As the scandal known around town as "Towel-Hook" unfolded, White House officials scrambled to get their alibis straight.
The president's senior adviser, George Stephanopoulos, said he was too groggy by the time he got to sleep at 2 a.m. to notice any bed linens.Dee Dee Myers, President Clinton's spokeswoman, said she was too busy talking to her fan club of sailors to spirit away any Navy property.
Under intense questioning, Mark Gearan finally agreed to "come clean."
The White House director of communications admitted that he had seen a blue towel with a ship's insignia, lying near his fruit basket and complimentary flip-flops, when he spent the night on the aircraft carrier George Washington on the eve of the D-Day anniversary celebrations.
"But I didn't take it," Gearan protested. "And I don't remember any bathrobe."
It was not the sort of headline the White House was hoping for, after working so hard to burnish relations with the military during the trip to Europe for the celebrations. But there it was, on a press release put out Thursday by Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., "White House Staff Steals From Aircraft Carrier."
Burton procured a copy of an internal White House memorandum disclosing that the Navy was seeking reimbursement for dozens of towels and bathrobes purloined from the rooms of Clinton staff members who spent the night on the George Washington as she crossed the English Channel on the way to the D-Day events at Normandy.
"It's deplorable to stay as a guest on one of the finest aircraft carriers in the world and then steal from them," Burton said.
The White House memorandum was addressed to "All Staff Who Stayed On The U.S.S. George Washington," about 40 people, and was written by Isabelle Tapia and Michael Lufrano in the Office of Scheduling and Advance.
Although the president and Hillary Rodham Clinton stayed on the ship in the admiral's quarters, they did not receive the memo, White House officials said.
The memo explained that the executive officer of the George Washington had told the White House that "a number of items were removed from staterooms on the ship during the White House visit."
This was the list of "unaccounted for" items:
- Thirteen blue towels with GW insignia ($11 each).
- Four GW bathrobes with insignia ($35 each).
- Twelve plain white bathrobes ($15 each).
- Fifty-five white towels ($1.80 each).
By the end of the day, Ricki Seidman, the director of scheduling and advance, had decided to pay the money herself, saying that she was responsible for any confusion over ship's property vs. intended souvenirs.
White House officials said that the 40 White House staff members and 23 journalists who spent the night on the carrier paid $11 each for a dop kit with the ship's insignia that included razor, deodorant, toothpaste and toothbrush. They also got flip-flops to wear to the shower.
Officials suggested that some people may have been confused about how much their $11 got them.
As the White House tried to contain the incident, with the mood wavering between embarrassment and amused disbelief, there was a lot of good-natured finger-pointing.
Some male officials suggested that only women were given bathrobes. Some women said that the robes were too "tacky" for them and pointed in the direction of the Secret Service.
Some midlevel officials suggested that only senior officials were given the plain white bathrobes, and only the very top officials were given the $35 bathrobes with the ship's insignia.
They noted that, in addition to the president and first lady, other VIP's on board included Defense Secretary William Perry and Secretary of State Warren Christopher. And all the White House officials felt the press suitcases should be searched.