More on the Barrett Report

Here is a piece on the Barrett Report, dealing with the investigation of President Clinton's HUD secretary, Henry Cisneros, and allegations that substantial wrongdoing was covered up and further investigation prevented by the Clinton Justice Department (headed, as we know, by a hopelessly incompetent puppet, Janet Reno).

Before Republicans become too enthused by the whiff of scandal in the air, it's worth noting that the piece states that a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ordered portions of the report to be redacted. It's not clear why, or what this means -- but it may suggest that there are, objectively, some problems with the report or the investigation.

The fact is that the judge for whom I clerked, Judge David B. Sentelle, has for years (since I was clerking there, in fact) been the head judge of this independent counsel panel -- and he is a man of integrity and a straight shooter (appointed by Ronald Reagan). He would not be ordering parts of the report redacted unless there was, potentially, a problem with them. He's certainly not a man to aid, abet or even tolerate some Clinton White House coverup.