Role in pardons[edit]
As the Clinton administration came to a close in early 2001, it was discovered that Hugh Rodham received around $400,000 for legal services regarding gaining the Presidential pardon of fraudulent businessman Glenn Braswell and the sentence commutation of drug trafficker Carlos Vignali.[7] While legal experts said that Rodham may well not have done anything wrong, the appearance of possible impropriety certainly existed.[7] Moreoever, coming while the Bill Clinton pardons controversy was already in full force, this was a further embarrassment for the former administration and even got the attention of the Congressional House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.[2] Hillary Clinton, now a newly-sworn-in Senator, said, “He’s my brother. I love my brother ... I’m just extremely disappointed in this terrible misjudgment that he made ... I knew nothing about my brother’s involvement in these pardons. I knew nothing about his taking money for his involvement.”[2] Both Clintons pressured Rodham to return the $400,000, which he promptly did.[10] During this time, Rodham additionally collected media criticism for being overweight and a poor dresser.[10][18]
Subsequently, Rodham stayed out of the public eye. When his sister’s 2008 presidential campaign came to the family summer home of Scranton, Pennsylvania, for the state primary, he hosted a reception
Did he return the money?
I recall at that time there were a whole bunch of situations the Clinton’s were in where the felt pressured to say they were returning various monies...but didn’t actually do so, at least not in a timely fashion.