THE White House official in charge of security has resigned. Mr Craig Livingstone announced this to a House of Representatives committee investigating his role into how confidential FBI files on Republicans were sought by the Clinton Administration.
Mr Livingstone denied that he had done anything wrong. But he accepted responsibility for the actions of a junior official who was updating the security clearances of White House staff left over from the Bush and Reagan administrations.
Congressional members continued to question Mr Livingstone and other former White House aides on why it was necessary to demand over 400 - and possibly as many as 700 - FBI files, many of them on people who no longer work there.
President Clinton has said it was a simple "bureaucratic" error and has apologised to the people whose confidential files were examined by his staff members. But Republicans are still convinced that this is not the real explanation as to why political appointees who were involved in the Clinton electoral campaign were going through such sensitive files.
The committee also revealed documents showing that a presidential aide had been ordered to spy on White House travel office staff.