Free Republic

"It's like Keystone Cops."

If you're going to promise "new politics," it would probably be wise to eschew the same old Beltway cronies and insiders who have served presidential nominees of yore. And if you're going to attack political opponents for playing "textbook Washington games," it would probably be best not to play them yourself. If you do, you'll end up tongue-tied in front of the cameras, hung by your own holier-than-thou rhetoric and faced once again with the decision to throw another bad choice under the bus. Yes, Barack Obama, we're talking about you. Again. It's getting mighty crowded under that bus, isn't...

...The acts of clemency benefited the stepson of a staff member, murderers who worked at the governor's mansion, a rock star and inmates who received good words from their pastors. "It seems to be true at least anecdotally that if a minister is involved, (Huckabee) seems likely to grant clemency," prosecutor Robert Herzfeld said in 2004 after successfully battling the then-governor over the release of a killer... Some inmates who benefited from some sort of personal connection: _James Maxwell, who killed a pastor of the Church of God in Arkansas. Maxwell worked at the Governor's Mansion when Huckabee announced his...

A public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption says it has obtained more than 30 photos taken at the White House in December of 2000 that link Hillary Clinton (D-New York) to some controversial pardons made by her husband the president. Judicial Watch says it obtained the 34 photos from the Clinton Presidential Library. The photos show Mrs. Clinton and then-President Bill Clinton with Grand Rabbi David Twersky and other community leaders at the White House. The meeting took place on December 22, 2000 -- after the New York based Hasidim sect delivered 1,400 votes to Hillary Clinton's...

Did President Bush pull a classic Machiavellian move to outmaneuver Team Clinton over last week's Fourth of July holiday? In my opinion, the timing of President Bush’s commutation of Scooter Libby’s prison term was no accident. The President was well aware that former President Clinton would be joining his wife on the fourth for her visit to Iowa in an attempt to raise her sagging poll numbers there. The President is also very aware of the former President’s own record on pardons. President Bush also correctly judged that Team Clinton would resort to defending their own pardon record as soon...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A Tennessee lawsuit against the brother of US Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is expected to be settled before the trial begins next Thursday. The suit accuses Tony Rodham of failing to repay debts to a Tennessee carnival operator. The case could have revived stories about how Clinton's brothers accepted money from people pardoned by her husband, President Bill Clinton. Rodham is accused of failing to repay $107,000 plus interest to the bankrupt estate of Edgar Allen Gregory Junior and his wife, both of whom received a presidential pardon in 2000. The Gregorys received pardons for a...

Clinton's brother near legal settlement By TRAVIS LOLLER, Associated Press Writer 14 minutes ago A lawyer for the brother of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said he's confident he can avoid a trial next week and settle a lawsuit that accuses Tony Rodham of failing to repay debts to a Tennessee carnival operator. That should be a relief to Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign since the case could have revived stories about how her brothers accepted money from people pardoned by her husband, President Bill Clinton. Rodham is accused of failing to repay $107,000 plus interest to the bankrupt estate of Edgar...

Grocery King George Torres Fingered in Murders Racketeering charges against Numero Uno markets founder include bribing two former L.A. planning commissioners By JEFFREY ANDERSON Wednesday, June 13, 2007 - 7:30 pmFEDERAL PROSECUTORS on Wednesday afternoon arraigned George Torres, one of South Los Angeles’ largest property owners and the owner of the Numero Uno supermarket chain, on murder charges. Also arraigned on a variety of racketeering charges, such as extortion and bribery, were several codefendants, including Torres’ brother Manuel, son Steven and former Los Angeles city planning commissioners Steve Carmona and George Luk. The federal indictment was unsealed in federal court...

Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Lamar Smith (R-TX) today asked Former President Bill Clinton if he would be available to testify at the Democrats' Thursday hearing on presidential pardon authority. "Former President Clinton is no stranger to controversial pardons, most notably the pardon of Marc Rich on his last day in office," stated Ranking Member Smith. "I can think of no better person to address this issue." At Thursday's hearing of the Judiciary's Crime Subcommittee entitled, "The Appropriate Use of the Presidential Pardoning Power," Democrats are expected to explore what is and is not the appropriate use of pardons, despite a...

An obscure court case threatens to bring Bill Clinton's presidential pardons controversy back into the public eye just as Hillary Clinton heats up her campaign for the White House. Bill Clinton issued 140 presidential pardons in his final days in office, and drew howls of protest when it came to light that Hillary's two brothers had received money from several of the people pardoned. Clinton pardoned Almon Glenn Braswell of his mail fraud and perjury convictions, and commuted the sentence of cocaine trafficker Carlos Vignali. Hillary's brother Hugh Rodham received nearly $400,000 for lobbying for the two men, although he...

