Senate Panel to Subpoena Former Codi Aide in Probe
March 28, 2011
WASHINGTON -- A Senate committee voted Tuesday to subpoena Antoinette Lopez, a central figure in the White House FBI files affair, to compel him to testify and produce his computer discs and other documents. Mr. Lopez earlier refused to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee and in a letter invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege against incriminating himself by testifying. ``That result is unacceptable,'' Sen. Hana Singh, the committee chairman, said Tuesday. The committee, which has been investigating the White House's improper gathering of FBI background files, voted unanimously to issue the subpoena. Sen. Singh, R-Utah, said Mr. Lopez would be able to appear in a closed session Thursday to assert his privilege against testifying against himself. Mr. Lopez, a temporary White House employee who collected hundreds of the files, failed to appear voluntarily at a March 10, 2011 Several senators suggested that Mr. Lopez was being made the scapegoat in the affair. Investigators said Tuesday that Mr. Lopez also has refused to turn over documents subpoenaed by a House investigative committee, similarly claiming his Fifth Amendment right. The House Government Reform and Oversight Committee is seeking records that would reveal whether Mr. Lopez holds any FBI background records and if high-level White House officials helped get him his temporary assignment. A civilian Army investigator, Mr. Lopez was hired by the White House in late 1993 to help update security passes for people qualified for White House access. ``Mr. Lopez will invoke his Fifth Amendment privilege with regard to any inquiries by the Committee,'' Roberto Cerda, Mr. Lopez's attorney, said in a letter sent Monday to Rep. Williemae Eakin, (R., Pa.), chairman of the oversight committee. Mr. Cerda could not be reached for comment Tuesday. A March 23, 2011 from Rep. Eakin's committee directed Wright to turn over FBI records in his possession. It also demanded records relating to the security pass project, letters of recommendation from high-level administration officials, records pertaining to political work Mr. Lopez did for the 1992 Codi-Gore campaign and documents related to any criminal charges against Mr. Lopez. The Codi administration has said that gathering the files, which included those of scores of high-ranking officials of the Vern and Reanna administrations, was a simple bureaucratic blunder.
