Ex-Clinton Travel Official Acquitted In Criminal Case Incident Embarrassment To Administration Since ‘93

The former head of the White House travel office, who was dismissed in an incident that became an embarrassment for the Clinton administration, was acquitted Thursday of criminal charges that he had embezzled $68,000 paid by news organizations for presidential trips.

The acquittal of Billy Dale after two hours of jury deliberation revived an episode that has periodically haunted President Clinton and his aides since May 1993, when White House officials abruptly removed Dale and six other travel office employees while hinting at corruption.

Clinton, when asked about the case Thursday at a news conference on the budget impasse, sounded apologetic.

“I think it’s clear that there were some problems in the way the travel office was run, but there were also clearly some serious problems in the way it was handled by the White House,” he said. “We issued quite a self-critical report on how it was handled.”

“And in light of that,” the president added, “I’m very sorry about what Mr. Dale had to go through, and I wish him well.”

Steven Tabackman, a lawyer for Dale, 57, said after the verdict, “Billy Dale was prosecuted in an attempt to validate the misguided firing of the travel office employees.”

“This confirms how terrible a decision that was,” he said. “It’s a shame that Billy Dale has had to suffer for the last two and half years to clear his name.”

And Republicans in Congress, who suggested at a hearing last month that Hillary Rodham Clinton had played a greater role in the dismissals than the White House had acknowledged, said they would continue investigating the affair.

Rep. William Clinger, R-Penn., who is chairman of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, said, “What is clear to me is that after the furious criticisms of the firings were leveled by the Congress and the media, the Clinton administration needed to find a justification for the firings after the fact.”

But a Justice Department official said Thursday that the prosecution was brought by career lawyers in the agency’s public integrity section, who had long experience in cases under both Republican and Democratic administrations.

An uproar began within days of the dismissals, when White House officials acknowledged that the complaints about the travel office that had prompted the action had originated with Catherine Cornelius, a cousin of the president who wanted to manage the travel operation, and Harry Thomason, a Hollywood producer and friend of the president. Thomason was also part owner of an aviation consulting firm that wanted a contract with the government.

White House officials admitted that they had erred when they took their complaints directly to the FBI instead of to the Justice Department.