DOWNSIDE LEGACY AT TWO DEGREES OF PRESIDENT CLINTON
SECTION: BEHIND THE OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE ALLEGATIONS
SUBSECTION: INTEFERENCE WITH INVESTIGATIONS
Revised 8/20/99
Loral & Hughes/China Missile Guidance - after the fact waiver
William Sessions investigation of Department of Justice
Madison Guaranty and others (Atty Gen Janet Reno fired all U.S. Attorneys in joint decision with White House 2 weeks into her tenure.)
Tyson complaints, when Smaltz failed to answer, DOJ took important elements of the investigation away
Lums claim Hubbell interceded for them
Ron Brown tip off to Lums
In the Supreme Court's orders in June 1998, denying Ken Starr's petitions for certiorari before judgment was " The motion by the Solicitor General, on behalf of the United States acting through the Attorney General, for access to sealed portions of the record is denied. "
BCCI Investigations (See 12/92 Senate Report and also the Firing of all U.S. Attorneys)
Releasing documents where the National Security Council doctored the 1995 annual report on arms control matters to remove words showing the administration was alarmed by evidence that M-11 missiles had been transferred from China to Pakistan, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms accused the Clinton administration of ``fudging'' and said that ``the Clinton administration's callous disregard of U.S. law is bouncing around at a new low.''
The Special Committee investigating Whitewater concluded that the evidence established that White House officials engaged in a pattern of deliberate obstruction of, and interference with, efforts by law enforcement authorities to conduct their several investigations into Mr. Foster's death. These include: senior White House officials ignoring specific requests by the Park Police to seal Mr. Foster's office on the night of his death, Hillary Clinton's close involvement in the handling of documents in Mr. Foster's office and the access by investigators, the search (Bernard Nussbaum, Margaret Williams, Patsy Thomasson, Betsy Pond) for a suicide note, Ms. William's removing file folders, discussing them with Mrs. Clinton and transferring some to the White House Residence, the impeding of the Park Police investigators from entering the office, the participation in the interviews with White House staffers, Mr. Nussbaum breaking the agreement with Deputy Attorney Heymann for procedures for reviewing documents, including reviewing the documents by himself and providing only a "generic description" to the investigators, deliberately disrupting the chain of custody of Mr. Foster's documents highly relevant to ongoing criminal investigations of Whitewater and Travelgate, not telling the FBI in interviews that Mrs. Clinton had seen "the note" and that Susan Thomases was told about it before it was disclosed to the authorities.
In March of 1993, a Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) employee notified Roger Altman at Treasury that RTC was forwarding a criminal referral mentioning the Clintons' involvement in Whitewater to the Justice Department. Altman, then Deputy Secretary of the Treasury and Interim CEO of RTC, immediately forwarded information relating to the Clinton's involvement in Whitewater to White House Counsel Bernard Nussbaum. Both Nussbaum and Altman testified that they had no recollection of this exchange, contradicting a paper trail of facsimiles transmitting the information between the two. This exchange further contradicts Mr. Nussbaum's testimony that he had no knowledge of matters relating to Whitewater until September, 1993. It is alleged that Altman improperly tipped off the White House as to the existence of a secret criminal investigation, thereby facilitating the White House obstruction of the investigation.
Two Clinton appointees, Joseph Tarver and Mark Shulhof, ransacked 160 personnel files of the former Bush administration. The State Department Inspector General, Sherman Funk called it a criminal breach of the Privacy Act, but the Justice Department declined action.
Rosemary O'Neill, the daughter of former Democrat Speaker Tip O'Neill, used State Department stationary to raise funds for left-wing charities. Timothy Hunter, a State Department employee forwarded the O'Neill file to Janet Reno's Justice Department. Several weeks later, Hunter was terminated without the usual 30 days notice. When he reported to work on April 21, 1995, there were two armed guards waiting for him to empty his desk and escort him from the building. The O'Neill case was closed.
From the affidavit of Nolanda Hill: ".9. I further learned through discussions with Ron that The White House, through Leon Panetta and John Podesta, had instructed him to delay the case by withholding the production of documents prior to the 1996 elections, and to devise a way not to comply with court's orders. "
From the affidavit of Nolanda Hill: ".13. I have reviewed the deposition video of Melissa Moss and, based on my knowledge, she has not told the truth in response a number of questions concerning Commerce Department trade missions, as well as other representations she has made under oath. "
Kirby Behre, the Washington DC lawyer with ties to the White House counsels - who told Linda Tripp to destroy the Lewinsky tapes, is a most likely candidate as the one responsible for allowing a reporter to listen to the tapes, which were privileged material between him and his client. Behre is one of three individuals to have held the tapes long enough to make copies; neither of the other two would have cause to damage Tripp. Aware of the stories that other White House accusers have had their homes ransacked for evidence, Tripp allowed Behre to hold the tapes for safekeeping. When she began to distrust Behre, Tripp retained James Moody as her new attorney late in 1997. When Moody attempted to obtain the tapes from him, Behre stated that he had not yet finished duplicating the tapes "for his protection." Behre turned the tapes over to Moody over forty-eight hours later. Only Kirby Behre, Kenneth Starr and Lucianne Goldberg have had the tapes long enough to make copies.
Lucianne Goldberg said Mr. Behre was fired after he sought to give the tapes to Mr. Clinton's personal attorney, Robert S. Bennett and that Mr. Behre returned the tapes but only after his office had transcribed them. Mr. Behre said last year that Mrs. Tripp was "outraged" when former White House volunteer Kathleen E. Willey first came forward to accuse Mr. Clinton of a sexual advance in the Oval Office and that Mrs. Willey had wrongly "injected" his client's name into stories concerning the Jones suit by saying Mrs. Tripp could corroborate the encounter and that Mrs. Tripp "never witnessed any inappropriate behavior by the president" and said his client had "no information even remotely relating to Paula Jones or her allegations."
In July 1995, in a meeting with Reno and top aides, amid mounting pressure from the White House and prominent Arkansans, Independent Counsel Donald Smaltz is told to stop investigating poultry giant Tyson Foods.
In April 1996, top Public Integrity officials Lee Radek and Jo Ann Farrington sign an unprecedented motion before the Special Division of the U.S. Court of Appeals seeking to limit the Smaltz probe.
Janet Reno refusals to appoint independent counsel in campaign finance (incomplete): 11/26/96, 4/30/97, 12/2/97. Janet Reno refusal to appoint independent counsel for presidential involvement in Indian casino 12/15/97, appoints one for Secreatry Babbitt 2/11/98
Mike Romano ".On April 6, 1995, Al Marion received a surprising letter from his boss, US Forest Service Chief Jack Ward Thomas. At the time, Marion was supervisor of an independent investigative bureau of the Forest Service known as the Timber Theft Task Force, which Congress established in 1991 to pursue white-collar timber crimes in California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska. Nobody expected the task force to do much more than inoculate the Forest Service against critics, but it won a string of stunning convictions, including a record-setting $3.2 million case against the Columbia River Scaling Bureau in 1993. Later that year, Marion's 10-man team launched a law enforcement initiative unprecedented at the Forest Service--three concurrent investigations, into allegations of million-dollar timber theft, accounting fraud, and obstruction of justice by Forest Service field managers. The task force was midstride in this three-pronged operation when Marion received Chief Thomas' letter, politely thanking him and his investigators for their "outstanding contributions" and declaring that the task force had "accomplished its mission." Their jobs were eliminated, effective immediately.."
The Washington Weekly 7/19/98 Carl Limbacher "Five summers ago this week the body of Vincent Walker Foster, Jr. was discovered near an antique cannon in an out of the way Virginia park. Two independent counsels, two congressional probes and one federal police investigation have determined he died by his own hand. Still, in national polls taken in 1995 and 1997, the American people by overwhelming margins say they do not believe Foster died as officials say. Yet even with this popular mandate, no investigator was willing to act on serious evidence of a White House cover-up of Foster's death. .new evidence had emerged in the Foster case that could have been politically lethal - had the scent been followed. Three independent handwriting experts determined that Foster's suicide note, which was discovered sans fingerprints, was a forgery. A last gasp exhaustive search of the park where Foster's body was found failed to turn up the missing bullet -- the only forensic evidence that would have linked his death to the scene. A previously unknown White House meeting featuring several major Foster case witnesses was revealed to have taken place at a key point during Robert Fiske's Foster probe. But the gathering of Bill Clinton, Webb Hubbell, Michael Cardozo, Marsha Scott, Shelia Foster- Anthony and Foster's widow Lisa apparently prompted little investigative interest, even though the meeting took place on May 7, 1994. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Washington Post - 5/3/97) Just two days later the widow Foster was scheduled to be questioned for the first time by Fiske. In fact, all the participants had spent time with Foster during his final days. And all were key to floating the depression alibi, except Lisa - who hadn't yet remembered how sick her husband had been. The press brushed off this "getting our stories straight" session as an innocent reunion of old Arkansas friends, even though Cardozo wasn't from Arkansas..."
The New York Post 7/17/98 Dick Morris has suggested parallel between Maryland prosecutor Stephen Montanarelli's interest in investigating key anti-Clinton witness, Linda Tripp in the midst of a federal grand jury probe to an earlier case: Two years ago Little Rock prosecutor Mark Stodala "made an eerily familar announcement, namely that Kenneth Starr's witness against then - Governor Jim Guy Tucker would be indicted on state charges of insurance fraud. Hale gave damaging evidence against Tucker and the McDouga;s. Says Morris: "The pattern is all too obvious. Clinton's allies are using the identical M.O. whenever they need to discredit a threatening accuser. Within weeks of (Stodala's) announcement, contributions from Clilnton allies began pouring into Stodola's congressional campaign. Juhn Huang, Charlie Trie, Don Tyson, Tyson Foods' political action committee, Jim Blair (Hillary's commodities investment advisor) and Stephens, Inc (the Arkansas investment firm that bankrolled the '92 Clinton presidential campaign), all gave. Rush Deacon, an associate of James Riady of the notorious Lippo Group, chipped in. So did Ernest Green, who had arranged for a Chinese arms dealer to visit the Oval Office. After giving $50,000 to the DNC a day after the visit, he sent in $500 for Stodola."
US News & World Report 8/3/98 Marianne Lavelle, Kenneth Walsh, Julian Barnes "Several Starr supporters view Kendall's leak investigation as a bald effort to neutralize one of Starr's most important deputies just as the independent counsel approaches his endgame. "If you wanted to target somebody on Ken's staff who has the capability of taking very difficult witnesses who don't want to testify . . . and getting them to tell you the truth, then the person to target would be Jackie Bennett," says W. Ray Jahn, a former Starr prosecutor. Tough guy. Clinton's defenders deny any effort to "take out" Bennett. But regardless of the intentions behind it, the White House anti-leak strategy has already hampered Bennett--the prosecutor that one source familiar with Starr's team calls, admiringly, one of the "more pugilistic of the bunch." Bennett has been responsible for some of the most aggressive moves in the Whitewater and Lewinsky probes, including the decision to call White House communications adviser Sidney Blumenthal before the grand jury.
