DOWNSIDE LEGACY AT TWO DEGREES OF PRESIDENT CLINTON
SECTION: BEHIND THE OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE ALLEGATIONS
SUBSECTION: STRANGE JUSTICE
Revised 8/15/99
Jack L Williams and Archie Schaffer III verdicts (ESPY) set aside, Webster Hubbell indictments thrown out , Arriena Huffington attempts to obtain information from the State Dept delayed to 11/16/99 - Judge James Robertson, nominated by Clinton, connections to Lloyd Cutler and Jane Sherburne. Despite convictions of Williams and Schaffer, the Judge reserved the right to throw out the entire case.
Paula Jones case thrown out - Judge Wright, a former student of Clinton, connections to David Pryor
Congressional investigation of China/Loral/Hughes, documents withheld - DOJ
Tarver/Schulhof, 160 Bush appointee files, no charges - DOJ
Rosemary O'Neill, fund raising/stationary, case closed - DOJ
Clifford Bernath deposition, motion for protective order 11th hr - DOJ
Independent Counsel for Campaign Finance, refusal to appointment - DOJ
Richard Sullivan, Campaign Finance no investigation - DOJ
Encryption Technology, investigating and policy involvement both - DOJ
Sockowitz, secret files removed, no charges and no interview - DOJ
US Attorneys, fired in first 2 weeks - Attny Gen Janet Reno + White House
Ind Counsel Smaltz request to expand investigation (cash to Clinton), refused - Attny Gen Janet Reno
Congressional requests, Freeh memo and LaBella recommendation for Ind Counsel on Campaign Finance, refused - Attny Gen Janet Reno
Larry Potts, Waco/R.R., promoted - Attny Gen Janet Reno
Jim McDougal was sentenced to serve time though gravely ill, Susan McDougal's sentence was reduced to time served for back problems, Gov Jim Guy Tucker's was reduced to probation for liver problems and Mark Cambiano, drug and DNC money charges dropped in plea bargain to bank charges, was sentenced to probation - all by Judge George Howard, Jr. - who is also the judge (LRC 94-634 3/8/96) who ruled Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Mena, Nella, Barry Seale, Dan Lasater, ADFA, drug smuggling and Bob Nash could not be mentioned in Reed vs. Young, thereby gutting Reed's case.
12/5/97 R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. about Janet Reno ".Yet what is she supposed to be investigating? By my count the Clintons' excesses in the 1996 presidential campaign involve something more than abrasions against the Pendleton Act of 1883. How about money laundering? Using "soft money" for "hard money" purposes? Influence peddling? Use of illegal foreign contributions, probably from Beijing? And the use of federal facilities for political purposes? Interestingly, when the Clintons were spreading their virus back in their Arkansas days they were accused of many of these same indelicacies. There are, however, other crimes that the Attorney General might interest herself in while reviewing the 1996 election, specifically, obstruction of proceedings before Congress, obstruction of agency or committee procedures, obstruction of current investigations, and economic espionage or failure to protect trade secrets. Yet it is obvious that Reno's Justice Department is impotent to investigate these matters. It has been utterly politicized from the day Webb Hubbell walked in and all U.S. attorneys were fired back in 1993. Since then federal law enforcement has been transformed into the kind of law enforcement practiced by the Clintons back in Arkansas. That is to say, politicized law enforcement. Some of the leading perpetrators of Reno's stonewalling at the Justice Department have been identified by the excellent William Safire. He points to Robert S. Litt, the Justice Department's Acting Webb Hubbell, also known as Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General. Litt is also a former law partner to David Kendall, President Clinton's energetic private attorney. There is also John Hogan, Jack Keeney (whose son is John Huang's lawyer), Mark Richard, and the Clintons' servitors in the department's Public Integrity section, for instance Lee Radek and Jon Ann Farrington."
7/24/98 AP "Paula Jones said Friday that letters written to her by her previous lawyers should not have been made public in her sexual harassment lawsuit against President Clinton. The letters were released last month when U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright, who dissed the lawsuit, entered them into the public record. Mrs. Jones asked Wright to vacate her order that made the letters public, saying the letters were addressed to her, dealt with legal issues and included advice in the lawsuit. ``Therefore, on their face, these are attorney-client privileged communications,'' her motion said. ``Why these letters were in the possession of the court is unknown to Mrs. Jones.'' "
Judge Thelton Henderson (re: Richard Douglas conviction) - is the judge who attempted to block the implementation of California's Prop 209 (The amendment to the California Constitution bars the state from giving preference to women and minorities in contracts, hiring and college admissions). The three- judge panel overturned a decision in November by U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson, who blocked enforcement of the law, finding that it probably violated the constitutional rights of women and minorities. After he blocked the law, Henderson, who was appointed to the federal bench by President Jimmy Carter, was accused by Proposition 209 proponents of basing his decisions on personal bias. In the opinion yesterday, the three-judge panel accused Henderson of relying on an erroneous legal premise and thwarting the will of the voters. ``A system which permits one judge to block with the stroke of a pen what 4,736,180 state residents voted to enact as law tests the integrity of our constitutional democracy,'' O'Scannlain wrote.... "
AP 8/14/98 "An Ohio congressman appealed the dismissal of his lawsuit Friday against a Democratic lawmaker charged with leaking the contents of an illegally taped phone call among senior House Republicans. House GOP Conference Chairman John Boehner's invasion-of-privacy lawsuit against Rep. James McDermott, D-Wash., was thrown out last month by a U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Hogan, who dismissed the charges as partisan politics.. Boehner sued McDermott over a Dec. 21, 1996, conference call he had on his cellular phone with Speaker Newt Gingrich and other House Republican leaders in the chaotic, final days of a two-year ethics probe against the Georgia Republican."
Landmark Legal Foundation Mark Levin 8/24/98 " One of the many women Bill Clinton has wronged has the power to take immediate action against him - United States District Court Judge Susan Webber Wright. She presided over the suit brought against Mr. Clinton by Paula Corbin Jones. Mr . Clinton now admits to having sex with Miss Lewinsky. Importantly, while he claims that oral sex performed on him did not fit the definition of sexual relations approved by Judge Wright and, therefore, his testimony was "legally accurate," Mr. Clinton makes no comparable claim that Miss Lewinsky's affidavit was truthful. Through the agency of his lawyer, Mr. Clinton knowingly used a false affidavit to secure a favorable judicial ruling. This is a contempt of court. This is true whether or not Clinton himself committed perjury. It is true whether or not the lawsuit is ultimately dismissed."
CNN Lary King Live 9/1/98 ".KING: How did they come to you? Refresh our memory, how did you come forward? Why did you come forward? FLOWERS: Well, there had been a lawsuit filed in Arkansas by a man named Larry Nichols who had listed my name in that lawsuit as someone who allegedly had been involved with Bill Clinton. KING: That was a civil suit against Clinton? FLOWERS: It was a civil suit during Bill's last gubernatorial election. When -- Bill had the suit transferred into the court of a judge he had appointed who sealed the case and denied the subpoenas. He was reelected and everything quieted down. When he decided to run for the presidency, the national media started, naturally, taking a look at this man that wanted to be president, and they found this lawsuit, and they started investigating the women listed in the lawsuit and -- in a press release that had been issued throughout the state."
LA Times 9/11/98 Allan Miller "A federal district court judge Thursday dismissed five of six charges against Democratic fundraiser Maria Hsia that accused her of using money from a Buddhist temple to make illegal contributions to the Clinton-Gore reelection drive and other Democratic campaigns..The remaining count charges Hsia, a Los Angeles immigration consultant, with conspiring with the Hsi Lai temple to make campaign contributions through conduits, including monks, nuns and Hsia herself. In a separate matter, she also faces tax fraud charges..In dismissing the charges, U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman said that prosecutors would have to prove that Hsia actually conspired with the campaign treasurer to knowingly submit the false information or knew the false information would be provided to the government.."
AP Janelle Carter 9/21/98 "A federal judge threw out the conviction of a Tyson Foods Inc. executive who had been found guilty of providing illegal gifts to former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy. U.S. District Judge James Robertson overturned Archie Schaffer III's June 26 conviction but denied the motion for acquittal or a new trial of another Tyson executive, lobbyist Jack Williams. Tried with Schaffer in Robertson's court, Williams was convicted at the same time of lying to investigators.."
9/29/98 "U.S. Representative Bob Barr (GA-7) released today information exposing an effort by the Department of Justice to obtain massive new enforcement powers in the closing days of the 105th Congress. Barr obtained the information from a confidential source within federal law enforcement. Among other things, the Department's "wish list" for new authority includes (among others): A vastly expanded definition of terrorism to include domestic crimes having no relationship to terrorism, The power to seize commercial transportation assets for federal use, The ability to commander personnel from other federal agencies without reimbursement, Expanded wiretap authority to allow "roving" wiretaps, and wiretaps without any court authority, Enlarged asset forfeiture provisions to allow the FBI to seize personal property in both criminal and civil matters, The establishment of a permanent "FBI Police Force" Loosening of Posse Comitatus restrictions to allow more military involvement in domestic law enforcement Authority to force telephone and Internet companies to divulge information on their customers."
AP 9/29/98 Pete Yost "The Justice Department is siding with convicted Whitewater figure Webster Hubbell, its former No. 3 official, arguing that Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr exceeded his authority when he charged Hubbell with tax evasion. The department made the declaration in a friend-of- the-court brief filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals last week. The tax evasions charges against Hubbell, his wife and two friends were dismissed by a federal judge earlier this year. Starr has asked the appeals court to reverse the decision. Starr should have obtained Attorney General Janet Reno's approval before embarking on the tax prosecution of Hubbell, his wife, their tax lawyer and their accountant, a Justice Department attorney wrote."
Government Reform and Oversight Committee 9/17/98 ".Between the beginning of the investigation and the present, over 110 individuals have either invoked their fifth amendment rights or fled the country rather than cooperate with the investigation..While the Committee understands the concerns expressed by the Attorney General and FBI Director, congressional authority to conduct oversight overrides such policy concerns, particularly in this extraordinary situation where the Attorney General has repeatedly rejected the advice of the two top officials she has put in charge of the campaign finance investigation.As indicated above, Attorney General Janet Reno was summoned to furnish materials in her custody and control pursuant to valid and duly executed subpoenas of the Committee; however, she deliberately failed to comply with the terms of the subpoenas, thereby purposefully thwarting the Committee's investigation and necessitating a finding that Attorney General Reno is in contempt of Congress.In addition, Director Freeh pointed out that the Department of Justice is investigating other persons who, in addition to covered persons under the statute, give the appearance of a conflict of interest because of the nature of their relationship with the President. He raised concerns about a possible conflict due to the obligation of the FBI and Justice Department to keep the President informed of national security information which may be related to the investigation.The Attorney General's response to the Committee's subpoena is wholly inadequate. The Committee has issued a lawful subpoena, and the Attorney General has not made a claim of privilege in response. Rather, she has simply refused to comply with the subpoena. It is difficult to conceive of a more simple case for contempt of Congress. The Attorney General has not even attempted to interpose a legally adequate response to the subpoena..The Justice Department has become so used to offering ``ongoing criminal investigation'' as a reason for withholding materials from Congress that they apparently assume that there is a legal justification for it. There is not. Contempt is an unusual proceeding but these are unusual circumstances--circumstances the Attorney General and the Justice Department have created.\15\"
Washington Post 10/2/98 Robert Suro "The Washington Post is reporting a change in direction for the Justice Department in its campaign finance probe. "Now, instead of pressuring Huang to say what he knows about White House officials in exchange for immunity from prosecution, federal prosecutors are bargaining to get his testimony against Maria Hsia, a California fund-raiser already under indictment who played a minor though controversial role in 1996, according to lawyers close to the case.."
