House Obtains Travel Office Files It Sought

WASHINGTON —  The White House averted a contempt-of-Congress showdown with the House on Thursday when it furnished lawmakers with a batch of its travel office documents along with a log of sensitive records that it still is withholding.

House Republican leaders, claiming victory, promptly canceled plans to ask the chamber to approve contempt citations against White House Counsel Jack Quinn and two former presidential aides for failure to submit the subpoenaed records.

The dispute, however, seems far from over. The new batch of about 1,000 documents given to the House consists mostly of common files that an administration source said probably would not advance the knowledge of congressional investigators about the 1993 firing of seven travel office employees.

In addition, the log of 2,000 documents over which President Clinton will continue to claim executive privilege is likely only to whet the appetite of House sleuths. It contains materials relating to the president and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton as well as discussions of the handling of files from the office of the late Vincent Foster, the White House deputy counsel who committed suicide in July 1993.

One of the index entries reads: “Analyses of issues related to Mrs. Clinton in connection with preparation for Senate hearings re: Foster document handling matter.”

White House special counsel Mark D. Fabiani said that some of the files described in the log are privileged because they relate to legal advice given the president by Quinn and others, including advice about congressional hearings. He said that others represent material furnished under subpoena to Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr, who is investigating Foster’s death and possible perjury by a former presidential aide in the House’s travel office inquiry.

Rep. William F. Clinger Jr. (R-Pa.) acknowledged receipt of a letter from Starr asking him not to press for White House materials that relate to the grand jury’s criminal investigation.