Washington Post 7/27/98 Alan Charles Raul "Judge Laurence Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals performed the nation a great service in his opinion this month on Secret Service privilege: He reintroduced the notion of "honor" to the way we judge our public officials. Dedication to this virtue has not been a priority lately among our leaders, and the paucity of available role models has diminished ethical standards from top to bottom. Silberman wrote a startling opinion concurring in the D.C. Circuit's recent decision to reject a new form of privilege that would have protected the president from testimony by his bodyguards. Silberman made a point of holding the U.S. attorney general accountable for acting both legally and honorably. Silberman was "mindful of the terrible pressures and strains of conscience that bear upon senior political appointees of the Justice Department when an Independent Counsel (or special prosecutor) is investigating the Presidency of the United States." He concluded, however, that the attorney general's participation in the "war" declared on independent counsel Kenneth Starr was not legal -- because the Ethics in Government Act specifically precludes the Justice Department from interfering in an independent counsel investigation -- and it also was not honorable. This second issue bears special attention."
7/21/98 Doug Thompson Capitol Hill Blue White House attorneys are attempting to influence testimony by Secret Service agents subpoenaed to testify before the Whitewater grand jury -- an overt action which some of the agents feel is pressure to keep them from telling the truth about what they saw and heard, Capitol Hill Blue has learned. "We're not talking about coaching here," says a source close to the agents. "This is pressure, an attempt to control what the agents say and how they say it." The White House had admitted advising the agents not to answer questions which deal with "national security or attorney-client privilege," but some agents are said to be angry over what they consider to be an outright attempt to "spin" their testimony before independent counsel Kenneth Starr's grand jury. .One of the agents subpoenaed to testify has confided to colleagues that he feels the White House wants him to lie. "He said the message is clear. He was reminded that he is sworn to protect the President at all costs and that sometimes the President needs to be protected from more than just physical harm," one agent told Capitol Hill Blue on Monday."
7/29/98 Investor's Business Daily Editorial "Attorney General Janet Reno either is incompetent or is shielding President Clinton, Vice President Gore and other Democratic honchos. Nothing else explains Reno's rejection of an independent counsel to probe the '96 fund-raising scandal.Yes, several shady fund- raisers were recently indicted: Charlie Trie, Johnny Chung, Maria Tsia. But the charges were narrow. They focused on money-laundering. They ignored the longtime friendships and frequent meetings the three had with Clinton, Gore or both men. Reno and her prosecutors seem to have ignored the nation's security as well.
Detroit News 9/7/98 Tony Snow ".Sen. Orrin Hatch stalked out in a lather. "This matter has now passed the point of reasonableness," the Utah Republican told reporters, "and I am no longer willing to give the attorney general the benefit of the doubt. It is now beyond dispute that she is not living up to her duty to enforce the law." Dan Burton, chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, repeated his assertion that Reno "appears to be trying to protect the president and vice president." .Although everybody in the top tier of management at the Justice Department supports the appointment of an independent counsel, Reno has resisted the call for 18 months - thus allowing malefactors to destroy evidence and the evidentiary trail to grow cold. Moreover, as Hatch notes, the Justice Department "hasn't investigated the main characters who caused the campaign-finance violations." ."
Washington Post 9/9/98 Edward Walsh ".Rep. David M. McIntosh (R-Ind.), chairman of a House Government Reform and Oversight subcommittee that has been investigating the White House's use of a computer database during the 1996 campaign, said he will also ask the Justice Department to investigate whether the White House was guilty of "theft of government property" by using information stored in the government database for campaign purposes. McIntosh said the investigation had uncovered "very strong evidence" that Mills lied to Congress when she testified last year that she thought documents dealing with the database actually concerned another computer system at the White House. He said there also was strong evidence that the White House shared information in the database with the Democratic National Committee for fund-raising and other political purposes and that that would amount to "theft of government property." ."
Freeper report ."... Remember Blumenthal's appearance before Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's grand jury last summer? Following his testimony, Blumenthal denounced prosecutors for having the nerve to grill him about his contacts with reporters Blumenthal also phoned New York Times columnist Anthony Lewis and told him he'd been asked a series of intrusive questions about Bill Clinton's religion and his sex life. That led Lewis to denounce the dangerous ... degradation of the legal process, One problem: Neither allegation turns out to be true. We know this thanks to the final batch of grand-jury transcripts released by the House last weekend. Publicly, Blumenthal declared that he'd been forced to answer questions about my conversations, as part of my job, with a laundry list of news-media organizations, adding that Starr's prosecutors demanded to know what I had told reporters and what reporters had told me ... Liar. In fact, Blumenthal was asked whether he knew anything about any talk-ing points related to the Lewinsky matter. After acknowledging that he'd received such a document from the Democratic National Committee, he was asked if he'd ever given it to anyone outside the White House. If reporters called me or I spoke with reporters I would tell them to call the DNC to get those talking points, responded Blumenthal - who then voluntarily rattled off that laundry list of news organizations he claimed Starr's people had demanded from him. Members of the grand jury had watched Blumenthal's turn in front of the TV cameras - and they were outraged by his deception. We had some serious concerns, the forewoman told Blumenthal. The work we are doing here is very serious, and the integrity to our work as representatives of the people of the United States of America is very important to us. We are very concerned about the fact that, during your last visit, that an inaccurate representation of the events that happened were retold on the steps of the courthouse.."
AP 10/7/98 Larry Margasak "President Clinton said today that members of the House should cast ``a vote of principle and conscience'' on whether to approve a broad, Republican-written impeachment inquiry against him. He denied he was trying to pressure lawmakers. ``It's up to others to decide what happens to me and ultimately it's going to be up to the American people to make a clear statement there,'' the president told reporters in the Oval Office. ``More important than anything else to me is they do the people's work and then let the people decide where we go from here.'' In return, Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, the senior Democrat in the Senate, offered ``friendly advice'' to the White House: ``Don't tamper with this jury.''."
NY Times 10/8/98 William Safire "Remember John Huang? He's the banker who was placed by Indonesia's Riady family in the corrupted Clinton Commerce Department. For 18 months he read top- secret cable traffic, was briefed 37 times by the C.I.A., viewed 500 pieces of raw intelligence -- and made 261 calls to the Lippo banks. He frequently slipped across the street to a Riady banker's "drop" to send and receive faxes and packages that did not appear on Commerce records. Huang also paid 67 recorded visits to the White House complex. After deceptively signing in as a visitor to the President's secretary, he met in the Oval Office with his new and old bosses, Bill Clinton and James Riady. Clinton had Bruce Lindsey arrange with Harold Ickes to reassign Huang to the D.N.C., where he raised $2 million from illegal Asian sources. .Then this: According to "a senior Justice official," reported Roberto Suro of The Washington Post, "some investigators have concluded that Huang does not have information that would support the prosecution of the Democratic officials who received and spent the funds he raised or the White House officials who promoted his career in Washington." Huang home free? But nobody at Justice has interrogated him in these two years. Although he has taken the Fifth Amendment to duck Congress, he has never had to exercise his rights against self-incrimination to Reno's parade of hamstrung prosecutors. "Regarding the Department of Justice," his attorney, Ty Cobb, tells me, "John Huang has not had the occasion to take the Fifth." Imagine that: With no questions asked of the untouchable Huang, a "senior Justice official" reports investigators "concluded" this essential witness has nothing to say about Clinton-Riady dealings. Justice is reportedly considering giving Huang immunity to go after small fry, thereby protecting the President..Small wonder the House refuses to limit the impeachment inquiry to lying under oath about sex. There's more to Clinton's fund-raising lawbreaking than meets the F.B.I.."
Capitol Hill Blue 10/7/98 Daniel J. Harris Teresa Hampton "Spurred by angry Democrats who were threatened with the loss of vitally-needed last-minute campaign funds if they didn't vote against an impeachment probe of President Clinton, House Democratic leader Richard Gephardt Tuesday told the President to "back off" its intensive lobbying campaign on the Hill. Sources close to Gephardt told Capitol Hill Blue today that the minority leader was "visibly rattled" after receiving complaints from Democrats who said White House callers, including First Lady Hillary Clinton, had threatened to withhold campaign funds from the Democratic campaign committees to any party member who voted for the impeachment probe. Gepharddt, in a heated phone call to Clinton, said the heavy-handed lobbying campaign was backfiring and could drive fence-straddling Democrats over to the Republican-backed open-ended impeachment vote that faces sure passage on Thursday."
Washington Weekly 10/12/98 Marvin Lee (on The Burton Committee's Interim Report) ". Take the case of Venezuelan money launderers, the Castro family. Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau was investigating the family for money laundering and bank fraud when he made a surprising discovery: a number of canceled checks showing donations to the Democratic Party and the Clinton campaign going all the way back to 1992. Even more disturbing were faxes from the DNC telling the Castro family how to launder the illegal contributions to escape detection by the Federal Election Commission. And finally, a picture of Bill Clinton shaking the hands of a member of the Castro family surfaced. Robert Morgenthau realized that this was serious stuff. It was documentary evidence of a scheme to funnel illegal foreign contributions to the DNC and the Clinton campaign. One of the defendants, Jorge Castro Barredo, became a cooperating witness and agreed to testify against his contact at the DNC. In October of 1996, a month before the election, Morgenthau referred the DNC aspect of the case to federal prosecutors at the Miami U.S. Attorney's office. But the case was also brought to the attention of Lee Radek, head of the Public Integrity Division of the DOJ. He realized that the statute of limitations on the donations to the Clinton campaign would run out in September of 1997. So he decided to run out the clock by stalling the case with at times farcical means. First, he removed the case from the U.S. Attorney in Miami. Then he refused to answer repeated inquiries from Morgenthau's office about the progress of the case. As soon as the clock had run out on the DNC crimes, Radek, also overseeing the Justice Department's Campaign Financing Task Force, sent a letter to the attorney for the cooperating witness, Jorge Castro Barredo, saying that he had "concluded that there is at this time no further role for him to play in matters under investigation by the Task Force." No wonder. He had just run out the clock. So the DOJ had dropped the clear-cut case of the illegal DNC contributions. As a consequence, the testimony provided by Castro Barredo was not used, and despite his offer to testify against the DNC he received a full sentence of three to ten years in prison on unrelated bank fraud charges stemming from the original Morgenthau investigation.."
Washington Weekly 10/12/98 Marvin Lee (on The Burton Committee's Interim Report) ".But the most egregious case is that of John Huang, the master coordinator of the scheme to launder money from the Chinese government, through hundreds of intermediaries, to the Clinton campaign. In addition, Huang is a long-time friend of Bill Clinton and is suspected of espionage on behalf of the Chinese government while at the Commerce Department with a top secret clearance obtained without a background check. Two weeks ago, the Justice Department leaked through the Washington Post that "investigators have concluded that Huang does not have information that would support the prosecution of the Democratic officials who received and spent the funds he raised or the White House officials who promoted his career in Washington." Incredibly, this conclusion was reached without ever talking to John Huang. The Justice Department reportedly is considering giving John Huang immunity so that he cannot be prosecuted for espionage either. The pretext for the immunity is that he will be able to testify against subordinates. Come again? This "Chinese coup" at the Justice Department came after the removal of Charles La Bella, the prosecutor who had been brought in to replace Lee Radek after charges of cover-up by William Safire, had found evidence of criminal wrongdoing by the President warranting the appointment of an Independent Counsel. How can Lee Radek and Janet Reno get away with this? The answer is that the rule of law has been compromised and nobody gives a damn except Dan Burton and William Safire."
