Posted on 09/09/2006 10:20:09 AM PDT by STARWISE
William Clinton did not leave the White House. He oozed out of it, leaving a trail of reeking corruption that left even his most faithful defenders gagging in revulsion.
First, to escape prosecution for perjury in the Monica Lewinsky case, Clinton admitted lying under oath, had his law license suspended, and paid a US$25,000 fine.
Next, the Clintons made off with $180,000 of White House furnishings, and a truckload of gifts from influence-seekers, including expensive tables from a certain Mrs. Denise Rich.
Then, at midnight on his last day in office, Clinton pardoned 140 criminals.
Drug dealers formed the largest number, followed by mail fraudsters, assorted crooks, even a con-man I had encountered a decade ago.
Among the felons Clinton pardoned were his cocaine-dealing brother, Roger; Whitewater business partner and sometime former lover, Susan McDougal; and disgraced former CIA Director, John Deutch.
Susan McDougal’s refusal to testify to Whitewater investigators saved Bill and Hillary Clinton from indictment for fraud. Charges against Deutch have not been fully revealed.
Clinton pardoned four men from a Hassidic community in upstate New York who had swindled the US government of millions. By sheer coincidence, Hillary Clinton won all the community’s votes in her senate race.
So far, so bad. Then came the Marc Rich bombshell.
Clinton rushed through a pardon for Rich, a fugitive, billionaire financier who was on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List. Rich, and partner Pincus Green, fled to Switzerland in 1983 as US federal prosecutors were about to arrest them for massive fraud, tax evasion, illegal arms and oil deals with Iran, Iraq, and Libya.
A note of full disclosure: I am acquainted with both Marc Rich and his wife Denise, and was recently a guest at her Fifth Avenue, 3-floor penthouse in New York.
Marc Rich is a brilliant, charming man who radiates intelligence. Last time I met Rich was in Marbella, Spain, sporting a beautiful new wife. Ex-wife Denise, a songwriter, is a warm, gregarious woman who is fast becoming the queen bee of New York’s liberal cultural glitterati set.
Denise Rich contributed $1 million to the Democratic Party and, recently, $450,000 to the new Clinton Library.
Some of this money must have come from Marc Rich, who reportedly transferred funds into his wife’s name before fleeing the US.
Denise Rich lamely denies these donations influenced Clinton’s 12th-hour decision to pardon Marc Rich. But when called to testify about the pardon before Congress, she took the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination.
Marc Rich mounted an international campaign to win a pardon. He even got Prime Minister Barak of Israel to lobby for him, as well as the head of Mossad, who said Rich had often helped Israel’s intelligence agency.
Rich claimed he deserved a pardon by the US, whose citizenship he had renounced, and whose taxes he evaded, because he had given many millions to Israeli charities. Denise claimed Marc had been ‘suffering in exile’ on his lavish Swiss estate.
Even ardent Democrats couldn’t defend Clinton’s latest disgraceful behavior. As indignation swept across the US, federal prosecutors opened a criminal investigation of Clinton’s pardon of Rich.
Proving bribery is extremely difficult. Clinton, who has nimbly skirted the law throughout his career, will probably escape conviction yet again.
Frankly, I don’t blame the Rich’s for trying to buy a pardon from the everything’s-for-sale Clintons. So many others bought the Clintons, why shouldn’t they?
There was the amazing $100,000 Hillary made overnight in futures trading, courtesy of an Arkansas chicken producer.
Bill and Hillary’s rich liberal friends in Hollywood, who provided the lion’s share of Democratic Party’s funding in exchange for total US political support and a couple of billion in extra aid for Israel.
All those mysterious Chinese gentlemen with cash-stuffed envelopes, producing trade concessions and US missile technology for China, thank you Bill. The $1 million donation from Indian-Americans, which tilted US policy towards India. The list goes on and on.
For the Clintons, politics has always been a giant cash cow.
Before coming to Washington, Gov. Clinton of Arkansas had few assets and earned less than a good secretary does in New York. Today, the Clintons have somehow become multi-millionaires on an after-tax, annual presidential salary of about $125,000, in spite of millions of dollars of legal expenses.
They accomplished this feat, let’s use the right term, by peddling influence, the Rich case being Exhibit A.
Former president Ronald Reagan granted 180 pardons over two terms in office. Most were for patriotic government officials. George Bush Sr. pardoned patriots like Caspar Weingerger and other Iran-Contra players.
These were patriots, not felons. By contrast, Clinton’s pardons, mainly for crooks and his sleazy cronies, say volumes about the character of this disreputable man who manages, even now, to dishonor the presidency of the United States.
If Osama Bin Laden had the good sense to contribute a few million dollars to the Clinton Library, he would now probably be lunching with Bill and Hillary in Manhattan, instead of hiding in the frigid mountains of Afghanistan.
NEVER FORGET the capacity for criminal thuggery and corruption (and worse) from this gang ..NEVER FORGET their impact and influence on the media, elections, legislation and the country's business through threats, and rewards and via various congresscritters in their name.
NEVER FORGET that The Shrill One CRAVES the Presidency ..and that BillyBubba is her guilt-ridden, malignantly narcissistic dutiful slave.
PLEASE DO NOT ALLOW THESE CRIMINALS ANYWHERE NEAR 1600 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE EVER .. EVER .. EVER .. AGAIN! I pray to God to diminish their power, weaken their efforts and protect this country from them.
NEVER FORGET Ping!
NEVER FORGET ping!
Amen to that. The blind eye that has been turned to these two never stops amazing me.
I've seen it before. Although she has added some things. Good. Thanks for the link and reminder to check on it more often.
Bump
Even though incomplete, the indiscretions approach "War and Peace" status.
GREAT read STARWISE!
"If Osama Bin Laden had the good sense to contribute a few million dollars to the Clinton Library, he would now probably be lunching with Bill and Hillary in Manhattan, instead of hiding in the frigid mountains of Afghanistan."
So very true.
bttt
Thanks for the ping...although now, my blood pressure is WAY up! Man, I wish those two would crawl back under the rocks they came from and leave America alone! They both sicken me.
"I pray to God to diminish their power, weaken their efforts and protect this country from them"
Amen and Amen!!
Nana
bookmarked
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