 the white house travel office controversy, sometimes referred to as travelgate,"untangling whitewater", the washington post special report, 2000. retrieved june 5, 2007.a google news archive search conducted july 24, 2011, for the years 1993â2010 found about 10,000 hits for "white house" "travel office" and about 6,000 hits for "travelgate". was the first major ethics controversy of the clinton administration. it began in may 1993, when seven employees of the white house travel office were fired. this action was unusual because although theoretically staff employees serve at the pleasure of the president and could be dismissed without cause, in practice, such employees usually remain in their posts for many years. the white house stated the firings were done because financial improprieties in the travel office operation during previous administrations had been revealed by an fbi investigation. critics contended the firings were done to allow friends of president bill clinton and first lady hillary rodham clinton to take over the travel business and that the involvement of the fbi was unwarranted. heavy media attention forced the white house to reinstate most of the employees in other jobs and remove the clinton associates from the travel role. further investigations by the fbi and the department of justice, the white house itself, the general accounting office, the house government reform and oversight committee, and the whitewater independent counsel all took place over the subsequent years. travel office director billy dale was charged with embezzlement but found not guilty in 1995. in 1998, independent counsel kenneth starr exonerated bill clinton of any involvement in the matter. hillary clinton gradually came under scrutiny for allegedly having played a central role in the firings and making false statements about her role in it. in 2000, independent counsel robert ray issued his final report on travelgate. he sought no charges against her, saying that she had made factually false statements but there was
1993_controversies 1993_in_American_politics Clinton_administration_controversies Presidential_scandals_in_the_United_States