CNN Transcript 10/11/98 Wolf Blizter and Congressman Dan Burton ".BLITZER: With impeachment hearings on the horizon, the White House is bracing for a difficult autumn. Welcome back to this 90 minute LATE EDITION. Congressman Dan Burton, one of the president's harshest critics chairs the committee that just issued an interim report on Democratic campaign fundraising. His conclusion: Democrats should have returned another $1.7 million dollars in possibly tainted contributions and joining me now is Congressman Dan Burton..BLITZER: And the DNC as you know has issued a statement in response to your report denying that they were engaged in any wrong doing whatsoever in raising these funds? BURTON: That's why I brought this. These two volumes contain bank records which we have subpoenaed. We have over 1,000 pages of documents and about 700 pages of footnotes that show conclusively that these facts that I just gave you are accurate. And the Democrats on my Committee headed by Henry Waxman had one page -- one page, refuting all of this information that we have. So, I would just say that the Justice Department and the Federal Election Commission needs to go through the facts we have and make their own judgment on that..BLITZER: Are you satisfied with Janet Reno's cooperation and with the White House's cooperation now in your investigation? BURTON: Absolutely not. Janet Reno in my opinion is protecting the president of the United States. Mr. LaBella and FBI Director, Louis Freeh and that ... "
Drudge 10/12/98 ".A congressional subcommittee has written a blistering report that will level new charges against the president and first lady, accusing them of taking part in the 'theft of government property.' . Concluding its two year investigation into the White House Database, the subcommittee charges that "the president's involvement in the plan to convert government property to the DNC and the ultimate accomplishment of that plan motivated the White House to mount an extraordinary effort to delay and impede the investigation." Deputy Counsel to the President Cheryl Mills [a Harold Ickes recruit] has been hit with a charge of "lying to the committee and obstructing the investigation by withholding documents." The Mills matter has been referred to the Department of Justice for investigation..A deputy White House lawyer had warned all involved in the project that data from the computer may be provided to sources outside of the federal government "only for authorized purposes." David Watkins, then assistant to the president, said in an eyes only "privileged and confidential" memo: "The White House Database will be government property and can not be used by a campaign entity." The report accuses the White House of sharing files from the database with the DNC and the Clinton/Gore reelection campaign -- even using White House staffers to transfer the information. The trail from White House to DNC is detailed in hundreds of pages of documents and testimony. The report's summary concludes: "The committee has obtained evidence that Deputy Counsel to the President Cheryl Mills perjured herself and obstructed the investigation to prevent Congress and the American public from finding out that the president and the First Lady were involved in the unlawful conversion of government property; the president and the first lady were involved in the unlawful conversion of governments property to the use of the DNC and the Clinton/Gore campaign; and numerous other individuals, including Erskine Bowles and Marsha Scott were also involved in the unlawful conversion of government property to the use of the DNC and the campaign through the diversion of data and resources." ."
Reuters 10/12/98 ".A top House Republican Monday blasted President Clinton's fund-raising for House Judiciary Committee Democrat Charles Schumer and said Schumer should bow out of a presidential impeachment inquiry. Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas, third-ranking House Republican, said Clinton's efforts on behalf of someone who might sit in judgment of him in impeachment hearings were "unseemly'' and described the White House's active lobbying against the inquiry as "jury tampering.'' Democrat Schumer is locked in a bitter election campaign with Republican Sen. Al D'Amato for New York's Senate seat. Clinton traveled to New York Monday to appear at two fund-raising events for Schumer. "I think it's quite unseemly for the president of the United States, whose fate is in the hands of the Judiciary Committee, to be going to raise a lot of money ... for a member who sits on that committee,'' DeLay told reporters. "There will be decisions made by the committee that directly affect the president, whether they vote for impeachment or not. And Mr. Schumer, frankly, ought to recuse himself from the committee because of the president being in New York City raising money for him,'' he said. ."
WorldNetDaily 10/7/98 Sarah Foster "In an unprecedented effort to control the direction of questioning and flow of testimony during Travelgate hearings, White House counsel went so far as to prepare special scripts for Democrats on a congressional investigative committee -- enabling members to ask friendly witnesses approved questions and to fend off potentially embarrassing ones, WorldNetDaily has learned. "Extensively detailed briefing papers and a series of questions ... were prepared to script the Democrat members of the [House] Committee on Government Reform and Oversight" -- the Oversight Committee said in its 186-page report: Investigation of the White House Travel Office Firings and Related Matters. "Such meticulous executive branch scripting for congressional hearings is something even the Nixon White House did not dare to undertake," the committee observed. Although the report was released in September, 1996, the scripting of committee members was something the public and the media overlooked -- the matter being eclipsed by the report's revelations about the notorious "Sherburne Memo." .."This is a huge issue," Morton told WorldNetDaily. "The public and the press are talking about Bill and Monica -- but here's Clinton and his cronies taking over Congress -- intervening in its affairs and investigative work." The Sherburne Memo and the scripts were part of a cache of some 2,000 pages of subpoenaed documents which the White House had refused to release to the committee, claiming the usual "executive privilege." Not until August 15, 1996, did President Clinton finally agree to relinquish them -- and then only after the committee threatened White House Counsel John M. Quinn with criminal contempt of Congress.."
WorldNetDaily 10/7/98 Sarah Foster ".More importantly, collusion between the White House and Democratic members of committees continues, according to John Williams, press secretary for Rep. Burton. Williams cites a letter dated Aug. 4, to Rep. Burton from Janet Reno, in which the attorney general attempts to justify her refusal to turn over certain documents the committee had requested. Reno had phoned the committee earlier that very day asking permission to address the committee the following day to explain her decision. But the agenda had been set, and adding an additional witness would have meant shortening the time allowed for the testimony of such witnesses as FBI Director Louis Freeh who was scheduled to appear. Rebuffed, Reno put her explanation (with the inevitable claim of executive privilege) in a letter addressed to "the Honorable Dan Burton, chairman" --- with a copy sent to ranking minority member Henry Waxman. Waxman's office saw to it that the Democratic members of the committee received copies as well. There was only one problem. The letter was never sent to Burton. He and his staff knew nothing of it "until Tom Lantos started waving a copy in the air, " Williams recalled. "Here were the Democrats with a copy of a letter from the attorney general to the chairman -- which the chairman never received," Williams said. "That's just one more example of the administration -- in this case the Justice Department -- working in tandem with Democrats on the committee."
NPR 10/14/98 ". There were new questions Wednesday about independent counsel Kenneth Starr's conduct in the Monica Lewinsky investigation. National Public Radio has learned that Starr consulted with lawyers in the Paula Jones case as many as half a dozen times before he became independent counsel. According to Justice Department officials, Starr failed to disclose those consultations to Attorney General Janet Reno in January when he sought to expand his investigation of President Clinton to include the president's testimony in the Jones case. Legal ethics experts say that Starr had a duty to disclose the contacts with Jones's lawyers so that the Reno and judges involved with Starr's investigation would be informed about the possible appearance of conflict of interest. Starr's office has not returned repeated calls from NPR seeking comment."
NoHoldsBarred 10/14/98 CJBarr concerning the above item ".The NPR "Scoop" about telephone conversations between Judge Starr and Gil Davis is bogus. First: Starr was called by Gil Davis for informal advice on the Constitutionality of Clinton's claim of civil immunity, not on any of the substantive issues of the case. Second: The conversations were informal and were not compensated. Third: Starr, it has always been well known, was considering filing a brief in the Supreme Court case. Is it not reasonable to assume that he had talked to the Jones' lawyers? Fourth: Gil Davis has talked openly about the calls on various cable shows. At least one of these shows predated the Lewinsky matter. During it, he was questioned in detail about the nature of his discussions with Starr. He made it clear that he was asking only for Starr's legal opinion about the validity of the immunity argument. Even if the informal contacts should have been made known to the Justice Department, they were already in the public domain."
FoxNews 10/15/98 Freeper report "Bob Benett wrote a letter of protest back in 1994 telling the DOJ about Ken Starr's contacts with the Paula Jones lawyers."
The Boston Globe 10/17/98 Ann Scales ".It's President Clinton's modus operandi - using his appeal to raise big bucks for Democratic allies, including those on Capitol Hill, in the final push before an election. But this year, shadowed by impeachment clouds, there is concern that Clinton's fund-raising on behalf of Senate candidates is inappropriate and should cease because the full Senate would sit in judgment of the president if he is impeached by the House. Republicans and congressional watchdog groups are warning that with a constitutional process now in play, such fund-raising activities have the appearance of a conflict of interest, particularly when support from Democrats is so crucial to whether Clinton stays in office.."
From Freeper quidam Vol 6 Page 2469 8/11/98 Kenneth Starr to Deputy Attorney General Holder ".Rule 6(e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure binds all attorneys for the government, including those employed by the Department of Justice who are privy to information regarding "matters occurring before the grand jury." And, as Chief Judge Johnson has recently written, Rule 6(e) protects against the disclosure not merely of the actual testimony of grand jury witnesses before the grand jury but also of the substance of their testimony as conveyed to government attorneys and agents in anticipation of their grand jury appearance. The enclosed article from Newsweek magazine recounts in detail what Officers Muskett and Byrne told "Secret Service and Justice Department lawyers." The article identifies its source as these "government lawyers" and makes out a potential & facie case that attorneys for the Department of Justice (and possibly Secret Service) involved in the litigation have violated Rule 6(e). Please advise me at your earliest convenience of the steps you are taking to identify the source of these disclosures and prevent future violations of Rule 6(e) so that I may take appropriate action."
RNC Press Release 11/14/97 ".The Washington Post today reported that the Justice Department sat on files containing evidence that an organizer of Vice President Al Gore's Buddhist Temple fundraiser was a Communist Chinese "agent." The story, by Post investigative reporter Bob Woodward, "provides the strongest evidence yet that the Justice Department cannot be trusted to investigate Clinton- Gore fundraising abuses," according to Republican National Committee Chairman Jim Nicholson. "According to the Post, the FBI had files in their possession that would have confirmed what Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson has said all along - that there was an organized campaign by the Communist Chinese to influence U.S. elections," Nicholson charged. "The files contain confidential surveillance data indicating that Maria Hsia, John Huang's co-chair for Al Gore's fundraiser at the Hsi Lai Temple, was a Chinese 'agent' who was 'doing the bidding' of Beijing. Worse yet, the FBI sat on these files until five days after the suspension of the Thompson Committee hearings in the Senate." The story reports that Maria Hsia, working with Huang and James Riady of the Lippo Group, set up a fundraising group called the "Pacific Leadership Council" which made significant contributions to the Senate campaign of Vice President Al Gore. The files also contain "reliable but unconfirmed" reports indicating that Huang, while working as a senior Commerce Department official, passed a classified document to the Chinese government, according to the story."
House of Representatives 9/11/98 Chris Cox R-CA ". Rep. Christopher Cox. That is exactly right, and furthermore, what I have just covered is the list of the names of these scandals, but the memo, which is quite lengthy, goes on then to describe the strategy for dealing with each of these scandals so that anyone trying to investigate would not be able to get to the bottom of it, and I will give you one example. ne page 4 of this memo there is a heading, `Security,' by which they mean White House security slash Livingstone issues. Now keep in mind that this was dated December 13, 1994. You may recall approximately when Craig Livingstone came upon the national scene, became a household name because of that Clinton scandal. It was not in 1994, but in 1996, 2 years later. But listen to what this memo says back in 1994. `Review Livingstone file.' Now, presumably they did. `Interview Livingstone.' They wanted, apparently, to deal with Livingstone problems back in 1994, all of which were covered up so that the Congress and the American people did not find out about them and did not find out at all about Filegate, literally hundreds of files on Republicans who had worked in the White House in previous administrations, FBI files which had been collected by this White House under Craig Livingston.."
