FEC Heat Hurts Hillary's VP Chances

NewsMax.com ^ | 4/19/04 | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

[kattracks]

The Federal Election Commission has opened a formal probe into a star-studded Aug. 12, 2000 Hollywood fundraiser for then-first lady Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign, Fox News Channel reported on Sunday.

And some say the development is at least partly responsible for Sen. Clinton's claim that she's not interested in joining John Kerry's presidential ticket.

The allegations themselves are not new: Two of the event's organizers, Hollywood producer Peter Paul and charity fundraiser Aaron Tonken, have detailed a series of transactions undertaken in conjunction with Hillary's campaign that could violate FEC regulations, with Paul charging that the campaign failed to report nearly $2 million he spent producing the event.

The question for the Clintons, not to mention the Democratic Party, is: What prompted the FEC to finally get off the dime?

Three years ago the Commission snubbed requests from Paul's legal team, the Washington-based group Judicial Watch, for a probe. And the Justice Department left him languishing in a Brazilian jail on unrelated stock fraud charges until last September.

But months before Paul was returned to the U.S. to stand trial in the stock case, Hollywood fundraiser Aaron Tonken began cooperating with federal probers. Tonken has said that he's a star witness against the Clintons in a federal grand jury probe in New York into Mr. Clinton's Marc Rich pardon - and has been cooperating with the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles who's probing his fundraising activities.

As the case reheats, some Democrats sound like they sense trouble.

"This is nonsense," Hank Sheinkopf, who worked on the Clinton-Gore reelection team in 1996, told Fox News Channel's Eric Shawn. "If there was a case here, why did the government wait so long?"

Asked about a paper trail that reportedly backs both Tonken and Paul's account, Sheinkopf said that even if the charges were proved, they would be "a violation of [FEC] regulations, not a violation of law."

True enough. But grand juries in New York and Los Angeles are conducting parallel investigations into possible criminality, with the focus shifting to whether witnesses have made false statements to probers in the case.

A recent conviction on similar charges has home decorating diva Martha Stewart looking at the business end of a substantial jail term.

And while prosecutors say publicly that Mrs. Clinton isn't part of any criminal probe, the investigation is moving perilously close to her.

In December the feds announced they were investigating David Rosen, the finance chairman of her Senate campaign, in connection with the Paul-Tonken event.

There are also indications that prosecutors are concerned about tipping their hand, and don't want key witnesses saying anything that might kill their case. Fox newsman Shawn reported that a recently scheduled jailhouse interview with Peter Paul was scuttled at the last minute - even though Paul had agreed to do it.

No wonder Sen. Clinton decided it was better to lay low this election year rather than invite the kind of media scrutiny that a her presence on a presidential ticket might bring to Paul and Tonken's accusations.

[OXENinFLA]

It's about time!

[mewzilla]

Click here for a must-read Michelle Malkin column on the Toons and Tonken.

[freekitty]

She doesn't want to be Vice President. She wants to be President. If I were Kerry, I would watch my back with those two.

[LibFreeUSA]

-"Tonken has said that he's a star witness against the Clintons in a federal grand jury probe in New York into Mr. Clinton's Marc Rich pardon..."

The Marc Rich pardon was 4 YEARS AGO! There's still a grand jury out on this?

[Southack]

NewsMax is naive. The Clintons always gain in the polls whenever they are perceived as being "victims" of unfair prosecution.

Besides, an investigation into a fund raiser isn't going to be nearly as damaging, no matter how the dust settles, as what Hillary has already been caught doing (e.g. felony violation of Federal Open Meetings Act with Iraq Magaziner back on her Health Care Task Force).

People who get excited over these new "scandals" (like this fundraiser) are just falling for the old "pile on" political trap (and if I have to explain it, it means you shouldn't be in politics).

[BluH2o]

Nothings going to happen folks, we've been down this well worn path several times before ... it's a non-starter.

[Ben Bolt]

I truly believe the Jr. Senator from NY has won her first and last election. I think she is aware that she is not likely to win her Senate seat again, nor is she likely to to be VP or President. Hillary is polarizing but not with any kind of winner's glue. Her machine is breaking down.

[expatpat]

"The mills of Justice grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine".

[Mo1]

People who get excited over these new "scandals" (like this fundraiser) are just falling for the old "pile on" political trap (and if I have to explain it, it means you shouldn't be in politics).

