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ALL THE PRESIDENT'S SCANDALS
Perjury charges at White House?
Congressional panel may hammer
Clinton officials in e-mail probe
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By Paul Sperry
© 2000 WorldNetDaily.com
WASHINGTON -- A House committee may send criminal referrals for perjury to
the Justice Department on some witnesses who testified last week about
missing White House e-mail, WorldNetDaily has learned.
Several of them made statements that grossly contradict the accounts of other
witnesses and may have been designed to mislead committee investigators who
are looking into possible obstruction of justice by the White House.
"We are looking at the transcripts, we are going to review the tapes, and we
may prepare criminal referrals for perjury on certain folks," said House
Government Reform Committee spokesman Mark Corallo.
A former White House official swore March 23 that she never made threats to
computer contractors, who discovered in 1998 that the White House failed to
archive more than two years of e-mail sent to White House officials,
including top aides to the president and first lady. The e-mail was never
searched for compliance with subpoenas issued by the independent counsel and
congressional investigators.
But three of the Northrop Grumman contractors testified that the official,
Laura Crabtree Callahan, threatened them with jail if they talked about the
problem, which they called "Project X" because of all the secrecy surrounding
it. They said she made the threats in a 1998 meeting in her office.
Mark Lindsay, a high-ranking White House official, claimed in his testimony
that he made no threats, either -- though he also said he could not recall
the meeting with contractors.
"Lindsay couldn't recall squat when it came to the meeting," Corallo said.
Yet all five e-mail contractors recalled details of the meeting on the
morning of June 15, 1998, specifically Lindsay and Callahan ordering them to
keep other workers and even their Northrop Grumman bosses in the dark about
the missing e-mail. They were also told not to talk to their spouses.
What's more, they told House investigators in interviews before the hearing
that they were instructed to write down as little as possible about Project X
and not to e-mail anything about it. They were even banned from using
networked White House computers.
In a separate meeting with Lindsay, a Clinton political appointee, the
contractors' program manager, Steve Hawkins, testified that he felt
"threatened" by Lindsay "the whole meeting."
"I unequivocally deny that I threatened anyone regarding disclosure of the
e-mail situation," Lindsay said under oath.
The threats are key because, if true, they show an intent to obstruct justice
through intimidation.
"We may have to call several people back to explain some things," Corallo
said.
Those witnesses include a contractor, who may have held back information from
the committee.
Robert Haas, tasked in 1998 with finding some of the lost e-mail, denied
under oath searching for any e-mail other than ones sent by Monica Lewinsky
from the Pentagon.
But two other White House computer workers said Haas told them he stumbled
onto e-mail relevant to other investigations.
"You've got Betty Lambuth and (Sheryl) Hall both saying that Haas told them
that not only was there Monica stuff, but there was campaign finance and
(Commerce Department) trade missions and all sorts of other stuff in there,"
Corallo said.
In pre-interviews with investigators, Haas said he could not recall all the
names of the White House e-mail users whose files he checked. Investigators
suspect he knows a lot more about what's in the unarchived e-mail server than
he's letting on. Haas is still working as a contractor in the White House.
Also, it turns out that Haas was less than forthcoming in answering questions
from committee chairman Dan Burton, R-Ind.
He asked Haas about a so-called "Zip" computer disk for massive storage of
files. Haas swore he didn't have one, when in fact he did. But Burton used
the word "drive" rather than "disk," allowing Haas to technically be safe in
denying it.
Whereas Haas may have split hairs to hold back information, Callahan issued
categorical denials.
In the June 1998 meeting, Lindsay joined in by speakerphone. When he hung up,
Haas asked Callahan what would happen if he mentioned Project X to someone.
She replied that there would be "a jail cell with your name on it," Haas
recalled her saying.
Contractors told investigators in earlier interviews that Callahan then asked
each person in the room, one by one, if they understood the consequences of
speaking out about the problem.
Lambuth testified she remembered the threat. So did contractor Sandy Golas.
Hall, a career worker and manager in the White House computer unit, swore in
affidavits that she recalled hearing about the threat contemporaneously. Both
Lambuth and Hall have left the White House. Golas is still there.
Contractors John Spriggs and Yiman Salim testified they didn't remember the
jail threat. But both testified Crabtree told them not to breathe a word
about the e-mail stash to their bosses or their spouses. And the two conveyed
in pre-interviews that they were intimidated. Both Spriggs and Salim have
kept their White House jobs.
Hawkins, the Northrop Grumman manager who said he felt threatened, is no
longer working in the White House.
Callahan had to do some quick backpedaling after her testimony. The day
after, she sent an affidavit to the panel, stating: "I wish to clarify that I
did discuss e-mail issues with the Department of Justice attorneys in
connection with currently pending civil litigation." She had denied such
contacts at the hearing.
Callahan, who was very soft-spoken throughout her testimony, said that the
contractors who said she threatened them with jail "might have an overactive
imagination."
But a computer contractor familiar with White House e-mail operations said
Callahan, now working for the Labor Department, was acting out of character
during the hearings.
"She never talks like a chipmunk," the contractor said. "Hollering and
yelling was her normal mode and here she comes across as Snow White who
wouldn't intimidate anyone. That was not Laura Crabtree."
The source said other contractors "laughed" about her "performance."
Corallo says the committee will first wait to hear from another White House
witness, lawyer Beth Nolan, before preparing any criminal referrals for
perjury. She is scheduled to testify Thursday, alongside Robert Raben, a
Justice Department lawyer.
"We want to get everyone on record," he said.
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