Kendall text

    In my capacity as personal counsel to President Clinton in the Whitewater investigation, I have today sent a 15-page letter to the independent counsel documenting with particularity a deluge of illegal leaks from that office of false and misleading information.
    We are going to court as soon as possible -- which I hope will be Monday -- to seek judicial relief under Rule 6e of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure against this leaking.
    Although most of my previous communications with the independent counsel have been confidential, in view of the gravity of the situation, I'm making copies of my letter available to the press today [Friday].
    The leaking of the past few weeks is intolerably unfair. It violates not only the criminal rules, rules of court, rules of ethics and Department of Justice guidelines, it also violates the fundamental rules of fairness in an investigation like this.
    We've seen leak after leak, which ultimately and in the fullness of time turns out to be false information. These leaks make a mockery of the traditional rules of grand jury secrecy. They often appear to be a cynical attempt to pressure and intimidate witnesses, to deceive the public and to smear people involved in the investigation.
    The independent counsel appears to have acknowledged some of these leaks, but that office is out of control.
    And that's why we're going to seek in court appropriate remedies, including contempt sanctions in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

This article was published on Saturday, February 7, 1998