Washington Weekly 2/17/97 ".Whitewater witness Judge David Hale dropped a bombshell in an interview with the Associated Press last week: The FBI has destroyed evidence he had against Bill Clinton. On July 21, 1993, FBI agents raided the office of David Hale and seized his loan files. Among the loan files were the file on the illegal $300,000 loan that Clinton pressured David Hale to make to Susan McDougal. When the government filed suit against David Hale for loan fraud -- Clinton appointee U.S. Attorney Paula Casey refused to hear Hale's evidence against Bill Clinton as part of a plea bargain -- Hale's attorney needed access to the files and asked the FBI to see it. "The file on the $300,000 loan was three to four inches thick when the FBI took it, but when my attorney and I asked to see it a month or so later, the U.S. attorney's office gave us maybe an inch of stuff," Hale says. Jim McDougal now confirms the allegation David Hale has made against the President. McDougal recently told New Yorker correspondent James Stewart that Clinton was present at a 1986 meeting in which the illegal $300,000 loan to McDougal's former wife Susan was discussed with David Hale. The allegation of FBI destruction of Whitewater evidence comes at the heels of evidence of FBI witness tampering in the Vince Foster and Oklahoma bombing investigations as well as intimidation and retaliation against FBI whistleblowers Dennis Sculimbrene and Fred Whitehurst in the Filegate and Oklahoma bomb investigations."
Washington Weekly 11/9/98 Wesley Phelan ".(following from interview with Larry Klayman, Judicial Watch).".QUESTION: The big story right now is the election. As you know, it was a wash in the Senate and the Democrats picked up five seats in the House. Many people are interpreting this as a statement by the voters that the Republicans have pursued impeachment too aggressively, and that the voters are tired of Monica and sex stories and want Congress to move forward. How do you respond to that? KLAYMAN: Certainly the more serious Clinton scandals go far beyond Monica into Chinagate, Filegate, misuse of the Internal Revenue Service, and laundering of money through legal defense funds. In that respect it is not surprising that the public has not focused on Monicagate, particularly given the spin the Democrats have put on it that it's just about sex. It's not "just about sex, stupid!" It's about potential breaches of national security, the selling of government-financed services for campaign contributions in violation of law, misuse of federal agencies to harm perceived adversaries and material witnesses, and money laundering. So in that respect I understand why there has not been a more forceful public response. You can't expect the American people to support the efforts of Congress unless Congress takes the time to explain to them why this is important..With the exception of Bob Barr and Gerald Solomon, the Republican Party has been almost completely silent about these other, more serious scandals. From that point of view, the Republicans reaped what they sowed. If the Republicans try to walk away from the massive corruption that currently exists in Washington, particularly in the White House, they then become accessories to these crimes. Their job is to clean up this corruption. The fact that they are now appearing to bail out on the impeachment inquiry to me suggests that they themselves will have culpability for not doing their jobs. ."
Laisse-Faire City Times 11/2/98 ".Kathleen Jonoski, the top photographer for the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, took the only pictures showing an apparent bullet hole in former Commerce Secretary Ron Brown's head. She has filed a suit, along with two other top pathologists, against the military, which demoted all three after they exposed the problems surrounding no autopsy of Brown's body. This interview [excerpt] is conducted by former Washington Weekly reporter Wesley Phelan. QUESTION: So you don't believe the story of the defective x-ray cassette? JANOSKI: No. About 6 months after the crash I had a conversation with Jeanmarie Sentell, a naval criminal investigative agent. She told me the first set of head x-rays on Ron Brown were deliberately destroyed because they showed a lead snowstorm. I said, "What are you talking about?" She explained to me what a lead snowstorm is: metal fragments breaking up from a bullet. And she proceeded to tell me that the first set of x-rays was deliberately destroyed and a second set was taken. The exposure was changed in an attempt to eradicate or diminish the metal fragments.."
Washington Post 11/14/97 Bob Woodward ".The FBI has acknowledged overlooking key intelligence information gathered as far back as 1991 that investigators believe shows further Chinese government efforts to buy political influence in the United States, senior U.S. government sources said yesterday. Attorney General Janet Reno learned of the new evidence Nov. 5. A senior Justice Department official said Reno was "livid" at the FBI foulup and two days later apologized to Sen. Fred Thompson, R- Tenn., for failing to disclose information that was germane to Senate hearings into campaign fund-raising abuses. Thompson had suspended his committee's hearings Oct. 31. FBI Director Louis Freeh, who also apologized to Thompson, has replaced the senior FBI official overseeing the bureau's investigation into suspected Chinese influence buying, officials said. The newly discovered intelligence, much of it culled from electronic surveillance conducted by the FBI and other U.S. agencies over the past six years, includes evidence of the magnitude and means by which Beijing hoped to influence U.S. elections, several officials said. The evidence also shows links between the Chinese government and several U.S. citizens, including a Democratic fund-raiser in Los Angeles whom several officials characterize as an "agent" for the Chinese. Officials would not provide details of the classified intelligence.The belatedly discovered files indicate that Maria Hsia - a Taiwanese American immigrant who for a decade has raised money for Democratic causes - was "doing the bidding" of Beijing as a Chinese agent, a senior official said. Hsia became significantly involved in Democratic Party fund raising in 1988 with James Riady, a wealthy Indonesian businessman who once lived in California and whose Lippo Group has been at the center of inquiries over the past year into campaign-finance irregularities. Hsia, 46, set up an Asian-American fund-raising group called the Pacific Leadership Council with Riady and John Huang, later a Democratic National Committee fund-raiser. The two largest recipients of PLC money in the 1990 election cycle were then-Sens. Albert Gore Jr., D-Tenn., and Paul Simon, D-Ill.."
Laisse-Faire City Times 11/2/98 ".Kathleen Jonoski, the top photographer for the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, took the only pictures showing an apparent bullet hole in former Commerce Secretary Ron Brown's head. She has filed a suit, along with two other top pathologists, against the military, which demoted all three after they exposed the problems surrounding no autopsy of Brown's body. This interview [excerpt] is conducted by former Washington Weekly reporter Wesley Phelan. QUESTION: So you don't believe the story of the defective x-ray cassette? JANOSKI: No. About 6 months after the crash I had a conversation with Jeanmarie Sentell, a naval criminal investigative agent. She told me the first set of head x-rays on Ron Brown were deliberately destroyed because they showed a lead snowstorm. I said, "What are you talking about?" She explained to me what a lead snowstorm is: metal fragments breaking up from a bullet. And she proceeded to tell me that the first set of x-rays was deliberately destroyed and a second set was taken. The exposure was changed in an attempt to eradicate or diminish the metal fragments.."
Washington Post 11/14/97 Bob Woodward ".The FBI has acknowledged overlooking key intelligence information gathered as far back as 1991 that investigators believe shows further Chinese government efforts to buy political influence in the United States, senior U.S. government sources said yesterday. Attorney General Janet Reno learned of the new evidence Nov. 5. A senior Justice Department official said Reno was "livid" at the FBI foulup and two days later apologized to Sen. Fred Thompson, R- Tenn., for failing to disclose information that was germane to Senate hearings into campaign fund-raising abuses. Thompson had suspended his committee's hearings Oct. 31. FBI Director Louis Freeh, who also apologized to Thompson, has replaced the senior FBI official overseeing the bureau's investigation into suspected Chinese influence buying, officials said. The newly discovered intelligence, much of it culled from electronic surveillance conducted by the FBI and other U.S. agencies over the past six years, includes evidence of the magnitude and means by which Beijing hoped to influence U.S. elections, several officials said. The evidence also shows links between the Chinese government and several U.S. citizens, including a Democratic fund-raiser in Los Angeles whom several officials characterize as an "agent" for the Chinese. Officials would not provide details of the classified intelligence.The belatedly discovered files indicate that Maria Hsia - a Taiwanese American immigrant who for a decade has raised money for Democratic causes - was "doing the bidding" of Beijing as a Chinese agent, a senior official said. Hsia became significantly involved in Democratic Party fund raising in 1988 with James Riady, a wealthy Indonesian businessman who once lived in California and whose Lippo Group has been at the center of inquiries over the past year into campaign-finance irregularities. Hsia, 46, set up an Asian-American fund-raising group called the Pacific Leadership Council with Riady and John Huang, later a Democratic National Committee fund-raiser. The two largest recipients of PLC money in the 1990 election cycle were then-Sens. Albert Gore Jr., D-Tenn., and Paul Simon, D-Ill.."
Associated Press 11/12/98 Karen Gullo ".The Justice Department, which has been paying the legal bills of some figures in the Monica Lewinsky inquiry, is now insisting that lawyers whose clients want reimbursement must alert the White House to testimony that might involve executive privilege. Legal and political experts worry the new policy could give presidents under investigation an early warning of potentially damaging testimony that they could then block by invoking privilege. ``Could this be sort of a tip- off? The answer is yes,'' said Peter Shane, a University of Pittsburgh Law School professor and former Justice Department lawyer. The department says the policy change it made this summer ensures there is no violation of the legal doctrine that presidents deserve to keep confidential the advice they get from their staff. Federal employees who need lawyers for work-related investigations can have the government provide one -- who would know the privilege doctrine -- or hire their own. Justice changed the policy to make sure outside lawyers learn the doctrine and abide by it.As part of the changes, Justice added the new requirement regarding executive privilege. Brandenburg said the department isn't concerned the policy could be abused. ``The proper handling of privileged information is of vital historic importance to the government and is more important than its effect on the person who is president,'' he said. ``Without any mechanism, the government might never know about a claim that could be of great importance to the presidency.'' But others fear the change could drive a witness who otherwise might not tell the White House of damaging testimony to disclose it, even before prosecutors know about it. ``It strikes me that the president is not entitled to know in advance how a witness will testify. It's giving a broader reach'' to the privilege, said Mark Rozell, a political science professor at the University of Pennsylvania.."
New York Post 11/15/98 Brian Blomquist ".A lawyer working for Sexgate investigator Kenneth Starr said yesterday Richard Nixon would have survived Watergate if his aides had been as blindly loyal as President Clinton's "devotees" and "apologists." The adviser to Starr accused Clinton's aides and allies of lying to demonize Starr. "If Richard Nixon had such loyal devotees, I guess he would have probably served all eight years," Ronald Rotunda told The Post..Rotunda particularly lit into White House aide Sidney Blumenthal, who's been fingered as Clinton's "dirt devil." "The Clinton apologists are so confident that we will not leak that they feel confident in baldly lying to the press," Rotunda said. "It's been unfortunate that, given the rules of engagement given to us by the district judge, we can be vilified and lied about by Clinton aides like Blumenthal in their confidence that the truth will never come out. "You remember last February, Blumenthal came out of the grand-jury room and announced how he was mortified and felt dirty because he'd been asked ^by investigators_ who in the press he had been contacting," Rotunda said. "We now know ... that ^Blumenthal_ was never asked that question and that the next time he showed up in the grand-jury room, the grand-jury forelady said, "How could you say this to the press? It was just a lie.' "Everybody in this office knew since last February that Sid Blumenthal was lying," Rotunda said, "but that never leaked. Moreover, Sid Blumenthal knew he was lying. "But he was confident enough in engaging in a bald-faced lie last February because he was confident it wouldn't leak." Rotunda, who's paid by the Office of the Independent Counsel to advise Starr and his prosecutors on constitutional matters and legal ethics, said he looks forward to Starr getting his chance to respond to his critics Thursday before the House Judiciary Committee, which is holding impeachment hearings based on Starr's report.."