Sadly I have to agree with your post

I can just hear Hellary now yapping about the VRWC is just out to get her

[CyberAnt]

Well .. Gorelick is not in justice to shield them anymore - and now that she's got her own problems, the paper trail is creating a big stink which could end up tainting Hillary.

[ravingnutter]

Hate to break the news to you sweetie, but this is NOT a "new scandal", I have been following this for awhile:

June 2002 - New York Sen. Hillary Clinton surely hopes that history isn't repeating itself with the raid conducted by the FBI last month on another warehouse; this one chock full of documents from her 2000 Senatorial campaign.

"The documents were seized in a May 30 raid of a California storage facility containing documents of Peter Paul, the entrepreneur who funded Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign with over $2 million dollars in direct, in-kind contributions which were never reported by Hillary Clinton or her Senate campaign, as required by law," revealed the public interest law firm Judicial Watch in a press release late last week.

FBI Raids Hillary's Warehouse in Whitewater Deja Vu

Related articles:

The Bush administration has quietly done an about-face on allegations that New York Sen. Hillary Clinton broke campaign finance laws in 2000 - with the Justice Department preparing to extradite one-time Clinton fund-raiser Peter Paul to the U.S. as part of a plea deal for his testimony. The sudden action on Paul's case comes just weeks after reports surfaced that former Hollywood fund-raiser Aaron Tonken has supplied damaging testimony about Hillary Clinton's fund-raising practices.

"I'm a star witness against President and Mrs. Clinton," Tonken claimed in a recent report on his case in Vanity Fair magazine, explaining that prosecutors wanted his testimony about" "fundraising activities that I've done on behalf of the Clintons." The exact nature of Tonken's allegations against Sen. Clinton remains secret, the magazine said. But the celebrity moneyman is known to have been involved in the August 2000 fund raiser that is at the heart of Peter Paul's allegations.

The End of Hillary Clinton

Peter F. Paul, the flamboyant Hollywood entrepreneur who says Hillary Rodham Clinton has hidden almost $2 million of in-kind contributions he made to her campaign in 2000, is back from Brazil and promising to raise a ruckus about the New York senator as he fights bizarre securities and bank-fraud charges on which he's been indicted. Aaron Tonken, a political operative in Hollywood and a former protégé of Paul under indictment for a variety of alleged sharp deals with the rich and famous, also is promising to tell everything he knows about behind-the-scenes shenanigans of Clinton and many others.

Clintons' Fall Guy May Turn the Tables (Peter Paul)

Mr. Paul has substantial, documentary evidence detailing his close relationship with the Clintons and his funding of the Hollywood tribute, including cancelled checks, hand-written thank you notes from the Clintons, and photographs. Also named in the complaint is Clinton fundraiser David Rosen, Clinton friend James Levin, and Hollywood celebrity fundraiser Aaron Tonken, who currently is under criminal investigation for his role in other Hollywood fundraisers. As a result of Mr. Paul’s disclosures, federal authorities have launched an investigation into the Clintons and other matters. Mr. Paul, who is facing alleged (and related) stock and bank fraud charges, remains eager to cooperate with federal authorities.

Clinton Whistleblower Peter F. Paul Sues Bill and Hillary Clinton for Fraud, Conspiracy, Unjust Enrichment

[Southack]

Then delete the word "new" from post #7 and it will tell you what's going on.

[jmstein7]

BUMP!

[freekitty]

I like what you have to say. I hope it means the end for Booba as well as Hitlery.

[Lee'sGhost]

Other than FOX and NewsMax, is anyone else out there reporting this?

Also, I think I heard on FOX some Klinton people were whining that a bail has not been set for Peter Paul and he remains incarcerated with no explanation.

First thing that came to my mind -- Arkanside.

[John Lenin]

Here's the lowdown on Hillary's Hollywood flimflam man that you won't find in her new best-selling book:

Tonken is a former street bum with a creepy lifelong attraction to Hollywood stars and powerbrokers. He once cold-called Jackie Onassis and sweet-talked Zsa Zsa Gabor into allowing him to stay at her apartment. He crashed the celebrity fund-raising scene a decade ago and quickly rose to the top. Tonken hooked up with Democratic socialite Denise Rich -- ex-wife of fugitive financier and Clinton pardonee Marc Rich -- for a lavish charity event in Milton Berle's honor five years ago; it was reportedly Mrs. Rich who introduced Tonken to the Clintons.