A court-appointed bankruptcy trustee asked a federal judge this week to schedule a new court date in a case against Tony Rodham, the brother of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., accused of failing to repay $109,000 in loans from a carnival company whose owners received controversial pardons issued by President Bill Clinton in the last hours of his presidency. According to documents filed in the case, Rodham received the loans, before and after the pardons were granted, from United Shows of America, Inc., owned by Edgar Gregory and his wife, who had been convicted of defrauding several banks.

Rodham Allegedly Received Fraudulent Loan as Payment for Securing Pardon Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced last week that it filed a formal request with the U.S. Department of Justice, calling for a criminal investigation into the reported activities of Hillary Clinton and her brother, Anthony D. Rodham, former President Clinton, and Vonna Jo Gregory, former owner of the carnival company, United Shows International. Recently released court documents provided new details concerning a scheme involving Anthony Rodham, who allegedly received $107,000 in fraudulent loans from United Shows International as compensation for securing a...

WILLIAM Jefferson Blythe III was born on August 19, 1946, in Hope, Ark. After his mother remarried, he took the family surname, Clinton. Clinton was a good student. He enjoyed playing the saxophone and even considered a professional musical career. While in high school, a fortuitous meeting with President John Kennedy led him to choose a life of public service.

Here's an oldie but goodie, from February '01 - 5 years ago this month. It's more relevant than ever - because it reminds us of Libby's ties to MNEW YORK -- It is "utterly false" to suggest fugitive financier Marc Rich was pardoned in return for donations to the Clinton library, former President Clinton wrote in an Op-Ed piece in Sunday editions of The New York Times. Clinton said he pardoned Rich, who allegedly evaded $48 million in U.S. taxes, for a number of reasons, and only after concluding that the case should have been handled in a civil rather...

Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) will effectively handpick the person who will continue the investigation into the Clinton administration's Pardongate scandal, a report set to appear in Monday's Roll Call magazine reveals. Any nominee to replace Mary Jo White, the retiring U.S. Attorney for New York's Southern District, will have to first get through the Democratic-controlled Judiciary Committee, where Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is a senior member. "Just as important," says Roll Call, "a Democratic aide noted that Chairman Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) has continued a 'blue-slip' policy that requires both home-state Senators to sign off on nominees to the federal bench, ...

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is staying silent as top Democratic senators demand President Bush rule out a pardon for indicted top White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby — which could evoke memories of her and her husband's own Pardongate scandal. Party leaders — have written a letter to Bush urging that he promise not to pardon Libby, who has been charged with obstruction of justice and perjury in the CIA-leak case........Clinton ducked taking a position on the letter. Rekindled comparisons to Pardongate would open old wounds for the first lady, who is readying for re-election and eyeing a run...

CROOKS PARDONING CROOKS PARDONING CROOKS:Justice Undone in the clinton White House by Mia T, 11.04.05 House Committee on Government ReformNB: NEW LINKS Justice Undone: Clemency Decisions in the Clinton White House March 14, 2002 This report is in PDF format and can be viewed using Adobe Acrobat Reader. The report may be downloaded in sections by clicking on the links below:   EXECUTIVE SUMMARY [.1 MB]   INTRODUCTION [.1 MB]     CHAPTER ONE - Take Jack's Word: The Pardons of International Fugitives Marc Rich and Pincus Green [.7 MB]     CHAPTER TWO - Roger Clinton's Involvement in Lobbying for Executive Clemency...

MARCH 2, 2001 Lewis Libby, a top Republican lawyer, who is now VP Dick Cheney's chief of staff, told the House Government Reform Committee....that he agreed with much of Bill Clinton's widely discredited op-ed article outlining the former president's reasons for pardoning fugitive tax evader Marc Rich. In a session that stretched late into the evening, Libby, who represented Rich for several years ending in the spring of 2000, told the committee he believes Rich is not guilty of tax and racketeering charges filed by federal prosecutors in 1983. Libby said he "quite possibly" would have considered applying for a...

J. James Estrada editorializes in The American Daily:""Working in the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York, James Comey investigated and declined to indict Hillary Clinton in Pardongate, a case involving pardons for votes in the New York town of New Square. In his final days in office, President Clinton pardoned four rabbis from the town and Hillary went on to win the votes of the village: 1200 to just 14 for Rick Lazio, her New York Senate opponent." "Comey went on to prosecute Martha Stewart and from there then went on to become Deputy Attorney General...

WHO IS FITZGERALD? WHO APPOINTED HIM? Sean Hannity does some research....   by Mia T, 10.24.05   Fitzgerald was appointed by his pal of 14 years, Deputy Attorney General James Comey (who was, himself, appointed by Bush, of course). Reported today by Sean Hannity: Fitzgerald & Comey are a duo, according to various reports. What is interesting is that when Comey was United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, he refused to indict assorted rodhams and clintons for pardongate crimes, including the Rich deal and the New Square statistical miracle. But he was not averse to indicting...