Passport Office Probe Seeking Baker Records

WASHINGTON —  Congressional investigators have requested copies of White House phone logs, appointment calendars, computer records and memos to Chief of Staff James A. Baker III and two senior aides in connection with the pre-election search of Bill Clinton’s passport file.

Stepping up its formal inquiry, the General Accounting Office notified the White House on Monday that it wants any records that document contacts between the three officials and the State Department in the passport matter. The GAO is the investigative arm of Congress.

The records are potentially valuable sources of information in determining whether Baker, Margaret D. Tutwiler and Janet G. Mullins discussed the search for politically damaging material on the then Democratic presidential candidate with officials at the State Department, the Bush-Quayle campaign or the British government, which instituted a search of its files as well.

The request appears to signal that congressional Democrats intend to push hard to get to the bottom of the passport controversy, even if they must continue their inquiry after Clinton succeeds Bush as President on Jan. 20.

It also indicates that the GAO is focusing on Baker, Bush’s closest adviser for more than a decade and a man sometimes considered a potential GOP presidential nominee in his own right, as well as Baker’s two top political lieutenants.

Clinton’s passport records became an issue in the fall campaign, when some Republicans cast aspersions on Clinton’s visit to the Soviet Union while he was a student at Oxford University and circulated rumors that he had considered seeking British or Norwegian citizenship to avoid the draft during the Vietnam War.

In response to queries from news organizations, the State Department undertook an expedited two-day search of Clinton’s passport files, in violation of department procedures. Clinton flatly denied the stories and no supporting evidence was ever produced.

After an investigation last month, Sherman M. Funk, the State Department inspector general, reported that he found no evidence the White House had “orchestrated” the file search. But he concluded that Baker, the former secretary of state, and Mullins, assistant to the President, knew about the search almost as soon as it began.

Congressional Democrats asserted that Funk failed to pursue the trail to the White House and the Bush campaign aggressively enough. The GAO has requested all records of Funk’s contact with Baker and his top aides. After the criticism, Funk said that he was continuing his inquiry.

The GAO request was accompanied by a letter from Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City) admonishing the Bush Administration to safeguard the records during the transition between Administrations and pointedly noting that failure to do so might violate federal law. He expressed “full support of GAO’s request.”

Berman and Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), who chair the Senate and House subcommittees with oversight responsibility for the State Department, ordered the GAO inquiry in late October.

Berman’s letter appears intended to put the White House on notice that the GAO’s request includes electronic records that the Administration maintains it has a right to destroy. A federal judge has ordered the White House to preserve backup tapes of its computer record and message system but Administration lawyers said last week that the stipulation does not cover records of individuals and offices whose “sole responsibility is to advise the President.”

The letter, however, suggests that destruction of such records formally sought under a congressional inquiry could be construed as an obstruction of the investigation. It was sent to Paul Bateman, deputy assistant to the President for management.

White House spokeswoman Judy Smith said Monday, “We will continue to cooperate fully” with the GAO investigation. She declined further comment.

The GAO specifically requested any records from Baker, Tutwiler and Mullins between Sept. 15 and Nov. 19 that deal with Clinton’s passport files, citizenship records and his activities in Moscow, Norway and London while traveling there as a graduate student. In a Dec. 7 letter, the GAO said that it would also like to interview Baker, Mullins and Tutwiler, who is assistant to the President and White House communications director.