Tonken's mentor was Peter Paul, a convicted felon who was seeking access to the Clintons on behalf of his business partner Stan Lee (comic-book creator of Spider-Man). Paul claims to have underwritten a Hollywood gala for the Clintons produced by Tonken in August 2000. The liberal elite bash -- attended by Cher, Melissa Etheridge, Ted Danson, Michael Douglas, Whoopi Goldberg, Goldie Hawn, Shirley MacLaine and John Travolta -- was both a tribute to the former president and a soft money fundraiser for Hillary's New York Senate campaign.

Paul, who partied hard with Bill, Hill and Chelsea at the star-studded event, alleges that his direct and in-kind contributions worth $2 million were disguised in order to hide his involvement with Hillary's campaign. He also claims that Democrat officials solicited a contribution from Paul in return for a presidential pardon he unsuccessfully sought for his two prior convictions for cocaine possession and fraud. Paul has since fled to Brazil. He is fighting extradition to the U.S., where he faces an indictment for his role in a $25 million stock manipulation scam involving Stan Lee's media company.

Meanwhile, Tonken faces a lawsuit by California Attorney General Lockyer alleging that he defrauded charities and their donors, diverted donations to bank accounts he controlled and refused to account for more than $1.5 million in contributions to six charitable events he agreed to produce. The defrauded charitable organizations include the Kids Campaign, the Joan English Fund for Women's Cancer Research, the Michael J. Fox Foundation, the Betty Ford Center and Inner-City Games Foundation.

[John Lenin]

Here's the lowdown on Hillary's Hollywood flimflam man that you won't find in her new best-selling book:

Tonken is a former street bum with a creepy lifelong attraction to Hollywood stars and powerbrokers. He once cold-called Jackie Onassis and sweet-talked Zsa Zsa Gabor into allowing him to stay at her apartment. He crashed the celebrity fund-raising scene a decade ago and quickly rose to the top. Tonken hooked up with Democratic socialite Denise Rich -- ex-wife of fugitive financier and Clinton pardonee Marc Rich -- for a lavish charity event in Milton Berle's honor five years ago; it was reportedly Mrs. Rich who introduced Tonken to the Clintons.

Tonken's mentor was Peter Paul, a convicted felon who was seeking access to the Clintons on behalf of his business partner Stan Lee (comic-book creator of Spider-Man). Paul claims to have underwritten a Hollywood gala for the Clintons produced by Tonken in August 2000. The liberal elite bash -- attended by Cher, Melissa Etheridge, Ted Danson, Michael Douglas, Whoopi Goldberg, Goldie Hawn, Shirley MacLaine and John Travolta -- was both a tribute to the former president and a soft money fundraiser for Hillary's New York Senate campaign.

Paul, who partied hard with Bill, Hill and Chelsea at the star-studded event, alleges that his direct and in-kind contributions worth $2 million were disguised in order to hide his involvement with Hillary's campaign. He also claims that Democrat officials solicited a contribution from Paul in return for a presidential pardon he unsuccessfully sought for his two prior convictions for cocaine possession and fraud. Paul has since fled to Brazil. He is fighting extradition to the U.S., where he faces an indictment for his role in a $25 million stock manipulation scam involving Stan Lee's media company.

Meanwhile, Tonken faces a lawsuit by California Attorney General Lockyer alleging that he defrauded charities and their donors, diverted donations to bank accounts he controlled and refused to account for more than $1.5 million in contributions to six charitable events he agreed to produce. The defrauded charitable organizations include the Kids Campaign, the Joan English Fund for Women's Cancer Research, the Michael J. Fox Foundation, the Betty Ford Center and Inner-City Games Foundation.

[Pagey]

One of the larger reasons Hellary won't become/isn't allowed to be become POTUS or VPOTUS is because she has never attended a Bilderberg meeting in her life. Even Bill Clintoon can brag he was invited and attended the Bilderberg meeting in Germany 1991 with Mr. Big himself,Vernon Jordan, and then received the Presidential Nomination Aug 1992. (How a peasant governor from Arkansas was invited to that meeting is still the elusive question.)