Travel Probers Won’t Summon Clinton Friend
WASHINGTON — A House panel Thursday dropped plans to issue a subpoena to Hollywood producer Harry Thomason, a close friend of President and Mrs. Clinton, after he belatedly began producing more documents detailing his role in the White House travel office affair.
Rep. William F. Clinger Jr. (R-Pa.), chairman of the Government Reform and Oversight Committee, seeks phone logs and other records Thomason compiled in May 1993, when seven White House Travel Office employees were improperly fired. At the time, the White House announced that a distant cousin of the president would be put in charge of the office.
Investigators have learned Thomason inquired about putting the travel office business up for competitive bidding and used his access to the president to pitch a friend for a government contract.
The panel also is exploring Thomason’s extensive access to the White House at the time. At issue is whether Thomason should have been treated as a special government employee subject to conflict-of-interest laws.
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