Washington Times 11/14/98 Frank Murray ".Two of four evidence boxes sent to Congress by the independent counsel went astray for two hours yesterday in the hands of a Democratic House Judiciary Committee aide and arrived already opened at the secured Ford Office Building. "Where did they go ? We don't know. We don't know if a copy was made, if a copy was given to the White House, or if non- congressional staff personnel were allowed to look at them," a Republican committee aide said. Democratic staff members said it was an innocent mistake by investigative counsel Stephen F. Reich, who picked up the two boxes for Democrats at 12:10 p.m. by arrangement with deputy independent counsel Robert J. Bittman, supposedly without realizing they contained material to be handled under tight security.."
Freeper Plummz reports 11/17/98 FoxNews ".Fox News Channel just reported that Dick Gephardt has released a satement threatening a Democrat boycott of the impeachment hearings if it examines matters beyond Lewinsky! Dick Morris just speculated that Dickie G. is acting on Hillary orders, citing Hillary's involvement in the activities of Friday's Hubbel indictment.."
The New York Times 12/5/98 David Stout ".The Justice Department is investigating whether the C.I.A. may have obstructed justice by giving a U.S. electronics corporation information about a congressional inquiry involving that company, government officials said Friday. The Justice Department investigation involves Hughes Electronics Corp., the officials said. The company has been under congressional scrutiny regarding the transfer of sensitive U.S. space technology to China. "We are cooperating fully with the Justice Department," a C.I.A. spokesman, Bill Harlow, said Friday evening. He declined to comment further. .The Senate Intelligence Committee asked the Justice Department to begin an investigation after committee staff members became uneasy about the nature of information the C.I.A. shared with Hughes, said those officials who confirmed the outline of the Justice inquiry. Congressional investigators have been looking into Hughes in part because it and another aerospace company shared extensive data with Chinese engineers after two failed rocket launchings in 1996. The congressional investigators were sensitive to possible national-security implications involved in the accident post-mortems. When separate suspicions later arose that Chinese interests may have tried to use campaign donations to meddle in the 1996 U.S. elections, dealings with Chinese business interests became ever more sensitive. While not playing down the significance of the Justice Department inquiry, one government official cautioned Friday night against premature conclusions. "It may look worse than it is," the official said. Another official characterized the relaying of information by the C.I.A. to Hughes as unsurprising, if unfortunate, in view of the extensive routine business contacts between the spy agency and a major contractor.."
Freeper go star go 12/10/98 reports on FoxNews Carl Cameron ".The Whitehouse is going through the donor list of wavering Republicans and getting these donors to apply pressure on the Republican members. This is illegal. The Whitehouse is forbidden by law from lobying for or against legislation."
Drudge 12/10/98 ".The White House is expressing growing confidence that it can defeat proposed articles of impeachment on the House floor and is quietly exploring with Republican leaders a deal under which President Clinton would accept a punitive censure to escape impeachment, the NEW YORK TIMES is set to report in fresh Friday editions.. Clinton himself spoke to a "handful" House members this week to try to answer their concerns, a White House official told the paper on Thursday night. The official would not provide the members' names..."Presidential aides have contacted 45 potentially persuadable members of Congress in the past few days to offer further evidence or explanation in the president's defense and to urge them to vote against impeachment," . Three undecided House members, Lazio [R-NY], Forbes [R-NY] and Fox [R-PA] are scheduled to travel with the president on his trip to the Middle East on Saturday, giving Clinton more personal time to make the case.."
George mag 12/98 Richard Blow by Freeper vitolins ".When more than 400 of the country's greatest historians took out a full page ad in the New York Times against impeaching the president just days before the elections, it raised eyebrows in the world of academia and beyond. Turns out that the pro-Clinton manifesto had a little help from a friend in high places. Clinton aide Sidney Blumenthal, who has a controversial reputation for planting favorable Clinton stories in the press, helped the historians create the ad. Blumenthal, who fancies himself the White House's resident intellectual, was the historian's "connection at the White House," says an informed source. Though Blumenthal's secret role has been confirmed by others, Princeton historian Sean Wilentz, one of the ad's initiators, denies that Blumenthal had anything to do with it, saying that "we kept it separate" from the White House, and "this was not a partisan effort." Blumenthal did not return phone calls for comment.."
LandMark Legal Foundation 2/16/99 Freeper hope ".Landmark Legal Foundation filed a formal application to stop Attorney General Janet Reno's investigation of Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr. Reno's investigation appears to violate the congressional and judicial oversight provisions of the independent counsel statute."
Government Reform & Oversight Committee 2/11/99 The Honorable Dan Burton to Janet Reno ".Yesterday's article in the New York Times, "U.S. Inquiry on Starr is Seen," is only the latest in a long line of what appear to be politically motivated leaks emanating from your Department. While Department of Justice leaks aimed at Judge Starr are not new, the fact that such sensitive information would be leaked to the press in the closing days of the Senate impeachment trial raises the specter of political interference.. Indeed, Department spokesmen have commented on numerous occasions when questioned about investigations pertaining to Democrats that department policy is to "neither contirm nor deny an investigation." It certainly appears that when it is politically expedient, this policy is not followed. Both the substance and the timing of the material emanating from the Department of Justice -- particularly in light of the Senate impeachment vote this week -- suggest that someone in the department, possibly a senior official with access to this sensitive information, is attempting to influence the outcome of the Senate trial. As I stated in my letter of December 7, 1998, "it appears that many in the senior ranks of the Justice Department may be attempting to aid the Administration by prematurely releasing information.".. As many have noted in observing your inappropriate insistence on overseeing of the politically tainted campaign finance investigation, this is the most partisan Justice Department since Watergate. These attacks on the Independent Counsel are pernicious. They represent a politicization of the Department of Justice... In addition, given that most of these allegations have already been dismissed by Judge Norma Holloway Johnson, the motivation behind pursuing these allegations is even more suspect. While we are all well aware that Presidential allies such as James Carville have declared war on Independent Counsel Starr, we would hope that the generals of that war would not be working at the Department of Justice."
Augusta Chronicle 2/23/99 Editorial "...It was clear during the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton that as far as the culturally left-wing Big Media is concerned, Republicans can only shed the ugly ``partisan'' label by agreeing with Democrats; it's never the other way around. ...There's no doubt Democrats and their Big Media echo chambers would have pointed to the obvious conflict of interest of having the president's hand-picked attorney general call for an investigation of the man who's investigating the administration. After all, if independent counsel means anything, it means being independent of, and separate from, the administration...."
Washington Post 2/20/99 Howard Kurtz "...The differing approaches reflect the struggle of a number of news organizations, including The Washington Post, to deal with a delicate, long-ago allegation that could have affected the president's impeachment trial had it been carried in the mainstream press. What made this period extraordinary was that millions of people knew, largely through the Internet, the general outlines of Broaddrick's allegation. Several NBC sources said Myers and her Washington bureau chief, Tim Russert, were frustrated by their inability to get the story on the air. They and other advocates believe that each time they came up with further corroboration, NBC management raises the evidentiary bar a little higher. They also feel badly about winning Broaddrick's trust, combing through her records and disrupting her life, only to keep holding the story, these sources said. Myers, who has pursued Broaddrick for a year, would say only that the story "remains a work in progress. We learn something new every day." An NBC executive said that "there are some serious aspects of it that are still unable to be confirmed."..."
NewsMax 2/24/99 Joseph Sobran "…Of course, a darker and simpler explanation is that Mr. Clinton likes to play the churchgoing family man for the cameras while he delegates the nasty work to others. It wasn't the president who told Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Hitchens that Monica Lewinsky had been stalking him. It was, the Hitchenses have said in an affidavit, Mr. Clinton's hatchet-man Sidney Blumenthal. The Republicans have made several strategic mistakes in their pursuit of Bill Clinton. One was to overlook the tactics of the White House trash-team, allowing it to smear, with impunity, the special prosecutor and the House inquiry. Those tactics revealed the same character that got Mr. Clinton into trouble in the first place, and they warranted impeachment all by themselves. Obstruction of justice has been the name of the game. The Republicans have also pretended that the Democrats in the House and the Senate were dealing with them in good faith, when in truth the Democrats were shamelessly acting as the president's accessories after the fact. It was obvious early on that no "bipartisan" cooperation was forthcoming; the Democrats redefined partisanship, while accusing the Republicans of it…."
WorldnetDaily 3/2/99 Charles Smith "…On Feb. 23, 1999, U.S. Federal Judge Payne issued an order for the Commerce Dept. to release documents on the Chinese Army unit, COSTIND (the Chinese Commission of Science Technology and Industry for National Defense). The Court order was in response to a suit filed by Softwar, following a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) denial by the Commerce Dept. The Commerce Department claimed that records detailing meetings between COSTIND Army officers and Commerce officials did not exist. Much like Mrs. Clinton's claim that "Whitewater" billing records did not exist, the Commerce claims turned out to be false. The Commerce Dept. has already returned a vast array of documented evidence on COSTIND. Some of the phantom records are on the internet, complete with signatures of the Clinton officials involved. Federal Judge Payne viewed the pile of real documents presented by this reporter, along with the words "Dear Ron" plastered all over them, and exploded. The Judge found the lame defense presented by the Clinton administration to be an insult…."
Pittsburg Tribune Review (See Newsmax.com) 11/4/94 Christopher Ruddy "…Houston said that in mid-October he made a complaint about the Ferguson case to FBI agents in the office of Kenneth Starr, who is the independent counsel investigating alleged illegal dealings of the Clintons. Along with his complaint, he turned over his notes and other pertinent documents. Several days later longtime Clinton critic Larry Nichols showed up at Houston's office with the very documents Houston had turned over to Starr's office. Nichols said that he had found these documents stuffed into his mailbox. Houston doesn't for a moment think Starr had anything to do with this. "It was kind of a message'' from someone in Starr's office, he said. "We're stuffing it back, screw you.'' Debbie Gershman, a spokesperson for the independent counsel Starr, confirmed that Houston had met with the FBI, but was baffled as to how any of his papers would have been relinquished by her office. She refused to confirm that the Ferguson matter is under investigation…"
10/2/98 OIC Supplemental Documents Freeper Dukeman Betty Currie first appeared before the grand jury on January 27, 1998. For three days prior to that date, she was out of the White House, meeting in seclusion with OIC attorneys and FBI agents at the Residence Inn Hotel in Bethesda, Maryland. Now, put yourself in [Clinton’s] shoes (I know, scary, but work with me here!). This crazy Lewinsky chic was taped blabbing about your "ministering" to her in the Oval Office. The media is going nuts. And now your secretary's disappeared for three days! How do you get your secretary back on the reservation? The grand jury questioning of Cheryl Mills at 2896 to 2897 gives a hint of what went on: "Q: Okay. If I can direct your attention to January 24th, did you have occasion to page Ms. Currie? A: I'm sure I did. I mean, I page Ms. Currie frequently, so I don't know that it would have surprised me if I paged her. Q: Okay. Do you recall approximately that time period when Ms. Currie was absent for a period of time from the White House? A: I didn't realize she was absent from the White House at that time period. Q: Okay. When did you learn that she had been absent from the White House? A: I think there was a period of time where the news media were characterizing her as being absent from the White House. At least it was my understanding that she had been requested to provide information to your office. Q: Okay. Do you know whether or not she had met with agents of the Office of the Independent Counsel approximately January 24th or not? A: I don't know if I knew then or shortly thereafter. Q: Okay. Do you recall paging her on or about January 24th? A: No. Q: Do you recall a page-- did Ms. Currie have a pager which allows for a message to be inserted and sent? To you knowledge? A: Yes. Yes. Q: All right. And would you often include a message when you paged Ms. Currie? A: Oh, yes. Q: All right. Do you recall sending a messae to Ms. Currie on the 24th stating, "Checking on you. Thinking about you. Page me if you need me. C.D. Mills. XOXOXO." A: Yes. .......... Q: Okay. If the pager reflected-- you're ahead of me. If the pager reflected a 9:18 p.m. call, would that sound as though that's what happended on that date? A: Yes. I mean, our pager system is usually pretty accurate in that regard. Q: Okay. Why did you page her on that occasion? A: I don't recall. I don't know if that was before or after I had already had discussions with her regarding a lawyer and I knew that you all were seeking to speak to her. But if it is in that timeframe, that's like what I would have been paging her about…. Q: Okay. Did you know who her lawyers were at that time, on the 24th? A: Yes. I'm certain-- I assisted in helping her get her lawyer. .......... Q: All right. Have you ever spoken to Jesse Jackson about Betty Currie? A: No. Q: Are you aware of Jesse Jackson's effort to contact Ms. Currie that same day on the 24th? A: I was not aware of it at the time. Q: Did you subsequently become aware of that? A: Yes. Q: When did you become aware of that? A: Recently…."
