Dear Mr. Speaker & Representative Gephardt:

Today, this office has delivered to the sergeant at arms, the Honorable Wilson Livingood, 36 sealed boxes containing two complete copies of a Referral to the House of Representatives. This referral is filed in conformity with the requirements of Title 28, United States Code, Section 595(c), which provides that "an independent counsel shall advise the House of Representatives of any substantial and credible information which such counsel receives...that may constitute grounds for impeachment."

This referral contains confidential material and material protected from disclosure by Rule 6(e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. Disclosure of this material to the House of Representatives has been authorized by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Division for the Purpose of Appointing Independent Counsels. A copy of that order is attached. The contents of the referral may not be publicly disclosed unless and until authorized by the House of Representatives. Many of the supporting materials contain information of a personal nature that I respectfully urge the House to treat as confidential.

I respectfully request that the sergeant at arms maintain this referral in a sealed and secure condition and deliver this sealed referral to the House of Representatives at a time and place to be determined by the House, consistent with its own rules. Until such time as the sergeant at arms is directed to deliver this referral, I consider it a record of the Office of the Independent Counsel, an executive department of the executive branch.

I respectfully request that the referral remain sealed until its formal receipt by the House.