Wall Street Journal 10/2/98 "So now amid everything else, Janet Reno's Justice Department is going into court to run interference for Webb Hubbell against Ken Starr. You've got to give these people an A for whatever word is beyond chutzpah. Here we have an Attorney General who has been digging in her heels for nearly two years over the appointment of an independent counsel in the campaign finance scandal, with three preliminary investigations of that mess currently wending their way through her Public Integrity Section. Last week, however, Justice had little trouble heaving its full weight against Independent Counsel Starr, submitting a brief against him and in support of Mr. Hubbell. What a spectacle. Here's a guy who has been convicted of bilking his partners in the Rose Law Firm (which we guess is similar to lying to your closest colleagues), who as a Justice Department official himself participated in the early firing of all the sitting U.S. attorneys and ran information out the back door to the White House, and who sits on the edge of yet more scandal and possible indictments involving hush money after his own, initial indictment. Somehow, the Clinton Department of Justice finds this fit material for a friend-of-the-court brief.."
Dan Burton to Janet Reno 10/3/98 ".I am writing with regard to a report in the Washington Post today suggesting that the Justice Department is considering granting full immunity to John Huang, a longtime friend of the President and major DNC fundraiser.. Today, however, the latest disturbing episode involving your campaign task force has come to our attention. In an article titled "Prosecutors' Approach to Huang Signals Shift in Probe," the Washington Post provides an extensive discussion of John Huang's role in the Department of Justice campaign finance task force investigation (article attached). The idea that John Huang, a central figure in the millions of dollars in illegal foreign money which flowed into the DNC, would be granted immunity at this point for a case involving a lesser figure strikes me as absurd. While I understand this report may very well be inaccurate, I would note that to proceed in such a manner would be tantamount to giving Al Capone immunity to testify against his tax preparer Regardless of the veracity of the report, the very troubling aspect of this article is the fact that a "senior Justice Department official" is cited as essentially dismissing the case against John Huang..The message sent by your "senior Justice Department official" is inexcusable. Unless you can find this person and fire him or her immediately, you have no alternative but to remove yourself and your staff from any involvement with the campaign finance investigation. It is beyond clear that you are hopelessly conflicted in this matter -- something the FBI Director and your own hand- picked prosecutor have been telling you for months.."
Washington Post 10/10/98 Roberto Suro and Bill Miller "In an opinion that could undermine major campaign finance prosecutions, a federal judge yesterday concluded that the Justice Department has seriously misinterpreted the law governing political contributions by foreign nationals. U.S. District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman ruled that citizens of other nations are only prohibited from making "hard money" contributions, funds that are used to directly support individual candidates for federal office. Most of the investigations involving foreign contributions to the 1996 Clinton-Gore reelection effort have involved "soft money," which was used by the Democratic Party for general purposes, such as issue advertising and voter- registration drives.. Yesterday's ruling comes a month after Friedman delivered a major setback to another important campaign finance case, dismissing five of six charges brought against Maria Hsia, another controversial Democratic fund-raiser. In that ruling, the judge found that prosecutors had stretched the law in a manner that "defies logic" in alleging that Hsia caused campaign and party organizations to file false statements to the FEC for donations she had helped collect. Friedman yesterday threw out three similar charges brought against Trie. The Justice Department has formally decided to appeal that ruling.."
Washington Post 10/15/98 Susan Schmidt Robert Suro George Lardner Jr. ".WhiteHouse advisers and congressional Democrats said they plan to use the subpoena power granted to the House Judiciary Committee to summon witnesses, possibly including a former Starr law partner, to explore connections with the Jones lawsuit. Such ties, they argue, raise questions about whether the independent counsel should have been allowed to investigate Clinton's actions in the Jones case. The likely line of inquiry is part of a Democratic strategy to focus attention on Starr's conduct rather than the president's as impeachment proceedings move forward. Clinton's legal team has also asked Attorney General Janet Reno to review Starr's actions in winning permission to investigate the Monica S. Lewinsky matter in January, but the Justice Department so far has not moved beyond an initial review of whether to open a formal inquiry. The Justice Department already has been poring through Starr's submissions to Congress to determine whether there is any evidence to support Kendall's allegation that Starr acted improperly in obtaining authority to investigate the Lewinsky matter. The law allows an attorney general to fire an independent counsel for cause but does not provide for lesser sanctions. As a result, Reno can open a full- scale investigation only if there is evidence of misconduct so serious that it would warrant Starr's dismissal if true.."
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."
Dallas Morning News 10/16/98 Pete Yost AP ".Discussions between Mr. Starr and the Jones team were revealed by news organizations in 1994 and brought up again in January. National Public Radio focused new attention on the contacts Wednesday, prompting Mr. Starr's office to issue a statement in response.."This office did not mislead the Department of Justice regarding relevant facts relating to its jurisdiction, or any expansion," the independent counsel's statement said. ..Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said the impeachment inquiry, the Justice Department review and congressional oversight hearings all are proper avenues for delving into Mr. Starr's conduct. "Starr deserves an investigation of his own, maybe in the context of oversight hearings next year," said Mr. Nadler, a member of the Judiciary Committee, which is investigating the possible impeachable offenses reported by Mr. Starr. "He wired Linda Tripp before he had jurisdiction; he bullied Monica Lewinsky; he may have set up perjury traps for the president." Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., urged the chairmen of the Senate Governmental Affairs and Judiciary committees to summon Mr. Starr before the panels..Other matters relating to Mr. Starr's inquiry that are under review at the Justice Department: * Whether through his contact with New York book agent Lucianne Goldberg, Starr law partner Richard Porter ended up representing anyone involved in the case who went to the special prosecutor's office. * Whether Mr. Starr's office violated department regulations that prosecutors cannot discuss an immunity deal directly with a person represented by a lawyer without talking to the lawyer. * Whether Mr. Starr exceeded his authority by having Ms. Tripp wear an FBI body wire Jan. 13 to tape a conversation with Ms. Lewinsky.
The American Spectator 11/98 Byron York ".Janet Reno and Dan Burton are locked in mortal combat over the hottest document in the campaign finance investigation. The stakes are enormous: If Reno loses, the administration loses control of a politically explosive issue. It was no secret among Charles La Bella's prosecutors that the campaign finance investigation had set off internal warfare within the Justice Department.And besides, Burton and his staff argue, the purpose of the contempt citation is not to take a peek inside an ongoing criminal investigation. Rather, they say, Congress has a legitimate right to investigate the conduct of the attorney general. Has she behaved properly in steadfastly rejecting the findings of her campaign finance prosecutors? Burton and his allies seem genuinely mystified at Reno's tortured reading of the law involving both campaign finance and the independent counsel--and they suspect, not wholly without reason, that something is terribly wrong at the Justice Department. " We're saddled with the idea that Burton is engaged in a high-level game of extortion," says one frustrated staffer. "That's not what's going on here. It has become a matter of oversight." .."
Insight Magazine 10/19/98 Timothy W. Maier "Judicial Watch has been compiling a document of Clinton-administration injustice that is proving to be nearly as juicy -- if not as salacious -- as the Kenneth Starr report. A few months ago two FBI agents paid a visit to the Washington office of Larry Klayman, the former Justice Department prosecutor who now heads Judicial Watch, a conservative legal-ethics watchdog group. They weren't after Klayman, but rather were seeking evidence he had gathered in his lawsuits against the Clinton administration concerning illegal fund-raising. But Klayman is no patsy.. "I was skeptical but polite to the agents," Klayman tells Insight. "They told me they were going to subpoena some of the corporate people who went on the trade trips." . .Recently Klayman phoned one of the FBI agents who had called on him for help and asked if the Justice Department followed through with the promised subpoenas. The former federal prosecutor says the agent told him he could not discuss it. Klayman pressed. "Can you tell me at least this," he pleaded. "Are you happy with what's happening?" The agent paused and then replied, "Let's put it this way: I am thinking of resigning. You know how politics and the justice system work."."
The Laissez Faire City Times 10/26/98 Wesley Phelan ".At the time of his death Ron Brown was under subpoena to produce documents relating to the sale of seats on trade missions to Judicial Watch for its suit against the Commerce Department. Nolanda Hill, a friend and business partner of Brown, testified under oath that Brown had shown her a collection of such documents in an ostrich skin portfolio. These documents were withheld from Judicial Watch in violation of the subpoena and a FOIA request. Just before his death Brown reportedly said of his mounting legal troubles, "I am too old to go to jail. If I go down, I'll take everyone else down with me" The suspicious circumstances surrounding the crash of Brown's plane have given rise to much speculation of foul play . Making Brown's death even more suspicious is the fact that a perfectly round .45 inch inwardly beveling hole was discovered in the top of his head as his body was being processed by the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP). The story of the hole in Brown's head broke on November 24, with a report by Christopher Ruddy in the Pittsburgh Tribune- Review. Ruddy reported that Lt. Col. Steve Cogswell, a deputy medical examiner with AFIP, questioned the official finding that Brown died of multiple blunt- force trauma as a result of the airplane crash. Cogswell, who did not personally examine Brown's body, based his suspicions on x-rays and photographs of the top of Brown's head.. On December 5, 1997, AFIP imposed a gag order on Cogswell, forcing him to refer all press inquiries on the Brown case to AFIP's public affairs office. Cogswell was told he could leave his office only with the permission of Dr. Jerry Spencer, Armed Forces Medical Examiner. He was escorted to his house by military police, who seized all of his case materials on the Brown crash. If matters had remained there we could dismiss Cogswell as a rather eccentric fellow willing to jeopardize his military career by making wild accusations. But on December 9, 1997, Lt. Col. David Hause, another AFIP pathologist, came forward to corroborate Cogswell's story. Hause, one of AFIP's leading experts on gunshot wounds, was present in the room when Brown's body was being examined. A commotion erupted when Chief Petty Officer Kathleen Janoski said "Wow, look at the hole in Ron Brown's head." Hause walked over and verified that the wound penetrated the skull, exposing brain matter. According to Hause, the wound "looked like a punched- out .45-caliber entrance hole." After Hause spoke to Ruddy, the AFIP gag order was broadened to include all AFIP personnel. On January 8, the Justice Department announced it had found no reason to launch an investigation into the case.On January 13, yet another member of AFIP joined the ranks of the dissenters. Kathleen Janoski, a 22-year Navy veteran, was the head of AFIP's forensic photography unit. Janoski says she was told that missing evidence from the Brown file was purposely destroyed. Janoski originally declined to speak to the press about the matter, but finally came forward out of concern for the careers of Cogswell, Hause, and Parsons. She was stunned that the AFIP inquiry focused on the actions of the whistleblowers instead of on the botched examination of Brown's body. Janoski says a naval criminal investigator told her the original x- rays of Brown's head "showed a lead snowstorm." Janoski then located photographs she had taken of the original x-rays and gave them to Cogswell to review.."
