Christopher Hitchens (2/6) on Ronald Reagan, Thomas Jefferson, and Bill Clinton (1996)

July 4, 1996 http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.... Watch the full program: http://thefilmarchived.blogspot.com/2010/09/christopher-hitchens-and-thomas-d...

The White House FBI files controversy of the Clinton Administration, often referred to in the press as Filegate, arose in June 1996 around improper access in 1993 and 1994 to Federal Bureau of Investigation security-clearance documents. Craig Livingstone, director of the White House's Office of Personnel Security, improperly requested, and received from the FBI, background reports without asking permission of the subject individuals. Estimates range from 400 to 700 to 900 unauthorized file disclosures. The incident caused a firestorm of criticism because many of the files covered White House employees from previous Republican administrations, including top figures such as James Baker, Brent Scowcroft, and Marlin Fitzwater. Under criticism, Livingstone resigned from his position. Allegations were made that senior White House figures, including First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, may have requested and read the files for political purposes, and that the First Lady had authorized the hiring of the underqualified Livingstone. The matter was investigated by the Whitewater Independent Counsel, who found in 2000 that there was no criminal activity by anyone in the matter, and that there was no credible evidence that senior White House figures or the First Lady had requested the files or had acted improperly or testified improperly regarding Livingstone's hiring.

On November 19, 1998, Independent Counsel Starr testified before the House Judiciary Committee in connection with the Impeachment of Bill Clinton over charges related to the Lewinsky scandal. Here, for the first time, Starr exonerated both President Clinton and the First Lady of complicity in the FBI files matter, saying "while there are outstanding issues that we are attempting to resolve with respect to one individual [we] found no evidence that anyone higher [than Livingstone or Marceca] was in any way involved in ordering the files from the FBI. Second, we have found no evidence that information contained in the files of former officials was used for an improper purpose." (Starr also chose this occasion to clear President Clinton in the Travelgate matter, and to say that he had not committed impeachable wrongdoing in the Whitewater matter; Democrats on the committee immediately criticized Starr for withholding all these findings until after the 1998 Congressional elections.)

In March 2000, Independent Counsel Robert Ray, Starr's successor, issued the office's final report on the matter. Ray determined that there was no credible evidence of any criminal activity by any individual in the matter. It attributed the improper collection of the files by Marceca due to his having an outdated Secret Service list of White House passes, as Marceca had originally claimed. It stated that even though Marceca's statements were sometimes "contradictory and misleading," they were "sufficiently transparent" and there was insufficient evidence to prove that Anthony Marceca had made false statements to Congress during his testimony. The report ascribed the FBI files matter to "a failure of process at many levels," saying that the Secret Service had provided critically erroneous data, and that this was compounded by the White House's informal process of requesting sensitive information by "inexperienced, untrained, and unsupervised personnel with backgrounds as political operatives."

Based on an investigation that included the prior fingerprint analysis, Ray's report further stated "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 prior administrations of President Bush and President Reagan."

Ray's report also concluded that there was no credible evidence that Bernard Nussbaum testified falsely about not having discussed Livingstone's hiring with the First Lady, and found as well that there was no personal relationship between the First Lady and Livingstone that had formed the basis for his hiring.

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[ZPSBestProfileName]

The actualy saying is, "if you take the body, the head will fall".

[progress200]

Illegal money, habitual liar and this Davis dude didn't even try to refute it. Hilarious.

[Pizuzuzimmer]

These callers make me sad to be American. Totally incoherent and moronic.

[Pizuzuzimmer]

This guy Davis couldn't be dumber if he actually was a rock.

[jobw87]

@SeedsofJoy Thomas Davis is still relatively "sane."

[YEELKEED]

What he said about Raegan was spot on Hitchens on this i agree with u for saying the truth.

[SeedsofJoy]

3 months before Fox News was founded and when republicans were on average still relatively 'sane'.

[magicpony9]

@cowlark2000 OK, sorry - I just re-read my remarks and I do seem a bit strident, don't I? I'm not opposed to looking at some hard truths, it's just difficult not to get emotional when people seem to be saying "it's all over" about someone I love so much. I still have hope. Thanks for the reality check, anyway. Sorry if I was a little dramatic.

[cowlark2000]

@magicpony9 I don't think anyone's counting him out. Certainly no one here's rooting for the cancer. But we must be realistic about the situation. Hitchens wouldn't be opposed to a pragmatic view of the situation.

[magicpony9]

Y'all STFU. NOT game over until game over. Saw him in Scranton, PA book fair over the weekend (10/2/10) and you know what?!? He looked AWESOME. No hair, but not "fragile", pretty damn robust and thunderous and humorous, actually -- sorry to disappoint you, assholes! Signed my book and debated Jay Parini and was completely on THE FREAKING MARK so don't count him out until he's out, k? Jackasses.