MAN BEHIND THE MESS

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Last Friday the FBI released its own report admitting that it and the White House had committed "egregious violations of privacy." But while the report spread the blame equally between the two sides of the copy flow, director Louis Freeh seemed to pin it mostly on the Clinton camp. "The prior system of providing files to the White House relied on good faith and honor,'' he said. "Unfortunately, the FBI and I were victimized." Agent Aldrich has refused to provide details about his own allegations, but that may happen as early as next week when William Clinger, chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, will hold hearings on the matter.

It was Clinger who uncovered Filegate as he sought to get to the bottom of Travelgate. His committee had been seeking 3,000 pages of White House documents related to the travel office. The committee managed last month to reel in 1,000 of those pages, which contained the first evidence of the latest escapade. Clinger is threatening to hold the White House in contempt if it does not release the next 2,000 pages. The Clintons may be wondering whether another Livingstone is lurking among those dusty documents. Or they may already know.

--With reporting by J.F.O. McAllister, Mark Thompson and Adam Zagorin/Washington