Washington Weekly 7/20/97 ".It all started with the "D.A. Massacre" at the U.S. Justice Department. The Clinton administration in 1993 fired all U.S. Attorneys and replaced them with loyal cronies. That almost ended accountability for the Clinton administration, because indictment for crimes would have to be brought by U.S. Attorneys. An example is U.S. Attorney Eric Holder, conveniently placed at the District of Columbia-the actual crime scene for most of the misdeeds of the Clinton Administration. He has repeatedly refused prosecution of Clinton administration employees despite referrals with clear evidence of wrongdoing.. The Inspectors General of the different government agencies are the ethics and crime watchdogs. During the Clinton administration, they, as well as the respective general counsels, were replaced with loyal cronies answering no longer to the people of the United States but to the White House Counsel's office, the central intelligence office of the operation as we shall see later..Political intelligence gathered by Inspector Generals and other covert operatives of the White House Counsel's office has limited value if it cannot be turned into action. This is where political blackmail enters the picture. A truly corrupt administration can only survive if it can control public opinion, the judicial system, and the political system. Public opinion is controlled by the Clinton-friendly media. The judicial system has been taken care of as described above. That leaves the political system, which can still hold hearings and vote to impeach. The only effective way to deal with politicians is by blackmail. To blackmail a politician, you need dirt. To collect dirt, you need a private investigator or FBI agents. The White House has and uses both.. The replacement of the FBI director and the appointment of an Attorney General, both of whom are loyal cronies of the Clinton administration is an important part of the plan. Take as an example the current campaign financing scandal."
New York Times on the Web 11/6/98 David Johnston ".Charles G. La Bella, the former head of the Justice Department's Campaign Finance Task Force, has been ordered by aides to Attorney General Janet Reno not to speak at two conferences on campaign fin ance law...."I regret having spent a year doing this and not being able to speak publicly," La Bella said in a telephone interview. In letters to the sponsoring organizations, he said he had planned careful remarks on campaign finance that were limited to the law and published court decisions. But he also said he "understood" the logic of the decision.."
THE PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW (1994) Christopher Ruddy ".On the evening of June 16, 1993, assistant chef Sean Haddon was dutifully cooking dinner for the nation's first family..Haddon was preparing a dinner for 25, a relatively small gathering for the White House. "Two chefs could handle a dinner for 25 people easily," recalled Haddon, who first sensed something strange was afoot when the White House Usher's Office, which is responsible for managing the kitchen, inexplicably designated four chefs for the dinner - including one chef who was called in from the French Embassy. Just as that outside chef entered the kitchen, Haddon recalls, "All of a sudden Secret Service men were lining up in the hallway." Next, four armed and uniformed members of the service called Haddon to the side and demanded to see his White House identification, which he was asked to surrender. He was escorted from the kitchen to one of the guardhouses on the perimeter of the White House grounds..When he and Sweetland (his attorney) arrived, they were informed by agents that two White House officials "have said that you threatened the life of the president and members of the first family." Haddon and Sweetland were dumbfounded at the accusation, and Sweetland suggested to the agents it was "retaliation" for an informal complaint Haddon had filed with an Equal Employment Opportunity counselor. The counselor was to begin an investigation of Haddon's complaint the next day. .. By 11:30 p.m. the next day, the Secret Service had concluded the chef was no threat to the president or his family and he was allowed to return to his job a few days later..But some nine months later, in March 1994, Haddon was dismissed. The treatment he'd been subjected to on that June 1993 night had been largely glossed over... If the bureau had, in fact, been used for political purposes in the Haddon case, it would not have been out of character at that time. On May 12, 1993, in what was to be a major scandal, the FBI was summoned by the White House to investigate members of the White House travel office - an act for which the White House subsequently felt the need to apologize. In July 1993, a month after the Haddon incident, FBI head William Sessions was abruptly fired. A half-year later, in February 1994, Sessions charged that at the time of his firing the White House, together with the Justice Department, had been in a "power struggle" with the FBI in an effort to undo its official politically neutral role. Clearly, the chef's assertion of his employment rights were of pressing concern to officials at the highest level of the White House." Comments by Frreeper Marcellus ".This is Kitchengate, which was overshadowed at the time by Travelgate. Sean Haddon, a white chef married to a black female, filed a an EEO complaint alleging that he had been denied promotion and had been harassed because of his mixed-race marriage. The EEO matter remains in litigation and is currently on appeal within the agency. At the request of the DOJ, which represents the defendant Gary Walters, the case has been sealed. Despite not officially being a party, it is known that the White House Counsel has been allowed to participate in the EEO hearings before an Administrative Judge. No criminal charges have been brought against any "official" who made the false claims about Mr. Haddon, and, in fact, the DOJ is representing one of the alleged perpetrators (Gary Walters) in the EEO action.."
CNET 11/13/98 Sandeep Junnakar ".The top ranked Justice Department prosecutor in the Microsoft antitrust trial is on the hot seat himself, according to a report. The Federal Election Commission is investigating a charge that the Justice Department's David Boies violated campaign finance lawd. Boies is accused of allegedly asking friends in Florida to contribute $1,000 each toward the 1996 election campaign of Rep. Jane Harman (D-Florida). Many of those who contributed then allegedly were reimbursed by one of Boies's former clients and business associates, the Wall Street Journal reported.."
Reuters 11/21/98 James Vincini ".U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno appears unlikely to seek an independent counsel for campaign-related questions involving President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore, Justice Department officials said. A decision not to seek an independent counsel would be a major legal and political relief for Gore as a lengthy investigation could have posed significant problems in his bid to win the presidency in the 2000 election. It also would be a boost for Clinton. He already faces independent counsel Kenneth Starr's investigation, and no president has been the target of two independent counsel investigations.."
FoxNews 11/24/98 Anne Gearan ".A federal judge today threw out about a quarter of the corruption case against former Clinton Cabinet member Mike Espy. U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina tossed out eight charges and a portion of a ninth, saying prosecutors had failed to prove wrongdoing. The jury will hear closing arguments Nov. 30 on the remaining 30 charges. Urbina rejected most charges related to the former agriculture secretary's attendance at the 1994 Super Bowl in Atlanta, along with charges that Espy illegally took a crystal bowl and a $1,200 scholarship for his girlfriend from farm companies regulated by his agency. The judge also rejected a wire-fraud count related to a 1994 trip Espy made to Texas and part of a "false statements'' charge alleging Espy lied to Agriculture Department investigators looking into reports that Espy had improper dealings with farm companies on the job. "The basic framework of the case is still very much in place,'' said William Noakes, a deputy prosecutor. Espy defense lawyer Reid Weingarten declined to comment on the judge's ruling.."
Fox News 11/24/98 ".Attorney General Janet Reno is likely to again decline to order independent counsel investigations of President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore over campaign fund raising, officials say. Reno must advise a special court Tuesday of her decision on whether an outside prosecutor is needed to determine whether Gore lied to investigators about campaign finances last year. She faces separate, similar decisions about President Clinton and his former deputy chief of staff, Harold Ickes, over the next two weeks.. As before, she has received conflicting advice. FBI Director Louis J. Freeh and bureau officials made recommendations on the three cases, but he wouldn't divulge them. Law enforcement officials said Freeh recommended a counsel, as he has twice before. Freeh has argued the sprawling controversy should be investigated as one potential plot to circumvent campaign laws and, at least to avoid an appearance of a conflict of interest, an outside counsel should be in charge. But other officials said she was getting contradictory recommendations from career department prosecutors, whose advice she has taken over Freeh's before. A year ago, she turned down independent counsels to investigate Gore's telephone fund raising and Clinton's use of White House coffees and overnight visits for contributors. Clinton, Gore and others were interviewed during the current 90-day inquiries by Justice officials...The Clinton case involves whether issue ads, which both parties use, crossed the line into advocating Clinton's election. Arguing they did, a Federal Election Commission staff audit recommends requiring Clinton's re- election campaign to repay $13.4 million in federal matching funds.."
FoxNews 11/24/98 Michael Sniffen ".Attorney General Janet Reno concluded Tuesday there is "clear and convincing evidence'' Vice President Al Gore did not lie to campaign finance investigators and she declined to order further investigation by an independent counsel. "The evidence fails to provide any reasonable basis for a conclusion that the Vice President may have lied,'' Reno advised a special court. "There are no reasonable grounds to believe that further investigation is warranted'' into an allegation that Gore lied to Justice Department investigators last year about how a Democratic media fund was financed. It was the second time in a year that Reno refused to have an outside prosecutor examine Gore over his telephone fund-raising or what he said about it. For Gore, it removed a potential obstacle to his ambition to run for president in 2000..."Once again, the Attorney General has failed to follow the law,'' said Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind. "For the past two years, the attorney general has made it clear she is committed to protecting the president.'' Burton faulted her for rejecting the advice of FBI Director Louis J. Freeh to order an independent counsel, which Freeh has been advocating for more than a year. Steve Forbes, a would-be Republican presidential candidate in 2000, said, "This raises the question of Ms. Reno's fitness to remain in office.'' Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., suggested asking a court to order Reno to turn the case over to a counsel. This inquiry into Gore began in July when his counsel turned over handwritten notes by Gore's former deputy chief of staff, David Strauss, about a Nov. 21, 1995 meeting which Gore attended. The notation "65% soft/35% hard'' called into question whether Gore knew that some of the money in a Democratic media fund for issue advertisements was coming from so-called hard money, which can be used to promote specific candidates but which cannot be raised on federal property.."
Washington Weekly 11/03/97 ". A $100 million lawsuit filed in federal court today charges the Department of Justice with collusion with the Russian Mafia. The lawsuit alleges perjury, fraud, torture, and witness tampering by named officers of the U.S. government on behalf of the Russian Mafia. The lawsuit stems from the case of Alexandre Konanykhine, a Russian banker who blew the whistle on a grand KGB scheme to smuggle hundreds of millions of dollars out of the Soviet Union at the time of its collapse. The loot is still stashed in foreign banks, some in Switzerland, and former KGB officers and Communist Party officials are protecting the secret through their new positions in the Russian Mafia and in the corrupt government of Russia. After whistleblower Konanykhine was kidnapped by the Russian Mafia, he escaped to the United States where he thought himself protected by the legal system. Words cannot describe the horror he and his wife went through when they discovered that FBI and INS agents worked on behalf of former KGB officers in the Russian Mafia to have him returned through extralegal means to Russia. Both the FBI and the INS are part of the Justice Department..Lest anyone should believe that the Konanykhine case is just one of those famous Clinton administration "bureaucratic snafus," Mr. Konanykhine points to the parallel case of Jouri Nesterov, a legal U.S. resident since 1994, who is now fighting a similar deportation to Russia. Mr. Nesterov claims that he played a small part in a secret and politically explosive scheme by the Russian military to sell sophisticated arms to China, and that most of the proceeds, including his promised fee, were pocketed by high-level officials and allied Russian Mobsters. Those people, he says, now want him back -- to silence him. And again, incredibly, the Clinton administration is helping Russian Mobsters masquerading as government officials to silence Nesterov."
The Secret Life Of Bill Clinton 1997 Ambrose Evans-Pritchard Chapter 17 ".THE TREMOR HIT on June 11, 1997, when a Little Rock jury convicted Dan Harmon on five counts of racketeering, extortion, and drug dealing. It meant nothing to the political classes in Washington, but those who understood the nexus of relationships in Arkansas saw it very differently. Harmon was one of the commissars who had enforced a politicized criminal justice system during the tenure of Governor Clinton. Now a jury of Arkansans had found him guilty of running his Seventh Judicial District prosecuting attorney's office "as a criminal enterprise for six years" and "demanding money in return for dropping charges."..Fine as far as it went, thought Duffey, but the prosecution was holding back. She knew that Dan Harmon was much worse than that. His crimes were heinous. She suspected that the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas was engaged in damage control. Experience had taught her to expect the absolute minimum from the U.S. Justice Department. But at least Harmon had now been exposed as a criminal, and that was something. At least he could not inflict any more judicial atrocities on the people of central Arkansas. That was no small victory..."
