Travelgate was the first major ethics controversy of the Clinton administration, triggering years of FBI, congressional, and independent counsel investigations.
Key Facts
- Start date
- May 1993
- Employees fired
- 7 White House Travel Office staff
- Billy Dale verdict
- Not guilty of embezzlement (1995)
- Clinton exonerated
- Kenneth Starr cleared Bill Clinton in 1998
- Final report
- Independent Counsel Robert Ray issued report in 2000
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Critics alleged that President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton sought to replace career Travel Office staff with friends and campaign donors. The White House cited an FBI investigation into financial improprieties in the Travel Office under previous administrations as justification for the dismissals.
In May 1993, all seven employees of the White House Travel Office were abruptly fired, an unusual action given the customary long tenure of such executive-branch staff. Heavy media scrutiny followed, focusing on whether the FBI had been improperly invoked and whether Hillary Clinton had directed or encouraged the firings.
Most fired employees were reinstated in other government posts, and Clinton associates were removed from travel roles. Investigations by multiple bodies followed over several years; Travel Office Director Billy Dale was acquitted of embezzlement in 1995, and by 2000 Independent Counsel Robert Ray declined to charge Hillary Clinton, citing insufficient evidence of knowing falsehood.