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Jewish World Review / Oct. 7, 1998 /17 Tishrei, 5759
Cal Thomas
The corruption of the Secret Service
PRESIDENT CLINTON IS LIKE A MAN WITH A BAD COLD --- he tends to
infect those with whom he comes in contact.
The release of the latest batch of "supporting'' documents
transmitted to the House Judiciary Committee by
Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr reveals how the
president's lack-of-integrity virus infected one of our premier
and most respected institutions --- the U.S. Secret Service.
Traditionally, the Secret Service has enjoyed the public's
respect. Its image has been one of highly trained, dedicated,
selfless men and women who are willing to stand between an
assassin and a president.
But testimony before a grand jury reveals that some agents
either looked the other way or did and said things that helped
the president avoid accountability for the way he behaved
with Monica Lewinsky and possibly other women.
Officer Brent James Chinery testified that he and his
colleagues believe the president had sexual trysts in the White
House with at least six women, whose names have been
elided from the printed testimony.
Another agent, Sgt. Keith Williams, said he embellished a
supposed threat by the president to fire another agent who
had told Monica Lewinsky she would have to wait at a White
House gate because Clinton was meeting with Eleanor
Mondale. This infuriated Lewinsky because she believed the
president was two-timing her. She telephoned the president's
secretary, Betty Currie. Currie then called Williams and
demanded an explanation from officers at the gate. Williams
testified he told the officers that the president "wants
somebody fired.'' Williams admitted he had not seen or
spoken to the president, but that he made up the story "to
get these guys to start talking ....'' Williams said he concocted a
story that Lewinsky had seen Mondale and that's what set
Monica off. He hoped the story would placate Currie, which
it apparently did. But before he told it to her, he testified that
he and another officer, Capt. Geoffrey Purdie, checked
computer records showing when Mondale entered the gate to
make sure the story was plausible. That's the effect the
liar-in-chief has on others.
In other Secret Service testimony, two officers said that White
House steward Bayani Nelvis told them of his unhappiness at
having to "clean up'' after the Clinton-Lewinsky trysts. He
complained of having to pick up towels and tissues stained
with lipstick and other substances. Agent Gary Byrne testified
he suggested that Nelvis discard the towels instead of sending
them to the laundry. "My fear was that ... if there was
lipstick on there, regardless of whose it was, that when the
people that did the laundry saw it, you know, I just didn't
want to give anybody any more fuel for any more rumors
about the president.'' Those rumors, according to testimony,
had been rampant in the White House for years.
Agents took to betting on how long it would take for the
president to arrive at his office from the family quarters once
he heard Lewinsky was there. Steven P. Pape, a uniformed
Secret Service officer, said he had wagered the president
would arrive on one Saturday morning in only 10 minutes.
"I almost lost the bet,'' he testified. "It was 9 minutes and
40 or 50 seconds before he came down for that
appointment.''
Pape testified he was particularly upset by another Lewinsky
visit in October of last year. It was the Clintons' 22nd wedding
anniversary. Pape testified, "I just made a mental thought of
that was not the way to celebrate a traditional family
anniversary, in my opinion.''
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott has suggested that "bad
conduct itself'' might be reason enough to impeach the
president. So should the corrupting of an institution that has
served honorably and well until the Clinton presidency.
Everything and everyone with whom Bill Clinton comes in
contact is at risk of infection. If we were dealing with a health
plague, the proper response would be quarantine or
medication of sufficient strength to eradicate the disease and
to protect others from infection. With a political disease that
has infected even the Secret Service and other institutions and
agencies of government, the only proper remedy is removal
from office of the one carrying the virus.
Let the impeachment hearings begin the process of purging us
of this terrible
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