San Francisco Chronicle 11/29/98 Debra Saunders ".IN LIGHT of recent events, it is time to revise the federal criminal code. Let it jibe better with public opinion polls. Let the law set standards that happening people can live with more easily. First off, Congress should exempt certain classes of citizens from prosecution for certain crimes. Make it so no politician can be convicted of perjury, because all politicians lie. Only nonelected citizens shall be subject to federal perjury laws. CEOs are also important people who few expect to be truthful all the time. New federal guidelines could restrict prosecutors from convicting CEOs of perjury, but encourage Justice officials to sue lying CEOs in civil court in order to raise revenue for well-intended government programs. (See pending tobacco legislation: Let smokers, many of whom are poor, pay so that tobacco execs don't have to go to jail.) Politicians also should be exempted from obstruction of justice and witness-tampering laws. How are they supposed to spearhead a decent coverup with nitpicking laws in their way? In the future, it should be unlawful for prosecutors to question suspects' relatives. It's just not nice..It's time for new perjury laws that allow defendants in civil rights cases to lie during depositions, if they believe that they are being sued unfairly or if they are uncomfortable with the probing nature of plaintiffs' attorneys' questions. Also, allow criminal defendants to commit perjury before grand juries if they believe the prosecutors are politically motivated, or if they don't like the way the investigation got started. Attorney General Janet Reno should direct federal and local prosecutors never to prosecute any Friends of Bill for alleged white-collar crimes. If rich people get bilked by Clinton cronies, it's probably their own fault... One last directive from Reno to America's prosecutors: When in doubt about whether to prosecute, don't ask what justice demands, take a poll.."
Freeper Cultural Jihad reporting on www.sfgate.com 12/02/98 ".A 39-year-old Pleasanton woman pleaded not guilty this morning in an Alameda County Superior Court to felony charges of providing a place for lewd conduct. Deputy District Attorney Deborah Streicher said Carye McGrath, who has posted $20,000 in bail, allegedly hosted a party for teen-age girls -- including her own 15-year-old daughter -- on Oct. 30 in which a 29-year-old male stripper performed. Streicher said Schmitt, who is out on $100,000 bail, is charged with fondling three 15-year-olds and with letting a fourth 15-year-old perform oral sex on him. The prosecutor said the oral sex is considered a felony because he and his partner were more than 10 years apart in age. Streicher said the strip show would have been illegal even without the touching if it were intended to arouse the girls sexually. McGrath's attorney later said she thought the incident will come to nothing once the media attention ends.." Freeper Wil H observes ".Why is this a felony charge? we all know that HE didn't have sex, only SHE did. Don't they learn anything from our wonderful President?."
The New York Times 12/5/98 David Johnston ".The officials said that senior advisers to Reno, who must make a decision by Monday, have urged her not to seek the appointment of a special prosecutor. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the officials reasoned that a successful criminal prosecution on the advertisements would be unlikely because Clinton and his aides relied extensively on lawyers' advice in planning and carrying out the advertisements campaign.."
Dallas Morning News 12/5/98 Ronald Ostrow, William Rempel, Alan Miller (LA Times) ".The independent counsel investigating Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt secretly sought authority recently to look into dealings of former White House aide Harold Ickes and others, government officials said Friday. This is what led Attorney General Janet Reno to delay her decision earlier this week on whether to seek appointment of an outside prosecutor to determine whether Mr. Ickes, the former deputy chief of staff, lied in Senate testimony about a labor dispute. Until now, it was believed that Ms. Reno decided to continue her review for up to 60 more days because of new information on Mr. Ickes' actions in the lengthy strike of the Teamsters Union against Diamond Walnut Growers in Stockton, Calif. But Justice Department sources said it appeared that Ms. Reno had been leaning against asking for an outside prosecutor and toward closing the Ickes review when the letter seeking "referral of a related matter" came from Carol E. Bruce. Ms. Bruce is the independent counsel looking into allegations that Mr. Babbitt lied in Senate testimony about his department's rejection of an Indian casino license. The related matter, said to involve "a series of transactions" by Mr. Ickes and others, including government and nongovernment officials, could produce information relevant to Ms. Reno's decision on whether to seek an outside prosecutor in the Ickes matter, the sources said. The latest turn could be bad news for Mr. Ickes, who before Monday thought the Justice Department investigation of his testimony before a Senate committee was coming to an end.."
Fox News 12/5/98 Michael J. Sniffen ".Justice Department officials are strongly recommending that Attorney General Janet Reno refuse to order an independent counsel investigation of President Clinton over 1996 campaign financing, aides to Reno say.. Most Justice aides advised Reno that the evidence was clear and convincing that Clinton had no criminal intent, officials said. The FBI, however, renewed its year-old recommendation that an outside counsel take over the entire campaign funding probe from Reno's task force, which has so far charged 14 people, including prominent Democratic donors. Some Justice officials even questioned whether the party issue ads constituted a civil violation of election law, which is necessary before there can be any criminal violation, officials said..
Judge Henry Woods dismissed the original three-count indictment against Arkansas Gov. Jim Guy Tucker.
The definition of "cult" was a subject of litigation between New Alliance Party et al and FBI, Janet Reno et al in 1993 and the Waco incident was cited in the documents as an example of "government interference." The outcome of the lawsuit is unknown. An inflammatory quote that has been attributed to Janet Reno defining "cultist" cannot be authenticated.
Associated Press 12/9/98 Wendy Rudgerman ".A New Jersey law that supporters said was created to ban a specific type of late-term abortion is unconstitutional and cannot be enforced, a federal judge has decided. Judge Anne Thompson said she overturned the law because its wording was too ambiguous and it could be interpreted to ban all abortions. She said it also is unconstitutional because it does not include an exception if the mother's health is in jeopardy.."
The Washington Times Editorial 12/9/98 ".Attorney General Janet Reno, she might as well acknowledge, has unilaterally repealed the independent counsel statute. The law's hair-trigger mechanism for the appointment of an independent counsel -- specific and credible information that a covered person may have committed a crime, unless the attorney general is able to determine that no additional investigation is warranted -- has been transmogrified at the hands of this attorney general into something like the failsafe system for preventing accidental nuclear launch.."
AP 01/01/99 ".In a setback for the Justice Department's campaign fund-raising investigation, a federal judge has dismissed much of the case against a Thai businesswoman who raised substantial funds for the Democratic Party. U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman on Thursday threw out 11 counts against Pauline Kanchanalak, a key figure in the investigation of foreign money raised in the 1996 Clinton-Gore re- election campaign. The ruling left seven of the original 24 counts. Prosecutors had dropped six charges against Ms. Kanchanalak last fall after the judge raised legal concerns about those counts. Friedman's ruling Thursday followed earlier decisions that threw out much of the Justice Department's cases against two other defendants in the foreign money probe, Yah Lin ``Charlie'' Trie and Maria Hsia..Friedman threw out allegations that they filed false statements with the Federal Election Commission, ruling that prosecutors failed to show they had any significant role in the submission of statements to the FEC by the Democratic organizations. He also found that the newly dismissed counts were nearly indistinguishable from the dismissed allegations at issue in the Trie and Hsia cases. In those earlier rulings, the judge found that citizens of foreign countries are prohibited only from making donations that directly support individual candidates - contributions known as ``hard'' money.."
THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE (RIVERSIDE, CA.) 12/16/98 Mark Henry ".A federal judge has dismissed 13 felony counts against two Cabazon Indian officials accused of making illegal campaign donations to President Clinton and other Democrats. U.S. District Judge Audrey B. Collins cited ambiguous federal elections rules in dismissing most of the charges against Mark Nichols, chief executive officer of the tribe, and Greg Cervantes, special affairs director..Prosecutors alleged Nichols and Cervantes devised a scheme using tribal money to make secret contributions to Democratic candidates. They recruited casino employees to make $ 1,000 donations to campaigns of his choice, according to court documents. Nichols then reimbursed them from a casino bank account, according to court records.."
Freeper Tadams8591 reports 2/3/99 ".Philadelphia. The district attorney's office denied a private criminal complaint made by anti-Clinton protestor Don Adams against teamster local 115 head John Morris, for assault and other charges related to the October 2, 1998 Clinton Rally beating of Adams that was instigated by Morris."
Nando Media-Scripps Howard News Service 2/6/99 Jay Ambrose ".Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker who paid a $300,000 fine for ethical missteps, has been at least partially exonerated while another famous politician accused of foul conduct continues to sit high and mighty despite evidence that seems irrefutable. . The surprising thing is that it took the Internal Revenue Service three years to reach that obvious conclusion and inform the Progress and Freedom Foundation that its help in financing the course was within the law."
Yahoo News 2/3/99 Reuters ".A federal judge Wednesday dismissed more charges against Thai businesswoman Pauline Kanchanalak and her sister-in-law, dealing another setback to a U.S. Justice Department campaign finance task force. U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman, who in December dismissed 17 of the 24 charges they each faced, threw out two of the remaining counts against Kanchanalak, a key figure in the investigation of foreign money raised in the 1996 re-election campaign of President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore. The judge in the 19-page ruling also dropped one count against Kanchanalak's sister-in-law, Duangnet ``Georgie'' Kronenberg. The dropped charges involved allegations that the two defendants made false statements to the Federal Election Commission. In addition, the Justice Department voluntarily dropped two other counts against each. Friedman has also thrown out much of the Justice Department's charges against two other Democratic fund-raisers, Charlie Trie and Maria Hsia.."
ABC News 2/16/99 Freeper Vortex ".Just heard on Radio that Judge Wright has delayed the decision about holding Clinton in contempt of court regarding the Jones case, but will now decide.."
Associated Press 2/16/99 Pete Yost ".U.S. District Judge James Robertson said he might conduct an evidentiary hearing to determine whether Starr's prosecutors prejudiced a fair trial for Hubbell by delaying charges for two years. Hubbell is accused in the November 1998 indictment of concealing his and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton's roles in a fraudulent Arkansas land development. Hubbell's lawyers want the case dismissed, suggesting Starr's office held back the charges until a key witness, Hubbell's father-in- law, elderly businessman Seth Ward of Little Rock, Ark., was too ill to testify. Ward and the Clintons' Whitewater partner, Jim McDougal, co-owned a 1,000 parcel of property south of Little Rock called Castle Grande. McDougal, who cooperated with Starr's office, died in prison last year and therefore cannot be cross-examined about the information he gave to prosecutors.."
AP 2/16/99 Tom Parsons ". The judge who oversaw Paula Jones' sexual harassment suit against President Clinton said Tuesday she'll consider citing the president for contempt because of his testimony about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. But U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright said she would step aside from the case if she were asked to do so by attorneys because of her contact with a House impeachment case manager. Wright raised the possibility of contempt in a footnote to her decision on Sept. 1 to release a transcript of Clinton's testimony in a deposition in the Jones case. Wright said in an order Tuesday that she had not considered the matter further because the case had been under appeal and impeachment proceedings were still pending against Clinton..."
CNN Web Site 2/17/99 Terry Frieden ".A federal judge Tuesday rejected a motion by former Associate Attorney General Webster Hubbell to dismiss nearly half of the allegations in a Whitewater-related indictment brought against him by Independent Counsel Ken Starr. U.S. District Judge James Robertson refused to dismiss six counts of a 15-count indictment against President Bill Clinton's longtime friend brought by Starr's prosecutors last November.. Hubbell attorney John Nields, Jr. complained to the judge that Starr's team was hounding Hubbell. "The law does not look sympathetically at the government for prosecuting someone over and over and over again," Nields said. But Judge Robertson responded, "This case is not about sympathies.". Hubbell faces a second separate trial in a tax fraud case Starr brought against him. Those charges were thrown out by Robertson last year, but reinstated by a federal appeals court in January. That case involves allegations Hubbell received "hush money" from Clinton friends to buy his silence on possible Clinton wrongdoing. Hubbell adamantly denies the charges.."
