Travelgate

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The White House travel office controversy of 1993, often referred to as Travelgate [1], began on May 19, 1993, when several longtime employees of the White House Travel Office were fired. A whistleblower's letter, written during the previous administration, triggered an FBI investigation which revealed evidence of financial malfeasance. Office director Billy Dale was charged with embezzlement. In a letter to federal prosecutors he offered to plead guilty, return $69,000. and to serve a short jail sentence. The Department of Justice refused the offer and Dale was later found not guilty at trial. Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr also investigated the firings and could find no evidence of wrongdoing on the Clintons' part. [Howard Kurtz, The Washington Post, 11/23/98]

The White House Travel Office is in the residential section of the White House, and as such, staffers serve strictly at the pleasure of the president. Historically, a change of administrations usually resulted in a brand new Travel Office staff. Despite the established presidential privilege of replacing staffers at will, Congressional Republicans alleged that friends of President Bill Clinton, including his cousin Catherine Cornelius, had engineered the firings in order to get the business for themselves.[2] The House Government Reform and Oversight Committee eventually launched an investigation into the White House Travel Office firings. After a three-year investigation, the Chair of the committee, Pennsylvania Republican William Clinger, accused the Clinton administration of having obstructed the committee's efforts to investigate the Travelgate scandal. [3] Clinger also challenged the White House access to Billy Dale's FBI records in the Filegate affair. [4] Ultimately, a president's right to staff his residential quarters with persons of his choosing prevailed and no grounds for legal action could be established.

Bill Clinton later described the allegations and investigation as "a fraud".[5]

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