Reuters 3/11/99 "…A top U.S. Justice Department official Thursday dismissed accusations that his department turned up the heat on Kenneth Starr when Starr's investigation began to close in on President Clinton. "That's a bunch of crap — c-r-a-p,'' Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder said in responding to the accusations by Robert Bittman, one of the special prosecutor's former top deputies who was in charge of the investigation of Clinton and former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Holder's unusually blunt comment escalated a war of words with Bittman as the Justice Department considers moving forward with an investigation into alleged misconduct by Starr's prosecutors — an investigation that could lead to Starr's dismissal…."
Washington Post 3/12/99 Robert Suro "…Independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr asked the Justice Department yesterday to consider criminal charges against his spokesman for allegedly leaking a report damaging to President Clinton and then lying about it to investigators, officials said. The spokesman, Charles G. Bakaly III, abruptly resigned yesterday and his attorney said in a statement that Bakaly would cooperate with the Justice Department inquiry "in every way." Bakaly maintains his innocence, officials said. The Justice Department announced last night that it had not received the investigative materials that formed the basis for the referral from Starr and no decisions had been reached as to how to proceed. The potential criminal investigation of a top member of Starr's staff comes as Starr himself is battling Justice over how it will conduct a separate disciplinary inquiry into the independent counsel's alleged misconduct in the investigation that led to Clinton's impeachment…."
Daily Oklahoman 3/14/99 Editorial "… Worse, The Times says Bill Clinton's national security advisor, Sandy Berger, and his staff downplayed reports from Energy Department investigators assessing damage from the thefts. It seems top officials did not want anything to surface that might have hurt Clinton's 1996 re-election bid. The Times also says the administration kept Congress in the dark, with a top official ordering one of Energy's intelligence officers not to divulge what he knew about the breach to a House committee…. Clinton relaxed export controls so U.S. firms could sell supercomputers to China, which intelligence experts believe are now being used at the Chinese equivalent of Los Alamos. The administration reacted with lethargy to reports of spying -- preferring, as Vice President Al Gore did this week, to blame the Reagan administration, on whose watch the original thefts apparently occurred…."
WorldNetDaily 3/25/99 Stephan Archer "…Landmark Legal Foundation, a public-interest law firm, received 8,379 pages of documents from the Internal Revenue Service yesterday in answer to the law firm's Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the agency, but an early analysis of the documents indicates that large portions of the documents had been blacked out. "Our preliminary examination of the 8,379 pages shows us that -- as best as we can tell -- all pertinent information has been blacked out," said Mark R. Levin, Landmark's president. The "pertinent information" that Levin is referring to are the names of those individuals and groups who, during the Clinton administration, may have encouraged the IRS to audit nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations, or 501 (c) (3)s, critical of White House policies. Levin and his group are trying to determine whether the audits of these types of organizations were politically motivated…."
AP 3/26/99 Phillip Brasher "…An Interior Department lawyer alleges he was ordered by a superior to dispose of some Indian trust records involved in a class-action lawsuit against the government. In an affidavit made public Thursday, Ralph Williams said he declined to get rid of the material because he thought it would be illegal. He said the instructions came from the department's deputy solicitor, Ed Cohen. Interior officials denied any wrongdoing. The department is being sued for its management of 300,000 Indian accounts worth $500 million. Last month, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth held Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin in contempt for the government's two-year delay in turning over checks and other documents related to five account holders who filed the lawsuit. It was not clear if Williams handled any of those documents. Lamberth released the affidavit Thursday, along with an order protecting Williams from retaliation by the department…."
Media Research Center 4/8/99 L Brent Bozell III Freeper Rodger Schultz "...the FBI taped a "San Gabriel Valley businessman" advising Chung to say nothing about his funding by the Chinese chief of military intelligence, to be the Asian-American Susan McDougal: "The businessman advised Chung to go to jail if necessary, assuring Chung that friends in high places would support him. The businessman even suggested that Chung could expect to be pardoned by the President."..."
AP 5/18/99 "... A woman who worked for President Clinton friend and restaurant owner Yah Lin ``Charlie'' Trie said Tuesday she was told by her boss to get rid of documents sought by a Senate committee investigating questionable campaign fund-raising. Testifying at Trie's trial on obstruction of justice charges, Maria ``Dia'' Mapili said she spoke to Trie by telephone after a U.S. marshal served a subpoena for records from one of Trie's companies in 1997. ``I read part of the subpoena to him. He told me to get rid of the documents,'' she testified. ``I throw out some documents. At some point I stopped. I was nervous and scared. I hid some documents in a credenza and under his bed.'' But she acknowledged under cross-examination that she may have been confused about the conversation, and it may have happened months earlier or later...."
NewsMax.com 6/12/99 Carl from Oyster Bay "...How big is the Asian connection behind the Clinton witness tampering operation? Big enough to shield Charlie Trie, Pauline Kanchanalak and dozens more with damaging infomation who fled across the Pacific when House and Senate committees began looking into illegal payments to the 1996 Clinton campaign. Big enough to button up key Whitewater witness Webster Hubbell with a six figure payment that got him to "roll over one more time." And evidently, China's role in protecting Bill Clinton from damaging testimony extends even to witnesses in the Paula Jones case, revealing the tip of what could be an astounding Sexgate-Chinagate link. Inside Cover can now confirm that onetime beauty queen Sally Perdue had been relocated to Beijing at the time she was being sought by Paula Jones investigators Rick and Beverly Lambert...."
NewsMax.com 6/12/99 Carl from Oyster Bay "...On Friday Inside Cover checked with world renowned private investigator Rick Lambert, who, along with his wife Beverly, was responsible for unearthing Jane Does such as Juanita Broaddrick. In late 1997, just after hearings into the Clinton campaign's China connection began in Washington, the Lamberts were hired as the lead investigators for Paula Jones. "I can confirm that when we were looking for Sally Perdue, she was in China, to the best of my knowledge," Lambert told Inside Cover. The investigator wouldn't divulge his sources, but did reveal that he had reason to believe Perdue had gone from a teaching position in the U.S. to a "well paying" job in Beijing. Perdue lost her job as a college librarian just after she went public about her Clinton affair in 1992. Lambert described his astonishment at the news of Perdue's change of address. "This was around the same time that the Chinagate scandal was breaking in D.C. and after I got the information on where Sally was, I remember saying to Beverly, 'Well what a coincidence.' " Another source who spoke only on condition of anonymity told Inside Cover that Perdue was hired by CocaCola, the international soft drink mega-corp, and then sent to Beijing. Perdue is known to have relatives in the Atlanta area where Coke is headquartered. Coke has traditionally supported the Democratic Party over the years...."
The Washington Times 6/20/99 James Inhofe "...The breach of the design of the W-88 miniaturized nuclear warhead--which happened in the 1980s and was discovered in 1995--is enormously significant to America's national security. According to Paul Redmond, the CIA's former counterintelligence chief who caught Soviet spy Aldrich Ames, it is "far more damaging to the national security than Aldrich Ames," and "as bad as the Rosenbergs." The Rosenbergs were executed for compromising atomic bomb secrets to the Soviets. The idea Sandy Berger of the White House National Security Council--who was fully briefed about the W-88 technology breach in April 1996--did not immediately communicate this information to the president is preposterous. Mr. Berger now claims he did not tell the president until early 1998, or perhaps July 1997, depending on which of his two stories you want to believe. I don't believe either one because neither makes sense. Mr. Berger is a political operative, a longtime Clinton friend and confidant--not to mention, a pretty smart guy. He attended all the major 1996 Clinton campaign strategy meetings. When he learned China had stolen the W-88--the crown jewel of the U.S. nuclear arsenal--is it plausible he did not immediately tell the president ? No, not unless you want to assume a level of incompetence at the White House that even this administration's harshest critics do not believe for a minute...."
The Washington Times 6/20/99 James Inhofe "...The president had to have known about the W-88 breach no later than April 1996, well before the 1996 election. The president deliberately withheld this vital national security information from key members of Congress for obvious political reasons. He withheld it for almost three years--a coverup that is nothing less than a scandal of gigantic proportions. If it were not for the Cox committee--formed by House Speaker Newt Gingrich, not by Mr. Clinton--Congress and the American people would still be in the dark..."
The Washington Times 6/20/99 James Inhofe "...The Clinton administration coverup was recently exposed in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Notra Trulock, the Energy Department's former director of intelligence, who had first briefed Mr. Berger in April 1996, testified he was prepared to brief members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees as late as July 1998, but was denied permission to do so by Acting Energy Secretary Elizabeth Moler, a political appointee. Miss Moler reportedly ordered Mr. Trulock not to conduct the briefing because she said the information would be used to hurt Mr. Clinton's China policy. When Miss Moler refuted this testimony and claimed she did not recall gagging Mr. Trulock in this way, I asked both officials if they would voluntarily submit to a polygraph test. Both agreed at the hearing, but when pressed several weeks later, only Mr. Trulock was readily willing to cooperate and go through with taking the test. As a result, it is obvious to me Mr. Trulock was telling the truth and Miss Moler was not, confirming rather conclusively that there was indeed a politically inspired coverup...."
AP FoxNews 7/30/99 "..."I'm absolutely furious," said Burton, R-Ind., after the Justice Department prevented the State Department's inspector general from discussing her office's 1996 investigation of former top consular officer William Parish. The inspector general, Jacquelyn L. Williams-Bridgers, told the House Government Reform Committee on Thursday that any comment on the case could violate rules on grand jury secrecy since the investigation was conducted with the FBI as part of the inquiry into campaign finance abuses for which a grand jury was impaneled.... testimony from Bonnie R. Cohen, under secretary of state for management, who told the lawmakers that Parish was aggressively investigated in 1996 and the inquiry "did not reveal criminal wrongdoing." Cohen said the federal government "aggressively pursued leads" in the case and found no need to take action against Parish. She said he "performed in an excellent manner" on visa duties in Washington, where he was transferred during the investigation. Parish retired last year...."
***Media Research Center CyberAlert*** 8/2/99 Vol Four 134 "...6) Fox's Carl Cameron revealed how a Justice official stymied the Buddhist temple probe by shutting down the local prosecutor...."