The New York Post 2/11/99 ".A week after Attorney General Janet Reno broke the law by refusing to name an independent counsel to investigate former White House deputy chief of staff Harold Ickes' apparently blatant contravention of campaign-finance laws, she has yet again showed how ruthless the Clintonites can be in their use of the law in their own self-interest. Her decision to investigate Kenneth Starr for supposedly illicit contacts between his office and Paula Jones' legal team is outrageous. Why is she doing this? Ostensibly because a lawyer working for Starr, Paul Rosenzweig, talked to a lawyer named Jerome Marcus a few times. Jerome Marcus did legal work for Paula Jones. That's really about it. You see, when Starr asked Reno to expand his inquiry into the Monica Lewinsky matter, his people said Starr's office had had no contact with the Jones legal team. Reno is said to be ''disappointed'' that Starr did not inform her of these contacts, though any such contacts violate no known law or statute. No matter; the president's lawyers say that Starr and the Jones team were ''colluding.'' Colluding in what? Lawyers talking is not collusion. Getting somebody to lie in a deposition - that's collusion. Let's be frank. This has nothing to do with Kenneth Starr's conduct and everything to do with revenge."
New York Post 2/11/99 Brian Blomquist ".Senate Republicans last might reacted angrily to reports Attorney General Janet Reno has OK'd a plan to probe Kenneth Starr, saying it appears to be a move to fire the prosecutor. "They're blatant enough that, once this is over, they'll try firing Starr, by first smearing him," an angry Senate Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch (R- Utah) said last night. "This Justice Department, in the eyes of many, is the most partisan Justice Department this century," Hatch added. Sources say Reno has given the Office of Professional Responsibility the green light to review whether an aide to independent counsel Starr had contact with a lawyer who helped Paula Jones.. Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) said that he had "suspicions" that Reno might be moving in to fire Starr. "She's not investigating anybody else. I don't know why she's investigating him," said Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.). ."
CNN Pierre Thomas 2/11/99 ".Sen. Orrin Hatch is calling for an investigation into whether Justice Department officials leaked word to the press about a potential probe of Independent Counsel Ken Starr's office. Hatch, who has a meeting scheduled for Friday with Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder, put the Justice Department's second-ranking official on notice to be prepared to discuss Starr. "Needless to say, I am very concerned," Hatch wrote Holder. "These press accounts once again call into question the Department's integrity and support the impression many people have that this is a partisan Justice Department." ."
FoxNews 3/2/99 Pete Yost "…In a new threat to Kenneth Starr's office, a federal judge indicated today he may require the prosecutor to supply presidential friend Webster Hubbell with investigative memos and grand jury testimony that spell out the inner workings of the Whitewater investigation. U.S. District Judge James Robertson suggested he may hold a pretrial hearing into how Starr came to indict Hubbell for allegedly concealing his and Hillary Rodham Clinton's work on a fraudulent Arkansas land development called Castle Grande…."
Associated Press 3/18/99 Larry Margasak "…A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a criminal count against presidential friend Webster Hubbell in a fraud indictment that makes references to Hillary Rodham Clinton. The count accused Hubbell of scheming to conceal work done by him and Mrs. Clinton, his former law partner, on a failed Arkansas land deal. U.S. District Judge James Robertson agreed with Hubbell that the allegations in the count were too vague. "The charging language ... alleges no specific act or acts of concealment by 'trick, scheme or device' and no specific 'false, fictitious, or fraudulent statements or representations,'' the judge said, citing specific language of federal law. "It is non-specific.'' Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr had obtained a 15-count indictment of Hubbell last November in connection with a land deal known as Castle Grande. Federal regulators said the deal was riddled with "insider dealing, fictitious sales and land flips.'' Robertson dismissed Hubbell's motions to throw out other counts in the case…."
FoxNews 3/18/99 David Shuster Freeper go star go "…David Shuster says Mrs Hubbell is putting pressure on Webb to make a deal with the OIC in order to avoid trial. This on Britt Hume's show this evening…."
Washington Post 3/31/99 Peter Slevin "…The Internal Revenue Service properly stripped tax breaks from a New York church that opposed candidate Bill Clinton in full-page newspaper advertisements during the 1992 campaign, a federal judge here ruled yesterday. U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman decided that the IRS acted lawfully when it took away tax-exempt status from The Church at Pierce Creek in Vestal, N.Y. He dismissed the church's claims that the IRS violated religious freedoms and engaged in selective prosecution. Churches that claim exemption from taxation cannot take sides in an election campaign, the federal tax code states. The IRS concluded after a two-year investigation that the nondenominational Christian church had done just that and no longer was entitled to the exemption. The case centered on a full-page advertisement that appeared in USA Today and the Washington Times four days before the 1992 general election. The advertisement said, "Bill Clinton is promoting policies that are in rebellion to God's laws."…"
Judicial Watch Press Release 4/02/99 "...Judge Paul Friedman, who was appointed by President Clinton to the federal bench in Washington, DC, has sustained a decision by the Clinton-run Internal Revenue Service to remove the tax exempt status of a Christian church that had placed newspaper advertisements critical of Bill Clinton's moral views and policies. At the time of Clinton's IRS decision, tens of groups critical of Clinton were subject to IRS audits. Many other IRS audits of Clinton critics followed. The ruling comes at a time when some religious groups are deciding how to participate in public policy debates during the 2000 elections, and as issues of abortion, gay rights, and morality become even more pronounced - especially given the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal's destructive impact on Judeo-Christian values. Judge Friedman is the same federal judge who presides over the Clinton/Gore-endorsed Sidney Blumenthal libel suit against Matt Drudge - calling Drudge not a journalist but "a purveyor of gossip." He also recently issued the landmark decision that foreign political "soft money" contributions (i.e., from Communist China) to the Clinton-controlled Democratic National Committee are not illegal. One implication of that astonishing ruling is that a president can solicit and accept soft money contributions from China's People's Liberation Army. Judge Friedman has also recently dismissed large portions of indictments of key figures in the Clinton-Chinagate scandal...."
AP 4/12/99 "...Susan McDougal was found innocent of obstructing Kenneth Starr's Whitewater investigation and the judge declared a mistrial today on the other two charges against her. U.S. District Judge George Howard Jr. declared the mistrial on two criminal contempt counts just before jurors delivered the innocent verdict in the courtroom...."
Peggy Harris, Associated Press 4/9/99 "...The judge in Susan McDougal's trial froze jury deliberations today and ordered an FBI investigation of possible attempts to influence the jurors. The chain of events began after it was discovered a juror had brought a state law book into the jury room. As he ordered the FBI inquiry, U.S. District Judge George Howard Jr. also issued a subpoena to bring in for questioning a former Arkansas Supreme Court justice whose business card was found in the book...... He ordered the FBI inquiry after a discussion of whether the former justice, John I. Purtle, had any connection to Mrs. McDougal; whether Nance had been influenced by a factor outside the trial and whether the other jurors had been tainted.... In an interview, Purtle said he sold his house to Nance in 1997 and that he probably left the law book behind. Purtle said he knows Mrs. McDougal and Clinton, and he worked with Mrs. Clinton on a legal case before she became first lady. But Nance said he has no connection to Nance now and no connection to the McDougal trial - although he feels strongly that Mrs. McDougal shouldn't have been prosecuted for criminal contempt...."
Wall Street Journal 4/9/99 David Cloud Phil Kuntz "...Even as Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji visits President Clinton here, the steam is going out of one of their biggest problems: the federal investigation into whether China hatched an elaborate plot to funnel money into the Clinton-Gore 1996 re-election effort. Justice Department and congressional investigators have uncovered significant evidence that funds from China wound up in Democratic National Committee coffers. But law-enforcement officials think the evidence more strongly suggests uncoordinated efforts by business entrepreneurs who have prominent party or government positions, rather than a Chinese government plot. Even if there were such a plot, law-enforcement officials now seem to have concluded that there is little point in charging those responsible in China, because there is little chance they would ever be turned over to U.S. custody. That leaves the matter in the hands of U.S. counterintelligence officials... Sen. Thompson is especially scornful of skepticism by law-enforcement officials about what his committee dubbed the "China Plan" to funnel money to the Clinton campaign. He concedes that there is no evidence indicating that each step of the alleged conspiracy was directed by Chinese President Ziang Zemin. But he adds, "We know how the Chinese government operates -- through various companies. Practically everything is the government over there." ....But prosecutors have run into unexpected problems in two of the major cases, those of Little Rock, Ark., businessman Yah Lin "Charlie" Trie and Los Angeles immigration consultant Maria Hsia, both Democratic fund-raisers. Federal District Judge Paul Friedman has dismissed several counts against both of them, ruling that U.S. law doesn't prohibit foreigners from contributing "soft money" -- that is, unregulated donations to help build up political parties -- as it does "hard money" used to directly influence an election. He also has thrown out charges alleging the defendants caused false statements to be made to the Federal Election Commission..... The biggest remaining mystery of the case is whether DNC fund-raiser John Huang, whose attempts to tap Asian-American donors helped to ignite the scandal, will ever be charged. In seclusion since the first days of the scandal, Mr. Huang may soon be heard from again: Judicial Watch, a conservative group with a number of civil suits pending against the Clinton administration, has subpoenaed him to appear next week to give a deposition in a related suit it has filed against the Clinton administration...."
CNN 4/9/99 "...Jury deliberations in the trial of Whitewater figure Susan McDougal will resume Monday after the judge ruled that a juror whose possession of a legal book disrupted the proceedings Friday can remain on the panel.
U.S. District Judge George Howard Jr. made his ruling after meeting with juror Michael Nance, a 47-year-old truck driver from Little Rock, for nearly an hour behind closed doors with no lawyers present. Nance brought with him a book dealing with Arkansas court proceedings into the jury room Friday morning. The judge also rescinded an earlier order for an FBI investigation of possible jury tampering. He dismissed the jury for the day and said deliberations will resume Monday at 9:30 a.m. CT (10:30 a.m. ET). ...."
USA Today 12/7/94 "...Former associate attorney general Webster Hubbell pleaded guilty Tuesday to mail fraud and tax evasion for overbilling clients - including the federal government - at least $ 394,000..... "He is one of the kindest, most honest and intelligent people I have ever known," said former Arkansas Supreme Court justice John Purtle. "This charge is 100% political by people who want to tear down the Clinton administration and don't care if they destroy a good man in the process."..."
4/10/99 Drudge Freeper Swanks "......Starr's office said that Purtle, while he was on the state Supreme Court, sided with Mrs. McDougal and her husband in a case that involved a branch office for a bank they owned in northern Arkansas. ...The prosecutors also noted that on the day Clinton's friend, Webster Hubbell, was sentenced for stealing nearly $400,000 from his law firm and its clients, Purtle, who by then had left the court, was quoted as saying ``I don't know why they've made a federal case out of this.'' ..."
