduct
reflected a conspiracy within the White House to compile
derogatory information from confidential FBI background reports."
Ray said the independent counsel's probe did fingerprint testing
and took testimony from a range of witnesses. That plus the
immunity grant to Marceca led "to the independent counsel's
conclusion that no senior White House official" or first lady
Hillary Rodham Clinton "engaged in any criminal conduct related
to Mr. Marceca's requests for FBI background reports," the final
report stated.
Ray said the FBI lab examined bureau files of people including
former Republican officials James A. Baker III, Brent Scowcroft,
Tony Blankley and Kenneth Duberstein for fingerprints of Marceca
and his boss, Craig Livingstone, then-White House counsel Bernard
Nussbaum and associate White House counsel William Kennedy.
"The FBI's reports ... reflected that four fingerprints were
developed on Secretary Baker's report folder, all of which
belonged to Mr. Marceca," said Ray's report. Five fingerprints
identified as those of a colleague of Marceca were on Scowcroft's
report, the report said.
"Otherwise, there were no fingerprint matches with senior White
House staff or Mrs. Clinton," it said. "No conspiracy existed."
The independent counsel's probe also produced no evidence "that
Mr. Marceca was an unwitting participant in a conspiracy
involving senior officials," the report added.
"The report's thorough canvassing of Mr. Marceca's testimony
effectively rules out a conclusion that Mr. Marceca acted with
any deceitful design," wrote Marceca's lawyers, Robert Muse and
Robert Weinberg.
"Mr. Marceca provided accurate testimony on the central issue,
namely, whether he or other White House personnel had requested
FBI files for improper purposes," Marceca's lawyers said.
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