What Have You Done, Billy Boy?

By Burton Pines

Further discrepancies in the story of Carter's kid brother

More headlines, more gaps and contradictions, more embarrassing revelations day by day. As he fought to retain his hold on the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, Jimmy Carter last week continued to bear the burden of Billy--and it was getting heavier all the time.

The fundamental question, observed Senator Birch Bayh, the Indiana Democrat who chairs the Senate's special subcommittee investigating the matter, is something "the people have a right to know: Did Billy Carter, with all his shortcomings, influence the Government of the United States?"

The White House answer has been an adamant no. Indeed, so far the evidence indicates little if any wrongdoing by Administration officials in the entire Billy affair, although the President showed a lack of judgment in doing too little too late about Billy's Libyan venture.

But the White House has remained its own worst enemy by raising doubts about its credibility. After White House spokesmen insisted that all details of the matter had been made public, members of the House Judiciary Committee, who have been examining Justice Department documents, reported that Billy had State Department cables commenting on his visit to Libya in September 1978. The Congressmen found a record of an interrogation of Billy conducted by Joel Lisker, chief of the Justice Department's foreign agents registration unit. According to this document, Billy "commented that he had seen all the State Department cable traffic on his trip." When asked by Lisker how he had obtained the material, Billy replied: "Jimmy gave it to me and I have it out at the house."

The issue was not so much one of security. The cables had a low classification and contained no secret information. Such diplomatic traffic, in fact, is routinely made available to reporters and businessmen. Still, both the President and his brother challenged Lisker's account, Billy in undiplomatic terms on national television: "Lisker is full of s--." But Billy later admitted that "someone in the White House" gave him a State Department cable regarding the trip to Libya. When asked if he had received it from Jimmy, Billy replied, "It was over a year ago and I don't remember."

At week's end the White House reversed itself and admitted that one cable had been given to Billy. Presidential Press Secretary Jody Powell released a copy of a State Department message that bore a handwritten note from Jimmy praising Billy for his abstemious behavior in Libya. Powell lamely explained that everyone at the White House had forgotten about the annotated cable, which had been mailed to Billy on Oct. 11, 1978, until Billy's lawyers turned up a copy.

The texts of seven cables had been released earlier by the White House in an attempt to defuse the mounting controversy. The whole batch, said Powell, "would not have amounted to a hill of beans." Powell was right. In the earliest cable, Washington merely alerted the U.S. embassy in Tripoli that Billy Carter was coming its way on a private trip. After Billy and his delegation arrived in Libya, a dispatch from the embassy noted that "some members of the Georgia delegation obviously are interested in relieving Libya of some of its petrodollars. Though they do not seem to have made much progress yet." The most important cable, and the only one stamped CONFIDENTIAL, was sent at the end of Billy's five-day visit to Tripoli. It reported: "There has been no negative fallout from Billy Carter's visit... We would rate it a very positive event which has opened some doors [in the Libyan government] for this embassy and raised the morale of the American community."

The week's second revelation also involved serious inconsistencies in Billy's story and prompted the Justice Department's Lisker to conclude that "it's fairly obvious that he [Billy] misled me, that he lied." On Jan. 16, Lisker and an FBI investigator asked Billy if he had received any money from Libya. Billy said no. But last week Lisker obtained a deposit slip from the Columbus Bank and Trust Co. of Columbus, Ga., showing that Billy deposited a $20,000 check from the Libyans on Dec. 31,1979.

Not only did this new evidence contradict what Billy had told Lisker and the FBI, but also what he had said in his official declaration when he registered last month as a Libyan agent. Billy then stated that he had received a Libyan "loan" in January--not December. Lisker said last week that these discrepancies "call into question the veracity of his entire registration statement." If the Justice Department can prove that Billy was trying to conceal something when he made the false statements, he could be sent to prison for up to five years and fined $10,000. At week's end, however, the department was not planning to take any action against Billy because of problems of proving his intent. Said an official: "Billy is a mass of contradictions."

To confuse matters more, Robert Vesco, the famed fugitive financier now basking in the Bahamas out of the reach of U.S. law, seemed to tell Senators Dennis DeConcini and Orrin Hatch that he had got Billy involved with the Libyans. The Senators were questioning Vesco last week as part of a Senate Judiciary Committee study of pending Justice Department cases. Because Vesco has a reputation as a conman, his charges aroused skepticism--and, indeed, Vesco later seemed to back off. But Hatch and DeConcini are planning to dig deeper.

Sorting out the contradictions and discrepancies and determining just what is credible in the Billy Carter affair is the task of several investigations. The House Foreign Affairs and Judiciary committees have been studying documents and will decide this month whether to launch an inquiry.

In the Senate, seven Judiciary Committee members are being joined by Democrat Claiborne Pell and Republican Richard Lugar of the Foreign Relations Committee to make up the special subcommittee that will conduct the main study of the controversy. The panel last week set a working timetable for its hearings and dispatched messengers bearing official requests for information to the President, the Secretaries of State, Energy and Commerce, the Attorney General, and the directors of the CIA, FBI and the National Security Agency. The committee is requesting an avalanche of material: tape recordings, diaries, logs and records of telephone calls and personal conversations, appointment calendars, newspaper articles and letters.

The two star witnesses are certain to be the Carter brothers. Said Subcommittee Chairman Bayh: "In the final analysis, the President is the one out there who can do more to lay this issue to rest than anybody." The Senators will not have tune to prepare for questioning key witnesses -- including the Carters -- until after the Democratic Convention.

The committee will investigate Libya's relations with the U.S.; the Foreign Agents Registration Act in general; how the Justice Department applied that act to Billy Carter; Billy's involvement with Libya; and the White House role in matters concerning Billy, Libya and the registration act.

Meanwhile, prompted by Billy's new inconsistencies, the Justice Department stepped up its own investigation. Lisker noted that all the major facts were now out in the open regarding the department's investigation of Billy's delay in registering as a Libyan agent. But Lisker warned that "there are other matters, unrelated to Billy's registration statement, but involving some of the same people," that are going to be probed. One area of investigation could be the contacts the department had with the White House over Billy and Libya. An other could be a search to find out if a Government official tipped off Billy that Justice was about to move on his case.

Despite denials by Billy Carter, it is still uncertain whether or not he attempted to intervene on Libya's behalf to press his brother's Administration to lift the ban on the delivery of eight C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft. It is also unclear whether Billy discussed with an arms merchant a possible machine gun deal for Libya. One Justice Department document cites Billy admitting that he was so involved; another has him denying it.

Billy last week insisted that all he offered the Libyans was friendship. Said he at a hastily called news conference in Plains, Ga.: "They were unpopular with everyone but me ... I was the only friend they had in the U.S." On that assertion at least, no one has challenged Billy Carter.

Reported by Eileen Shields and Evan Thomas/Washington

With reporting by Eileen Shields, Evan Thomas

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