Wall Street Journal 4/19/99 Jonathan Turley re: Susan Webber Wright's decision "...A federal judge was holding a president in contempt of court: an historic moment. The opinion was loaded with barbed language and findings of willful misconduct. Yet the most intriguing line may be the most innocuous: "It was during the President's televised address that the Court first learned the President may be in contempt of court." This one line could prove the most controversial part of Judge Wright's opinion and the issue upon which her own role in the crisis will be judged. It isn't the content but the date of Judge Wright's decision that is troubling. Judge Wright makes clear that the date of the opinion was no judicial snafu of poor timing or indecision. Judge Wright noted that Mr. Clinton's contempt was obvious and hardly required "extended analysis." Yet she decided to withhold judgment as the impeachment battle unfolded and finally ended with acquittal. At the very moment in history where an independent court ruling was most needed, she decided to remain silent. The reference to the president's speech gives a specific date upon which his possible contempt was apparent to the court: Aug. 17, 1998....Judge Wright explained that "the Court determined that it should defer to Congress and its constitutional duties prior to this Court addressing the President's conduct in this civil case." The purpose of this deference is unclear; the court was not assisting Congress but withholding material information from it...."
The Weekly Standard 4/26/99 David Tell "...To be sure, Judge Wright's April 12 essay is not entirely without its pleasures. "Contrary to numerous assertions," she writes, "this Court did not rule that evidence of the Lewinsky matter was irrelevant or immaterial to the issues in plaintiff's case." And, she adds-contrary to numerous other assertions vehemently advanced, throughout the controversy, by the Democratic party-Bill Clinton was unmistakably guilty as charged by the House impeachment managers. There can be "no factual dispute" and there is "simply no escaping the fact" and "the record leaves no doubt" and "the record demonstrates by clear and convincing evidence" . . . that the president defied the orders of a federal judge by responding to questions from Paula Jones's attorneys with "intentionally false" answers "designed to obstruct the judicial process." Perjury and obstruction of justice, in other words. Nice of her to say so......The president violates the law. A major federal investigation ensues. He and his aides lie to and about that investigation for eight months. He marshals the executive branch of government and his political party, the Democratic party, to sustain the lie during a spectacular impeachment proceeding in Congress. And his only punishment is a one-day scolding from a district court judge-plus a couple thousand bucks...."
U.S. Courts 5/10/1999 Judge George Howard "…Document #63 from USA v. Trie, 4:98-CR-239 Eastern District of Arkansas:: ORDER by Judge George Howard Jr. requiring Maria Mapili to give testimony or provide other information as to all matters about which she may be interrogated at trial and any proceeding ancillary thereto [60-1]. It is furtherordered that no testimony or other information compelled under this order may be used against Maria Mapilli in any criminal case except a prosecution for perjury, giving a false statement or otherwise failing to comply with this order (cc: all counsel and defendants) [Date Entered: 05/10/99, By: rls]…"
Pittsburgh Post Gazette 6/2/99 Jack Torry "...President Clinton and Congress clash in a courtroom this week over a constitutional issue as old as the nation itself: Who has the authority to send U.S. troops to war? Tomorrow, a bipartisan group of Congress members will ask a federal judge to decide whether Clinton violated the Constitution's balance of powers by not seeking congressional approval to continue the air war over Kosovo. Clinton has been taken to court by Reps. Tom Campbell, R-Calif., Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, and 23 other lawmakers who failed to stop the war with a House floor vote in April. They argue that only Congress has the power to send the military into combat. The lawsuit, whose authors include University of Pittsburgh law professor Jules Lobel, could lead to the first ruling on the constitutionality of the contested 1973 War Powers Resolution, passed over former President Richard Nixon's veto and opposed by every president since Nixon. Attorneys for the Clinton administration will reply with a request that U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman dismiss the case..... Clinton appointed Friedman to the federal bench in 1994...."
6/8/99 AP "...A federal judge today dismissed a lawsuit filed by a group of House members who wanted the bombing of Yugoslavia by U.S. forces to be declared illegal. The lawsuit was filed by 26 lawmakers, led by Rep. Tom Campbell, R-Calif., who alleged that President Clinton violated the War Powers Act of 1973 by authorizing military air strikes against Yugoslavia..... U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman, in his ruling granting a White House motion to dismiss the case, said ``congressional reaction to the airstrikes has sent distinctly mixed messages.'' ...."
12/22/98 Anne Gearon "..."I'm troubled by this. If I'm wrong in placing my faith in him, then the consequences are that he may leave the country and we may not be able to get him back," U.S.District Judge Paul Friedman....."
Washington Times 12/9/98 Jerry Seper Freeper A Whitewater Researcher "...EXCERPTS: "...Justice Department lawyers dropped six felony charges of a 15-count indictment against Democratic fund-raiser Charles Yah Lin Trie yesterday, and a f ederal judge delayed his pending trial until later next year....U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman, at a brief court hearing, postponed Mr. Trie's scheduled February trial on charges he illegally funneled campaign donations to the Democratic National Committee to Sept. 13 after prosecutor Geoffrey Hobart said he wanted to "streamline the case and make it more ready for trial."...Mr. Trie, a former restaurant owner in Little Rock, Ark., and longtime supporter of President Clinton...is believed to be cooperating in the department's campaign-finance probe....An indictment...said Mr. Trie and an associate, Antonio Pan, a former Lippo Group executive and friend of ex-Commerce Department and DNC official John Huang, obstructed justice ..."
Freeper ravingnutter The Patriot's Soapbox http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/1781/mnew.html "..."Michael New's petition for writ of habeas corpus hearing was held March 18, 1996. His attorneys appeared before Judge Paul Friedman in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to argue that the federal courts should accept Specialist New's case before the military courts have finished the appellate process. The government's attorney argued that the military should retain jurisdiction over Michael New's discharge. "Judge Friedman denied the petition 10 days later. In an 18 page opinion, he signaled that the New case is very important, but like the military judge he refused to rule on the merits of the case. Instead, he wrote 'The consequences of holding that a serviceman on active duty can unilaterally escape military jurisdiction...could be disruptive to military discipline, obedience, and confidence'." ..."
Boston Herald 6/9/99 Don Feder "... Take Claudia Wilken, one of Clinton's first appointments, who was placed on the U.S. District Court for Northern California in 1993. In 1997, Wilken invalidated California's popularly enacted term-limitation amendment. Casting about for a rationale, Wilken determined term limits violate the 14th Amendment because voters who prefer politicians who've been in office for eternity can't vote for their hacks of choice. How this view could be reconciled with the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, limiting presidents to two terms in office, Wilken didn't say. After it stopped laughing, the Supreme Court overturned the decision...."
Boston Herald 6/9/99 Don Feder "... Another of Clinton's Oliver Wendells, William Fletcher, went to a federal appeals court despite a total lack of courtroom experience. Who needs experience when he has theories? A former law professor, Fletcher believes judges may declare legislatures ``chronically in default'' and assume their functions. He says out loud what most Clinton appointees believe in their hearts...."
Boston Herald 6/9/99 Don Feder "...But doubtless, Clinton's crowning achievement was the nomination of Frederica Massiah-Jackson to one of the district courts. A state judge from Philadelphia, Massiah-Jackson was forced to withdraw when Republican senators (in a rare show of determination) said, ``No way in hell!'' Massiah-Jackson's record was described by Philadelphia's Democratic district attorney as ``replete with instances of leniency toward criminals, an adversarial attitude toward police and a hostile attitude toward prosecutors.'' Her acquittal rate was 60 percent higher than the average for Philadelphia judges; her sentences were twice as lenient. She once swore at a prosecutor in her courtroom and on another occasion declared that both capital punishment and three-strikes laws are racist and unconstitutional...."
AP 6/26/99 "...A federal judge has ruled that Linda Tripp's recordings of conversations with Monica Lewinsky must be turned over to Maryland prosecutors, clearing a potential roadblock to trying Ms. Tripp for breaking state wiretap laws. .....The identity of the judge that signed the order was not immediately clear, and Montanarelli refused to discuss the order..."
New York Post 6/25/99 "...This week's end-of-term rulings handed down by the Supreme Court reveal an ideological divide on the bench that is something on the order of an unbridgable chasm. The court's conservative Gang of Five - Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy- prevailed on a number of key issues since last October, and the country will only be the better because of it. But the closeness of many of the votes is worrisome. Three decisions handed down Wednesday - and decided on 5-4 margins - strongly upheld the principal of federalism by declaring states immune from lawsuits involving federal law, thus limiting the power of Congress over the states. "Congress has vast power but not all power," wrote Justice Anthony Kennedy - which, roughly translated, means that it's going to be tougher to force the states to do things they don't want to do simply by going to U.S. District Court and filing a suit. Who can argue with that? .... Also remarkable, though less ideological, was this week's decision in which the justices turned away a $1.5-billion asbestos settlement and raised the standards for class-action suits. The court, on a 7-2 vote, suggested that Congress find a way to untangle "the elephantine mass of asbestos cases" - which, taken another way, betrays high court impatience with government by litigation. To that end, the court also ruled 5-4 that the interest earned on funds that lawyershold in trust for clients belongs to ... the clients. States have no right to order the interest to go to finance legal services for the poor (let alone the ideologically driven lawsuits that often pass for such services) This should cut down on class-action activism financed by money picked from other people's pockets - a victory for property rights and for common sense....."
OICStarr.Gov 6/30/99 "...Independent Counsel Kenneth W. Starr issued the following statement today: Former Associate Attorney General Webster L. Hubbell pleaded guilty today in United States District Court for the District of Columbia to Count One in United States v. Webster L. Hubbell, Cr. No. 98-0394, which charged one felony count of concealing by scheme material facts from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC), in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001. Mr. Hubbell faced a maximum penalty for this offense of five years of imprisonment, a fine of $250,000, or an alternative fine based on gain or loss, any restitution ordered by the Court, a mandatory special assessment, and a three year period of supervised release. In addition, Mr. Hubbell pleaded guilty to a one count Superseding Criminal Information in United States v. Webster L. Hubbell, Cr. No. 98-0151, which charged him with willful failure to pay a tax in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7203. For this offense, Mr. Hubbell faced a maximum penalty of one year of imprisonment, a fine of $100,000, and a one year period of supervised release. Pursuant to the terms of the Plea Agreement, United States District Judge James Robertson today sentenced Mr. Hubbell to a term of one year probation on both Counts..... "
Investor's Business Daily 7/1/99 "...Just how sinister is the Internal Revenue Service? Thanks to the latest twist in the Landmark Legal Foundation's lawsuit against the agency, we have a better understanding of how bad things are there. Political corruption is just the beginning. According to a new filing, Landmark Legal Foundation has uncovered deeply troubling evidence that the IRS may have deliberately sought to cover up and destroy evidence of third-person requests to target, audit and threaten private groups and citizens -most of whom were conservative or critics of the Clinton administration...In the midst of Landmark's court battles, a ''long-term government employee'' came forward with explosive evidence from an IRS regional meeting: The IRS may be doing political dirty work for certain members of Congress and others on the left. Terry Hallihan, acting head of the nonprofit division of the IRS, speaking to the Regional Coordinated Examination Program managers' meeting on Oct. 9, 1997, made some alarming statements, say Landmark documents: First, Hallihan ''indicated that perhaps a Justice Department attorney should leave before her remarks.'' Second, she addressed ''IRS policy on 'intake notes' '' - third-person requests to audit private groups and citizens. Third, she ''noted that the IRS was trying to deal with intake notes from members of Congress and their staff members in such a way as to conceal the source of the request.'' One way to protect the IRS' friends in Congress was to ask if the tip could be blamed on a media story instead. Fourth, Hallihan said she ''was aware that intake notes relating to tips from congressmen or staffers had been or were being shredded by IRS employees.'' In other words, if it's true the IRS was destroying evidence, then it's guilty of a federal crime. This is exactly what we suspected the IRS was hiding when it began to fight tooth and nail in 1997. The IRS has an audiotape recording of Hallihan's remarks, but - no surprise - the tape hasn't found its way into the public record. Judge Henry H. Kennedy has all this information in hand. Yet he's moved at a snail's pace, despite deliberate IRS efforts to thwart the inquiry. Why? The Clinton appointee hasn't explained his actions yet...."