Insight Magazine Vol 15 No 31 8/23/99 Rep Curt Weldon R-PA "...I read with interest Sam Cohen's recent critique of the Cox Committee's report of technology transfer to China released by the Hosue Select Committee on u.S. National Security and Military/Commercial Concerns With the People's Republic of China (see Check Your Facts: Cox Report Bombs,"Insight Magazine, 8/9/99). I expected a more thorough analysis by the self-described "father of the neutron bomb." He should have checked his facts. Let me take one of his most egregious errors and turn it on its head. Cohen delivered a scathing rebuke of the Cox report for publishing a diagram that details the workings and components of the W-87 warhead. Why, Cohen wonders, would the United States publish a detailed, classified design of one of its most advanced warheads in an unclassified congressional report? The diagram in question -- which Cohen says would be a useful blueprint for India and Pakistan -- was actually reprinted from the July 31, 1995 issue of U.S. News and World Report. In fact, the Cox report cites the source of the diagram in captions below and beside the graphic. So this diagram, which "any competent nuclear scientists could use to work back to the actual design" was actually made public four years ago -- on every newstand in the world. How did such classified material find its way in to print and become available to any rogue government with a few dollars to spare the cover price? The answer is shocking. it highlights the utter incompetence and complete lack of concern about national security that have come to permeate the Clinton-Gore Administration...."
Insight Magazine Vol 15 No 31 8/23/99 Rep Curt Weldon R-PA "...The events surrounding the leak of this classified document were related to me by personal sources and independently confirmed by Carl Cameron of Fox News -- one of the few dedicated network reporters who continues to pursue the China story. According to those sources, the leak occurred during an interview that Hazel O'Leary -- then Secretary of Energy -- was conducting with a reporter from U.S. News. According to my sources, O'Leary opened up a ledger of classified documents sitting on her desk and proceeded to show the reporter a diagram of the W-87 warhead in order to prove a point. She then handed the classified diagram of the nuclear warhead to the reporter. Her staff attempted to protest, pointing out that the document was classified. O'Leary hesitated a moment, took the document back from the reporter, crossed out the word "classified" and promptly gave it back to the U.S. News staffer. When the document was published soon after, the Department of Energy and the intelligence community was aghast at the leak. In fact, the Department of Energy launched an investigation to determine the source of the leak and punish the individual responsible. Needless to say, the investigation was quietly put to an end when it was determined that O'Leary was the culprit. As Cohen noted, if he or other lower-level government employees publicly had revealed such details about the workings of the W-87, he would have been severely punished. So would a Member of Congress. But when the culprit is a Clinton-Gore Cabinet official, the incident conveniently is covered up. Like most revelations involving the mishandling of classified information by the Clinton-Gore Administration, the issue was ignored by much of the mainstream press. But that does not make the security violation any less egregious or worthy of punishment...."
Washington Times 8/4/99 Paul Craig Roberts "...In July 27, the chairman of the Texas Department of Public Safety, James B. Francis Jr., told the Dallas Morning News that evidence in possession of the Texas Rangers calls into question the federal government's account of the deadly federal assault and subsequent fire that claimed the lives of scores of men, women and children in the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, in 1993. Mr. Francis wants to turn the evidence over to federal district court Judge Walter Smith. The U.S. Department of Justice is trying to block the Texas Rangers from releasing the evidence. Mr. Francis says that the Rangers have "some evidence that the world needs to see, in my opinion. The government does not want this evidence out, and yet, that's not right." Mr. Francis added: "It is a complete stonewall."...The Texas Rangers should not trust Judge Smith with the evidence. Judge Smith presided over the trial of the Waco survivors. He has been strongly denounced by the jury foreman and jury members for misleading the jury in order to sentence the survivors. The jury foreman has repeatedly criticized Judge Smith for sentencing the survivors for offenses for which the jury did not convict. Judge Smith deceived the jury to oblige the Justice Department. By handing down long sentences that the jury did not intend, Judge Smith prevented the verdict from casting doubt on the government's explanation of what happened at Waco and prevented the survivors from being available to the media to tell their stories.....Lawyers and investigators involved in the wrongful death suits tell me that they have powerful evidence that the federal government is guilty of criminal assault, criminal negligence, and reckless endangerment...."
Washington Times 8/4/99 Paul Craig Roberts "...But some important evidence appears to have leaked from government officials sickened by the federal massacre and cover-up. There is a belief within the government itself that if the federal government gets away with its Waco cover-up, the casualty will be the rule of law. Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark is a lawyer for many of the wrongful death suits. He described to me some of the key evidence: the FLIR tape (Forward Looking Infra Red), which shows federal automatic fire into the compound on the day of the fire. Mr. Clark also has Dr. Edward F. Allard's "Thermal Imaging Report" and the "Sun Reflection Geometry Report" prepared by Maurice Cox of the National Reconnaissance Office. These reports make clear that the images on the FLIR tape are images of federal gunfire. Mr. Hardy says he has an FBI report that acknowledges federal gunshots during the fire originating from an FBI position designated as Sierra One. Mr. Hardy also has an Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms memo reporting that three ATF agents went on a friendly shooting excursion with David Koresh nine days before the initial ATF assault on the compound. ...Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark says the evidence of wrongful death is overwhelming --even without the powerful evidence in his possession. "The first civil right," Mr. Clark says, "is to be free from unlawful and excessive force by your own police. That is the difference between a free society and a police state." "At Waco a police force exceeding 700 men with armored vehicles began a systematic aggressive attack in a situation rife with flammable materials and high winds. It is indisputable that this is reckless endangerment." "How could it happen that a flimsy building full of men, women and children could be assaulted by the U.S. government in that way?"This question demands an answer..."
Roll Call, www.rollcall.com 8/2/99 Morton Kondracke "...It smells. Despite abundant evidence that Democratic fundraisers channeled Chinese government money into the U.S. election campaign in 1996, no one is going to jail. One by one, Attorney General Janet Reno's Justice Department has cut generous plea bargains with the money launderers and hasn't come near prosecuting any Democratic Party or White House officials. And if there is any connection between Chinese money and cozy Clinton policy toward China, it's unlikely to be discovered as Justice lets the fundraisers off and removes their incentive to talk. Today, one of the major figures in Chinagate, John Huang, is scheduled to be sentenced to a fine and community service after pleading guilty to minor charges having nothing to do with the $1.6 million he raised that the Democratic Party was forced to return. Instead, the Justice Department charged him with making two illegal donations worth $7,500 in two California campaigns in 1993 and 1994..... In spite of all the tantalizing investigative leads Huang represents -- and in spite of his utter refusal to cooperate in Congressional Chinagate investigations -- Justice is closing out its probe of Huang with a slap on the wrist and a promise to bring no further charges against him. Later this month, Justice is scheduled to close the books, too, on President Clinton's friend, Yah Lin "Charlie" Trie, who raised more than $1.3 million -- mainly from Asia -- that had to be returned. He, too, has refused to cooperate with Congress, yet was permitted to plead guilty to one felony count of making false statements to the Federal Election Commission. The charge carries a maximum sentence of up to six years in prison and fines of $350,000, but prosecutors recommended that Trie get a penalty of three years' probation. The third major Chinagate fundraiser, Johnny Chung, was sentenced in December 1998 to probation and community service. But at least Chung did cooperate with Congress...What's disturbing is that Thompson and other Republican leaders haven't kept energetically digging into the finance scandal, leaving the work to a few journalists, right-wing activists and Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), who's easily dismissed for hyper-partisanship..... Burton is pursuing some interesting avenues, such as a report by Carl Cameron of Fox News that a former crack federal prosecutor in California, Steven Mansfield, was ordered to halt a probe he started in 1996 into Vice President Al Gore's infamous fundraiser at a Buddhist temple. Cameron reported that Mansfield, who successfully prosecuted former Rep. Jay Kim (R-Calif.), was ordered to desist in a letter from Lee Radek, head of the public integrity section of the Justice Department, on grounds that it was a matter for an independent counsel to investigate. However, no independent counsel was ever appointed -- with Radek reportedly one of those most vociferously urging Reno not to take that step. Burton also has been chasing down evidence, also reported by Cameron, that in 1997 the Justice Department ordered the immediate return to Washington of an FBI agent and prosecutor sent to Little Rock, Ark., to stop documents from being shredded by Trie's secretary. ....The former chief counsel in Thompson's 1997 campaign finance probe, Michael Madigan, said the plea bargains have "all the earmarks of something being swept under the rug." Indeed, they do...."
The O'Reilly Factor 8/4/99 Freeper truthkeeper "...Bill O'Reilly said at the end of his show tonight that a MAJOR story was "just breaking:" Dan Burton's House Oversight & Reform Committee had issued a subpoena to Janet Reno regarding campaign finance. No details in yet, but I noticed there's a thread saying they'll be getting Mark Middleton's testimony, too...."
AP 8/5/99 "...Attorney General Janet Reno today denied that the Justice Department has kept open campaign finance investigations involving Democrats to block Republicans in Congress from conducting their own. A House committee investigating alleged fund-raising abuses in the 1996 presidential election is barred from questioning anyone who is a target of an active Justice Department investigation...."
THE WASHINGTON TIMES 8/16/99 Joyce Howard Price "…A senior Democratic aide to the House Committee on Government Reform denies Democrats tried to influence former fund-raiser Johnny Chung to plead the Fifth Amendment in his testimony before that panel in 1997…. Mr. O'Reilly said yesterday the "Democratic response" to Chung's charges "goes on to say that, 'Yes, we did send him the information, but they asked us to send it.' " But if that were the case, Mr. O'Reilly said, why didn't the Democrats alert Rep. Dan Burton, Indiana Republican and the committee's chairman, that they had done this? Mr. Burton doesn't buy the Democrats' explanation. In a tape also shown yesterday on "Fox News Sunday," he said, "If Mr. Chung's allegations are true, this is one of the most outrageous and partisan actions by a member of Congress and staff that I have ever seen. "To think that a member would encourage a witness to obstruct the investigation is unfathomable. We need to get to the bottom of this," the chairman said. In the Fox interview, Chung described the material sent to his attorney's office this way: "It said how you can plead, how you can take the Fifth in the United States Congress." ….And while committee Democrats insist they were not trying to keep Chung from testifying, Chung tells a different story in the interview, Mr. O'Reilly said. "Chung's saying flat-out: The Democrats, Henry Waxman, did not want me to talk," the Fox show's host added. Mr. Waxman of California is the ranking Democrat on the Government Reform Committee. Chung visited the White House 57 times and gave $366,000 to Democrats between 1994 and 1996. Twenty of those visits came after a White House national security official described him as a "hustler" trying to turn high-level government contacts into business opportunities…..Chung's cooperation with both the Burton committee and the Justice Department's campaign-finance task force was monitored by Chinese intelligence officials…."
Judicial Watch 8/16/99 Larry Klayman "…Following appearances before Judicial Watch and the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, Johnny Chung is slated to give an interview this evening on Fox News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor (8:00 p.m. Eastern) in which he will finger Democratic Congressman Henry Waxman in an apparent scheme to obstruct justice. Following The O'Reilly Factor, Judicial Watch Chairman Larry Klayman will appear on Hannity and Colmes (9:00 pm Eastern) with video of John Huang and Johnny Chung's sworn deposition testimony showing additional occurrences of obstruction of justice, this time by President Clinton and his Justice Department. "Based on all of the available evidence, it appears there is a widespread conspiracy orchestrated by the Clinton Administration to prevent justice in the Chinagate scandals," said Klayman…."
