Billy Carter's Activities With the Libyan Government Statement by the White House Press Secretary.

Late this afternoon, after extensive effort, we determined that Billy Carter did receive a copy of one of the cables which we released to you yesterday and which was released under F.O.I.A. [Freedom of Information Act] in May of last year. We've also determined that he received a copy by mail from the President.

First, let me tell you how it came about, and then I'll describe to you how we determined how it came about.

On or about October the 11th, 1978, Susan Clough, the President's secretary, received a note from Tom Beard, with the cable attached. Mr. Beard, as you know, conducts liaison between the White House and the State Department on nonpolicy matters and, as you also know, was the person who relayed White House instructions to the State Department that Billy Carter's 1978 trip be considered nonofficial and that Billy be cautioned again on the sensitivity of the U.S.-Libyan relationship when he arrived in Tripoli.

Susan gave the cable and the note to the President, presumably because the note contained a comment about the President's mother, and the cable contained, as you know, a favorable report on Billy's visit to Tripoli. The President penned a brief note to Billy on the cable and had it mailed to him.

Neither the President, Miss Clough, nor Mr. Beard remembered the incident or the existence of the note prior to this afternoon. We determined that Billy had received a copy of the cable and that the President had sent it to him, through inquiries from Mr. Alfred Moses, who, as you know, is working on this matter with the White House Counsel's Office, to Billy Carter's attorneys, Mr. Ruth and Mr. Pollak. Once questions were raised on the Hill Wednesday about cables and whether Billy Carter did or did not have cables-you will remember that the first we knew about the cable question was when it was raised on the Hill—Mr. Moses called Mr. Ruth and Mr. Pollak that day to seek any assistance they could properly give us in resolving these questions.

Mr. Moses spoke with them by telephone again Thursday and once more this morning. In response to those calls, the White House received a copy of the cable from Billy's attorneys this afternoon about 5: 30. The attorneys had felt it appropriate to check with the Department of Justice before providing the cable to us since they had sent a copy to Justice this morning, pursuant to a Department of Justice request. They were informed this afternoon that the Department of Justice had no objection to the White House receiving a copy.

Mr. Cutler [Lloyd N. Cutler, Counsel to the President] and I presented this information to the President this evening, shortly before his departure for Camp David. The President instructed us to prepare a statement for release as soon as possible today, and to clear it with him after he had reached Camp David.

That's the end of my statement.