Associated Press 7/23/99 Janelle Carter "...A federal appeals court today reinstated the conviction of a Tyson Foods Inc. executive who had been found guilty of providing illegal gifts to former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy. The ruling sends the case of Archie Schaffer III back for sentencing. A lower court had overturned the jury's guilty verdict. "We find sufficient evidence in the record from which a reasonable juror could have concluded that Schaffer violated the Meat Inspection Act,'' the court wrote in the 26-page decision..... U.S. District Judge James Robertson in September overturned Schaffer's June 26, 1998, conviction....."
Reuters 7/26/99 "...A Florida law forcing doctors to notify the parents of teenage girls seeking abortions went into effect Monday but within hours a state judge issued an injunction blocking its enforcement. In a seven-page ruling issued Monday evening, Circuit Court Judge Terry Lewis barred the state from enforcing the law passed by state legislators this year until its constitutionality is decided, a decision that likely will be made by the state supreme court...."
CNSNews.com 7/28/99 Lionel Waxman "...In this country, it is one of our most cherished rights to be considered innocent by the law until properly found guilty. Except in Connecticut, of course. Connecticut has just passed a law permitting police to confiscate all the firearms of anyone they believe might be considering a criminal act. All they have to do is apply to a judge for a warrant. The judge would hear the police in secret and issue the confiscation warrant if he believes the target is dangerous, if, for example, you have made threats, been cruel to animals, or abused drugs or alcohol. So in Connecticut, if you get quietly drunk at home on Saturday night, police can seize your guns. Kick your dog, lose your guns. Make an obscene gesture on the highway, lose your guns -- and probably your car....After a few years of this, Connecticut will become as safe as Cuba...."
Judicial Watch 7/29/99 Larry Klayman "...Today, Judge Susan Webber Wright issued her order requiring Bill Clinton to pay $90 thousand dollars as a result of her civil contempt citation of the President. The fine, which will never be paid for by Clinton himself, but by influence peddlers from his so-called legal defense fund, such as the Riadys who paid large sums of hush money to Webster Hubbell, is a joke. It even falls far short of the money requested by the lawyers of Paula Jones. Another woman involved in the Jones' litigation, Dolly Kyle Browning, had requested that Judge Wright commence criminal contempt proceedings against the President, for his false testimony, and other misconduct. However, Judge Wright, in her apparent haste to end the case, refused to consider Browning's pleadings, despite the hard fact that Browning was a material witness in the case and had standing to make such a request. Nor was Browning compensated, as Jones, for the expense of having to deal with the President's misconduct. As a result, Browning, through Judicial Watch, has taken an appeal to the Eighth Circuit...."
Associated Press 7/31/99 "...The chief judge of the U.S. District Court bypassed the traditional random assignment system to send criminal cases against presidential friends Webster Hubbell and Charlie Trie to judges appointed by President Clinton, according to court officials. U.S. District Judge Norma Holloway Johnson's decision to abandon the longtime random computer assignment for the high-profile cases has raised concerns among several other judges, according to Associated Press interviews with them. The judges also raise concerns about an appearance of possible conflicts of interest, because judges who got the cases were friendly with key players - presidential confidant Vernon Jordan and defense lawyer Reid Weingarten - and made rulings that handicapped prosecutors...."
Associated Press 7/31/99 "... Johnson, an appointee of President Carter, assigned: -Friedman the Trie case, the first major prosecution from the Justice Department probe of Democratic fund raising. Clinton nominated Friedman, a former president of the local bar, in 1994. -Robertson the Hubbell tax case, Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's first prosecution in Washington. Robertson is an ex-president of the local bar and a former partner at the law firm of former White House counsel Lloyd Cutler. Robertson was nominated by Clinton in the last days of Cutler's tenure as counsel in 1994. Robertson donated $1,000 to Clinton's 1992 presidential bid and has said he ``worked on the periphery'' of that campaign. When Johnson bypassed the random draw for these cases, there were 12 full-time judges on the federal court, seven of them Clinton appointees. Four were Republican appointees. The court also has a number of senior judges who work part-time. Experts said the assignments to Clinton-nominated judges did not violate any rules, but could shake public confidence...."
Washington Post 7/31/99 Pete Yost "... One politically sensitive aspect of the Hubbell tax evasion indictment was a reference to a $62,500 consulting arrangement that Jordan helped obtain for Hubbell, making Jordan a potential witness. Robertson and Jordan are friends from their days in the civil rights movement. Jordan did not return repeated calls seeking comment. Johnson assigned the Trie case and two subsequent cases against Democratic fund-raisers to Friedman, who tossed out various charges. After one of Friedman's rulings was overturned on appeal, Trie agreed to plead guilty. Friedman and Weingarten, the defense lawyer in two of the three fund-raising cases before Friedman, are longtime friends...."
New York Post 8/1/99 Brian Blomquist "...The chief federal judge in Washington threw out the normal judge-selection rules and handpicked two Clinton-appointed judges on cases that could have damaged the president, it was reported yesterday. ...."I think she made a mistake," a federal judge in the court told The Post yesterday. "There are a number of us who don't believe it was a good idea to specially assign cases. We believe in the concept of random assignment." The judge said Johnson's assignments "make the court look bad," especially during a time when it's important to show the public that even the president doesn't get special breaks from the court..... One judge speculated that Johnson handed the Hubbell and Trie cases to Clinton-friendly judges to "counteract" her decisions against the president in the Sexgate probe...."
Judicial Watch 8/2/99 Tom Fitton letter to Judge Johnson "... Dear Judge Johnson: .... Last Saturday, July 31, and today, Monday, August 2, 1999, reports appeared in the Associated Press suggesting that you have not made random assignments of certain politically charged criminal cases concerning the Clinton Administration. Copies of these reports are attached. Yesterday, on Fox News Sunday, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch commented on these allegations. Judicial Watch has also been active since its inception in 1994 in bringing lawsuits, in the public interest, to address allegations of corruption in the Clinton Administration, and other branches of government. Judicial Watch would not be true to its "core mission" if it overlooked the allegations contained in the Associated Press reports of the last few days. Accordingly, with deep respect for you, and with an appreciation for your fine reputation for integrity and honesty, we respectfully request, on behalf of the public, that you quickly address, in the public domain, the allegations contained in the Associated Press stories...."
Washington Times 8/2/99 "...The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said yesterday he is disturbed that there has "apparently been selective assigning" of criminal cases against friends of President Clinton's to judges he appointed. "Something sort of smells," said Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, Utah Republican and a GOP presidential contender. "It looks as though they're covering these things up. Certainly it looks like these plea bargains have been deals, and we even worry about whether the judges were preselected so that they would give these soft plea bargains credibility." Mr. Hatch said he has no evidence of wrongdoing by U.S. District Judge Norma Holloway Johnson, the selecting judge, "but this doesn't look right."
USA Today 8/2/99 AP "...U.S. District Judge Norma Holloway Johnson's decision to abandon the longtime random computer assignment for the high-profile cases has raised concerns among several other judges, according to Associated Press interviews with them. The judges also raise concerns about an appearance of possible conflicts of interest, because judges who got the cases were friendly with key players - presidential confidant Vernon Jordan and defense lawyer Reid Weingarten - and made rulings that handicapped prosecutors..... ''As far as assigning a recently appointed judge of the same party, it's dangerous, it's risky, it's hazardous because the outcome might support the cynical view that the judge did not decide the matter on the merits even though that may be the furthest thing from the truth,'' Columbia University law professor H. Richard Uviller said. New York University law professor Stephen Gillers said, ''If the case is high-profile, that should increase the presumption in favor of random selection.'' ...Johnson assigned the Trie case and two subsequent cases against Democratic fund-raisers to Friedman, who tossed out various charges. After one of Friedman's rulings was overturned on appeal, Trie agreed to plead guilty. ..."
Associated Press 8/2/99 Pete Yost "...U.S. District Judge Norma Holloway Johnson summoned her colleagues to an unusual meeting Monday and told them that heavy workloads were a factor in her assignment of criminal cases against two presidential friends to judges appointed by President Clinton, according to attendees... The story noted some of her colleagues were concerned by the special assignments. According to several judges who attended the late-afternoon meeting, the chief judge called the meeting to discuss a letter she plans to write in response to the AP article. She declined repeated requests to comment before the story was released.. Johnson told the judges that she will point out in the letter that her predecessors had assigned cases outside the random draw in scandals such as Watergate and Iran-Contra. Those assignments, however, were to some of the most experienced judges in the courthouse at the time and not to recent appointees, AP reported this weekend... "
Freeper mrssmith observes USCode 28 372 "( c )...(1) Any person alleging that a circuit, district, or bankruptcy judge, or a magistrate, has engaged in conduct prejudicial to the effective and expeditious administration of the business of the courts...the judicial council may, in its discretion, refer any complaint under this subsection, together with the record of any associated proceedings and its recommendations for appropriate action, to the Judicial Conference of the United States. "...":
NY Post 8/3/99 "...The latest oil slick to bubble to the surface comes directly from Judge Norma Holloway Johnson, the chief federal judge in Washington, D.C., who oversaw the Ken Starr investigation.... Take for instance the case of Hubbell - which Holloway sent to Judge James Robertson, who was appointed by Clinton. The judge is an old buddy of Clinton confidant Vernon Jordan. Significant? Very. Hubbell was brought to court on a tax-fraud case which included Starr's charge that Hubbell received hush money from Jordan, among others.... "
The Wall Street Journal Editorial 8/4/99 "...With something of a post-impeachment reassessment going on, we are learning more about how the legal system has favored the Clinton team. Suddenly, we have the case of Norma Holloway Johnson, chief judge of the Federal District Court in the District of Columbia.... It should be said that Judge Johnson cast a skeptical eye on some Clinton claims when she heard the assertions of special privileges for Secret Service agents. But it now turns out that Judge Johnson was also instrumental in the Linda Tripp indictment. The Maryland prosecutors could not proceed without the evidence of the Tripp tapes, and in receiving them Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr had granted her immunity that would have protected them from both federal and state prosecutors. But Judge Johnson intervened and decided to transmit the tapes to the Maryland prosecutors office....."
The Washington Times Letter to the Editor From Judge Norma Halloway Johnson 8/4/99 "...As I firmly believe that justice is best served in the courts of law and not on the front page of a newspaper, it has long been my policy not to discuss my judicial decision-making with members of the press. However, I feel compelled to make an exception to that policy in order to correct the disturbing misimpression left by an Associated Press story published in The Washington Times ("Judges fret over assigning of cases," Aug. 1).
The article alleges that I "bypassed the traditional random assignment system" to assign certain criminal cases to judges appointed to President Clinton, singling out the criminal case against Charles Yah Lin Trie, which was assigned to Judge Paul L. Friedman, and the criminal case against Webster Hubbell, which was assigned to Judge James Robertson. The article implies that these case were assigned to judges based on political motivations. This unsubstantiated assertion could not be further from the truth. Moreover, the article does a significant disservice to the perception of impartial justice that I believe all of the judges on our court strive mightily to maintain. Contrary to the false perception left by the AP story, these cases were assigned to highly capable federal judges. Politics was not and is never a factor in our case assignments.