Washington Times 8/19/99 Jerry Seper Audry Hudson "…
Washington Times 8/19/99 Jerry Seper Audry Hudson "…Investigators are trying to determine if the panel's Democratic lawyers were responsible for the 122 would-be witnesses who claimed their Fifth Amendment privilege or fled the country. A major focus of that inquiry is the Sept. 29, 1997, deposition of Manlin Foung, sister of former Democratic fund-raiser Charles Yah Lin Trie. The deposition, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Times, shows that Democratic lawyer Kenneth Ballen warned Mrs. Foung that if she cooperated in the campaign finance probe, she would be brought to Washington to face television cameras in "a large room with . . . over 44 congressmen sitting there…."
Washington Times 8/19/99 Jerry Seper Audry Hudson "…Mr. Waxman retreated from a planned interview yesterday with The Washington Times, opting instead to submit his response in writing. He focused on the committee's chairman, Rep. Dan Burton, Indiana Republican, saying the investigation was an attempt to "shift blame for his failure to conduct an effective investigation to others."….The one-page statement made no reference or defense of his staff's methods of investigation or whether they had intimidated witnesses. He did, however, take note of Mr. Burton's staff, saying its investigation was plagued by turmoil and turnover…..Mr. Ballen was out of town and unavailable for comment. But the committee's chief Democratic lawyer, Philip Schiliro, defended Mr. Ballen's line of questioning, saying Mrs. Foung had no idea what she was getting into, and Democrats used the occasion to explain to her the hearing process. He said he "completely disagrees" with suggestions that Mr. Ballen intended to intimidate the witness, adding that Democrats believed she had little information to share with investigators….."
Washington Times 8/19/99 Jerry Seper Audry Hudson "…Mr. Waxman's staff sidestepped questions on whether the congressman's statement was lacking in issuing any defense of their activities. In the Foung deposition, Mr. Ballen also told the witness that Republicans believed her brother was part of an ongoing criminal conspiracy involving the diversion of foreign money to the 1996 campaign. He said Democrats did not believe the deposition was necessary. "We apologize for the inconvenience it has caused you, in advance," he said….."Ms. Foung, are you now terrified to testify, or are you still willing to testify here today?" Mr. Bennett asked after Mr. Ballen's opening remarks….."
The Washington Times 8/19/99 "…. Given the extent of the scandal, which included efforts by some of Chung's Chinese friends to divert missile technology from a U.S. corporation desperately eager to do business with China and headed by the Democratic Party's largest individual contributor, Democratic officials have become obsessed with blocking various investigations. Chung has accused Attorney General Janet Reno, who has stubbornly refused to seek the appointment of an independent counsel, of "sitting on the information" he has given her. Chung also has asserted that the Democratic minority on the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee sent his attorney an unsolicited package of materials explaining "how you take the Fifth in the United States Congress" after Chung was subpoenaed to testify. Government Reform and Oversight Committee Chairman Dan Burton, citing a letter addressed to him from Miss Reno but delivered to ranking Democrat Henry Waxman within minutes of a telephone conversation between Miss Reno and Mr. Burton, convincingly argues that Miss Reno had been working in concert with the committee's Democratic minority to thwart its investigation. Mr. Burton also accuses Miss Reno of keeping case after case open to prevent his committee from interrogating witnesses. …"
The Washington Times 8/19/99 "…. Jerry Seper of The Washington Times reported this week that Democratic obstructionist actions included telling White House Deputy Counsel Bruce Lindsey to make himself unavailable for a deposition to which the Government Reform and Oversight Committee had subpoenaed him. Mr. Waxman told Mr. Burton that he had advised Mr. Lindsey to be "not available for this deposition." During the deposition of another White House official, the minority counsel raised 49 objections, and in another deposition Democrats sought to prevent a witness from answering questions from the majority counsel despite the witness' willingness to do so. In another deposition, Mr. Waxman attempted to prevent questions about convicted felon Webster Hubbell, the former associate attorney general who received $200,000 in consulting fees from Lippo Group, the Indonesia-based conglomerate that was the source of nearly $500,000 in illegal contributions from the Wiriadinata family…..Contrary to what Mr. Schiliro asserts, Democrats have had every incentive to block the campaign-finance probe, a fact that became particularly evident after China's involvement was confirmed. The cover-up began in October 1996, when the scandal erupted. And it has accelerated ever since. In hindsight, is it any wonder why Democratic Sen. John Glenn reacted so fiercely to Sen. Fred Thompson's July 1997 charge implicating China at the beginning of congressional investigations? The reality is that Chung, a convicted felon, is more credible than the Democratic Party and President Clinton…."
Washington Times 8/18/99 Jerry Seper "…Democrats on the House Government Reform Committee sought for two years to delay and obstruct the panel's campaign-finance investigation, even telling a top White House aide to make himself unavailable for a deposition to which he had been subpoenaed, according to congressional records.
The documents, reviewed in the wake of accusations this week by former Democratic fund-raiser Johnny Chung that he was coached on how to plead the Fifth Amendment before a 1997 appearance before the committee, outline a suspected plan by Democrats to block the committee's ongoing probe. Republicans have begun an investigation to determine what role Democrats played in trying to protect the White House against accusations of campaign-finance abuses….."The Democratic minority counsel has acted as defense attorneys for a whole list of would-be witnesses, trying to scare them into not testifying," said the committee's spokesman, Mark Corallo. "They didn't have to come right out and blatantly tell the witnesses not to testify, but they certainly set a tone of fear and intimidation.
"They made no effort to find out the truth of whether campaign-finance abuses during the 1996 election compromised our national-security system," he said…..But Republicans said yesterday that committee records, including depositions of key witnesses and numerous letters written concerning the panel's inquiry, document GOP concerns that committee Democrats and their attorneys sought to delay the depositions, intimidate would-be witnesses and obstruct the investigation. They said the committee's ranking Democrat, Rep. Henry A. Waxman of California, wrote in an April 3, 1998, letter to committee Chairman Dan Burton, Indiana Republican, that he was "disappointed" the deposition of White House Deputy Counsel Bruce Lindsey -- a key figure in the campaign-finance probe -- had been scheduled during the spring recess. Mr. Waxman told the chairman that he had advised Mr. Lindsey to "not be available for this deposition" -- a suggestion roundly criticized by Republicans as an example of what they said were delaying tactics utilized by Democrats throughout the probe….."
Washington Times 8/18/99 Jerry Seper "…The committee records, copies of which were obtained by The Washington Times, show that: … - During the deposition of one White House official, minority counsel raised objections on 49 occasions, and that during another deposition, the Democrats sought to prevent a witness from answering questions by the majority counsel despite the witnesses' willingness to do so. -At some depositions, objections were raised directly by Mr. Waxman and Rep. Tom Lantos, California Democrat, both of whom challenged with some regularity the validity of questions asked by the majority counsel. During the deposition of one White House aide, Republicans said Mr. Waxman tried to prevent questions concerning former Justice Department official Webster L. Hubbell, a longtime friend of President and Mrs. Clinton. -Democrats sought to block committee efforts to subpoena records from state Democratic Party organizations, through which suspected illegal campaign funds had been funneled. Mr. Waxman argued there was no evidence of wrongdoing. Investigators later discovered that illegal donations had been routed to the state organizations….."
Judicial Watch 8/18/99 Larry Klayman "…Today, Judicial Watch will file a complaint before the House Ethics Committee, alleging, based on information disclosed by Johnny Chung, and expanded upon by The Washington Times, that Democrats, led by Congressman Henry Waxman of California, have obstructed Congressional investigations into Chinagate. Based on recent reports, Congressman Waxman also may be linked to a scheme to use the Internal Revenue Service to audit, harass and harm critics of the Clinton Adminisration. Judicial Watch will also ask the House Ethics Committee to look into this as well. Judicial Watch takes a particular interest in Congressman Waxman because of its California office in San Marino. If Judicial Watch is to represent the interests of Californians and Westerners, as well as all Americans, it cannot turn a blind eye to the conduct of Congressman Waxman and his friends…."
Judicial Watch 8/18/99 Tom Fitton Letter to Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, US House of Representatives "… Re: Complaint Against Congressman Henry Waxman and Involved Democrats on the House Government Reform Committee. Dear Committee: On behalf of the American people and in the public interest, we hereby file a complaint against Congressman Henry Waxman of the 29th District of California. Judicial Watch is a public interest group dedicated to fighting government corruption.
In recent days there have been press reports on the Fox News Channel and in the Washington Times that Congressman Waxman and Democrats on the House Government Reform Committee have attempted to impede the free flow of testimony of a material witness, Johnny Chung, in the campaign finance/Chinagate scandals. Attached hereto as Exhibit 1, and incorporated by reference are the transcripts, a video clip, and press reports of these allegations.
Furthermore, recent press reports have suggested that Congressman Waxman may be one of the individuals, including, but not limited to, officials of the Democratic Party and the Clinton Administration, who have engaged in a scheme to use the Internal Revenue Service to audit, harass and harm critics of the Clinton Administration. Attached hereto as Exhibit 2, and incorporated by reference are press reports of these allegations.
If true, these reports on the campaign finance/Chinagate and IRS scandals would mean that Congressman Waxman has violated laws and rules that include, but are not limited to: 18 U.S.C.§§ 1505, 1502; House Rule XXIV, Code of Official Conduct, no.1; and The Code of Ethics for Government Employment, nos. 1, 2, 9 & 10. We therefore demand a full investigation on behalf of the American people.
In light of the fact that Chairman Dan Burton of the Government Reform Committee has continuously complained about Democrat obstruction of his investigation into the campaign finance/Chinagate scandals, and given his remarks yesterday evening on The O’Reilly Factor on Fox News (enclosed as part of Exhibit 1), it is clear that he should certify that he believes this information is submitted in good faith and warrants the review and consideration of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.
Judicial Watch, Inc., certifies that it has provided an exact copy of this complaint and all attachments to Congressman Waxman and Chairman Burton.
Sincerely, JUDICIAL WATCH, INC. Larry Klayman…"
Investors Business Daily 8/19/99 "…The Washington Times is reporting that Democrats stalled a congressional investigation into White House fund- raising practices. We're not surprised. That's what happens when politicians forget principle and focus on holding on to power. Once the Democratic Party was a bastion of idealism. It was guided by principle. Its members held tight to deep convictions. Now, with Republicans in control of Congress, Democratic leaders have all but forgotten their party's ideological foundation. They will do whatever's necessary to stay in the White House, the only tie to power they still have. Their desperation caused them to ignore campaign finance laws to re-elect President Clinton. As one lie begets another, they later found they needed to block probes into the alleged violations if they were to keep the presidency and have any hope of regaining Congress.
Wednesday's Washington Times reveals that Democrats on the House Government Reform Committee delayed - even obstructed - the panel's Chinagate probe to protect the White House. Congressional documents report that the Democrats went so far as to tell a White House aide to skip a deposition he had been subpoenaed for….. Congressional Democrats aren't alone in their zeal to foil probes into the campaign practices of their party and president. The Justice Department under Attorney General Janet Reno has been a graveyard for potential investigations. Despite pressure from Congress and the FBI, Reno refused to appoint an independent counsel to look into charges the Chinese military had funneled money into the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton- Gore 1996 re-election campaign. She said she saw no evidence that required an independent-counsel probe.
Yet her hand-picked investigator, who called for a special prosecutor, said Reno misinterpreted the independent- counsel law in a way that protected Clinton and Vice President Al Gore…..The same mind-set was at work in the Senate, where Democrat John Glenn of Ohio blocked Republican Fred Thompson's investigation of influence-buying by China. Principle demanded that Glenn cooperate with the probe to root out corruption. But Glenn and the Democrats put party interest above national interest. …..Attaining power for the sake of power, and doing whatever's necessary to cling to it, leads to ignoring the law and, more importantly, what's right…."