The circumstances leading to these routine "special assignments" are quite simple. For years, Local Rule 403(g) of the Rules of the District Court for the District of Columbia has authorized the chief judge to specially assign protracted or complex criminal cases to consenting judges when circumstances warrant. My predecessors and I have used this assignment system to enable our court to handle expeditiously high-profile criminal cases with unique demands on judicial resources. For example, criminal cases arising from Watergate and the Iran-Contra affair were handled through special assignment. In both these instances of overwhelming media scrutiny and complexity, the special assignment system well served our needs. In addition to these highly publicized criminal cases, special assignment also has been a valuable tool in addressing multiple-defendant narcotics conspiracy cases. It is the responsibility of the chief judge to move the docket as expeditiously as possible. That was all that was intended by these assignments.
Finally, I must note that the article irresponsibly impugns the reputation of two fine federal judges by suggesting conflicts of interest in their handling of these cases. Neither judge had any obligation to recuse himself from the cases to which he was assigned, for neither faced a conflict of any sort. A judge's prior affiliations and acquaintances, alone, do not require recusal or disqualification. Indeed, many judges on this court know many lawyers and public officials in Washington. If recusal were required on the basis of these innocuous connections, it would wreak havoc on case scheduling.
In the future, I suggest that before your newspaper prints a story that impugns the integrity of two outstanding members of the federal judiciary, you offer more evidence of an actual onflict than the slender reed of innuendo that supports these current allegations. Such an unsubstantiated and insupportable attack does your publication little credit and the truth much harm....NORMA HALLOWAY JOHNSON Chief judge United States District Court for the District of Columbia Washington..."
Washington Times 8/5/99 Jerry Seper "...The eight federal judges appointed by President Clinton to the U.S. District Court in Washington meet privately every month in closed-door sessions that other jurists believe are improper and call into question the court's impartiality. "I cannot imagine any legitimate reason for them to meet together once a month, even socially," said one veteran courthouse official familiar with the sessions. "It's not only in bad taste, it certainly has the appearance of impropriety. It's hard to imagine any rationale for these meetings." Another court official said they "reek with impropriety." ...None of the eight Clinton-appointed judges, all of whom were named to the bench between 1994 to 1998, would comment on the meetings or their content. ....Four judges appointed by other presidents, both Republican and Democrat, said the meetings have been taking place for some time, although specific topics are not known. .... "The Clinton appointees have confirmed that they meet together, and we know they do, but where they go and what they discuss I just don't know," said one judge. "But a very important part of what we do here is our collegiality. We all come with political viewpoints but we try to leave politics behind. Unfortunately, the Clinton appointees have gone off on their own." ....The nature of the isolation, another judge said, was punctuated by an e-mail message sent to all of the judges inviting them to a birthday party for U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina, a 1994 Clinton appointee. The message asked the judges to guess Judge Urbina's age for a prize but excluded members of the "Magnificent Seven" -- a name the first seven Clinton appointees had used to describe their group before Judge Roberts' 1998 appointment.... "Even if deviations from the district court's random case assignment procedures are technically permitted by local rule, I share the concern that has been expressed by other judges on the court that these assignments will damage the public's confidence that these cases were impartially adjudicated," he [Hatch] said. Committee member Sen. Jeff Sessions, Alabama Republican, echoed Mr. Hatch's concerns, adding that as a former prosecutor he was "stunned" by the Johnson assignments.... Some judges questioned whether the Hubbell and Trie cases, both of which ended in plea agreements, could be considered protracted or complex. They said several high-profile and lengthy trials have been assigned through the random-selection process...."
AP Janelle Carter 8/5/99 "...The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman has asked Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist to consider investigating why two cases involving President Clinton's friends were assigned to Clinton-appointed judges. .....Several other judges have expressed concern that the assignments had the appearance of a conflict of interest. Friedman dismissed various charges against Trie. One of Friedman's rulings was reversed on appeal, and Trie is to be sentenced in two weeks, probably to probation, on a plea-bargained guilty plea. Robertson dismissed the tax case against Hubbell, a former associate attorney general, who eventually pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor when an appeals court reinstated the case. Robertson was later chosen, at random, to handle a felony case against Hubbell that charged him with lying to federal regulators. Robertson threw out the central felony count in that case, but again an appeals court reversed him, and Hubbell eventually pleaded guilty to one felony count.....Still, Hatch asked Rehnquist to look into the matter using the Judicial Conference of the United States, a panel of judges that includes chief justices from each judicial circuit. As chief justice, Rehnquist is presiding officer of the conference, which makes policy concerning the administration of U.S. courts. "I wish to ask you ... to consider whether an examination by the Judicial Conference might be warranted,'' Hatch wrote. Such an inquiry should examine whether other cases involving the Clinton administration have been assigned in a manner that deviated from normal procedure, whether the facts justify any deviations and the propriety of any deviations, Hatch wrote....."
Judicial Watch 8/6/99 Larry Klayman "...Yesterday, as reported by the Associated Press, Judicial Watch asked the higher court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, to investigate recent allegations that certain assignments of cases concerning the Clinton Administration and The White House have been steered to recently appointed Clinton judges, and that these Clinton judges, who are also alleged to have once called themselves "the Magnificent Seven," have been holding meetings among themselves. Ordinarily, it is the appellate court which is encharged under law to investigate allegations concerning the conduct of lower court judges. Judicial Watch will await these findings before deciding whether further steps are necessary, as, under these circumstances, the judicial system should be allowed the first opportunity to investigate and take whatever corrective steps are necessary. As many cases concerning the Clinton Administration and The White House are now pending before Clinton appointed judges, Judicial Watch has asked for a swift investigation...."
Judicial Watch 8/6/99 Tom Fitton 8/5/99 Letter to Judicial Council for the District of Columbia Circuit "...While not responding to our letter of August 2, 1999, Judge Johnson responded directly to The Washington Times (see Exhibit 3). In her letter of August 2, 1999, to The Washington Times, Judge Johnson accused the Associated Press and The Washington Times of "impugn[ing] the integrity of two outstanding members of the judiciary..." She adds, "Such an unsubstantiated and unsupportable article does the public little credit and the truth much harm. Id. at 2. However, Judge Johnson's letter does not answer the fundamental question: Why did she assign highly-charged criminal cases concerning the President, The White House, and the Clinton Administration to recent Clinton appointees, when either the random selection system or assignment to other more experienced judges could have occurred - particularly since her rationale in bypassing the random system depends on the complexity and likely protractedness of the cases? According to both the Associated Press and The Washington Times, at least six other judicial officers have raised questions about the case assignment process. Senator Orrin Hatch has also expressed concern about the controversy. In light of the fact that sources of the articles themselves were judicial officers, the questions raised in them take on added weight. Judicial Watch has the utmost respect for Judge Johnson, but the allegations raised in the articles remain largely unaddressed by her letter. In addition, Judicial Watch respectfully requests that this Court investigate additional allegations contained in an article entitled "Clinton appointees meet privately; Other judges, lawmakers question propriety of secrecy," which appeared on the front page of The Washington Times today (see Exhibit 2). Without making any accusations and with deep respect for the District Court for the District of Columbia, Judge Johnson and all of its judges, we, therefore, respectfully request that the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit expeditiously commence an investigation of this important and serious matter, under its supervisory powers...."
Freeper mrsmith 8/6/99 "...Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist is the Circuit Justice of the DC Court. Judicial Conference of the United States Judicial Code of Conduct :
Canon 1: A judge should uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary....
Canon 2: A judge should avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all activities....
Canon 3: A judge should perform the duties of the office impartially and diligently. ("A judge shall disqualify himself or herself in a proceeding in which the judge's impartiality might reasonably be questioned, including but not limited to instances in which the judge has a personal bias or prejudice concerning a party ... ")
Canon 4: A judge may engage in extrajudicial activities to improve the law, the legal system and the administration of justice...
Canon 5: A judge should regulate extrajudicial activities to minimize the risk of conflict with judicial duties....
Canon 6: A judge should regularly file reports of compensation received for law-related and extrajudicial activities. .."
www.nypost.com 8/7/99 "...The eight Clinton-appointed judges in Washington's U.S. District Court have been gathering behind closed doors for secret monthly meetings, at the exclusion of the other 15 judges at the federal courthouse. These meetings are highly inappropriate, and they raise legitimate suspicions that the jurists are more concerned with politics than the law. This is especially worrisome considering the fact that Judge Norma Holloway Johnson personally selected judges to hear two high-profile cases rather than, as is the routine, allowing a computer to randomly spit out assignments.... The judges and their secret meetings are just another example for the shady, unethical behavior that will forever be associated with the Clinton years. That this administration has extended its reach to the system of justice and the rule of law is frightening - but not surprising...."
Augusta Chronicle 8/9/99 "...The revelation by The Washington Times that the eight federal judges appointed by President Clinton to the U.S. District Court in Washington meet privately every month in closed-door sessions dynamites the very foundation of judicial ethics and impartiality in this country. There is absolutely no reason for these meetings, which are described in e-mails addressed monthly to each of the judges..... None of the eight Clinton appointees are talking to the press, even though they have confirmed that they plot who-knows-what together. But The Times reports the other judges -- appointed by other presidents of both parties -- ``question the propriety of the sessions and lament what they describe as the `loss of collegiality' when the judges fail to come together as a group.''...."
Investor's Business Daily 8/9/99 "...One thing you can say about the Clinton presidency: Almost everyone connected with it seems tainted...... She named Clinton appointee Judge James Robertson to the Hubbell case in which he dismissed a count of perjury. His ruling was overturned on appeal. And Hubbell entered a guilty plea. She also named Judge Paul L. Friedman, another Clinton appointee, to the Trie case. He threw out several charges against Trie. They too were reinstated by an appeals court. Trie ended up pleading guilty. Johnson insists she did nothing wrong in going outside the usual random selection method to assign these cases. But her reason for doing so just doesn't hold up. She says she thought the cases were going to be ''protracted and complex,'' and these two judges' schedules were more open. Guilty pleas truncated both cases. And other judges told The Washington Times that several high-profile and lengthy trials had been assigned randomly in the interim. Now we learn, again from the Times, that these two judges and the other six Clinton appointees on the 23-judge district court meet monthly in private sessions. What do they talk about? Evidently, only they know. Is this unusual? Very. Other judges on the court said the meetings reek of impropriety.....From the Justice Department to the office of the Independent Counsel and the courts themselves, this president has tarred normally independent institutions with his gutter politics....."
WorldNetDaily 8/11/99 Joseph Farah "...A Little Rock panel of 12 distinguished citizens this week awarded more than half a million dollars to two Pulaski County sheriff's lieutenants after finding that Pat Matrisiciana defamed them in a film about the deaths of two Saline County boys in 1987 -- the so-called "boys on the tracks" case. The verdict is a total miscarriage of justice.... Here's the problem with the verdict: For starters, the cops were indeed investigated by law enforcement officials in Arkansas. An eyewitness placed them at the scene for Jean Duffey, a former Saline County prosecutor herself, and Linda Ives, the mother of one of the boys, both of whom participated in the making of the video. Furthermore, even if the cops are innocent of any involvement in the case, they were not libeled by the video. There was no "reckless disregard for the truth" by the filmmakers, as I testified in the trial last week..... The best investigation of "the boys on the tracks case" was conducted by Ives and Duffey in their unofficial capacities. The pair is incapable of reckless disregard because they wholeheartedly believe the officers are guilty of murder, as Ives testified in the case. How can one recklessly disregard the truth when one is consumed with finding the truth? It's just one of those legal impossibilities..."