Posted on 04/21/2005 11:14:33 AM PDT by Republican Red
WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats are quietly trying to kill a 10-year legal probe that implicates several senior Clinton administration appointees for obstruction of justice, the Daily News has learned.
The Democrats, saying that the $21 million investigation by Independent Counsel David Barrett should have ended long ago, succeeded in attaching an amendment to a spending bill Tuesday to cut off his funding by June 1.
But two sources close to the investigation said that if the legislation becomes law, it will thwart Barrett from making public a final report that names senior officials in the Clinton Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service who allegedly buried a tax fraud case involving former cabinet member Henry Cisneros.
"It's about obstruction of justice," said one of the sources. "People are willing to take drastic actions to kill this report."
Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), who introduced the amendment with Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), said last week that the disgraced HUD secretary paid a $10,000 fine in 1999 for lying to the FBI and that then-President Bill Clinton pardoned Cisneros, so the probe "should have ended years ago."
Barrett's probe began in 1995 by looking into allegations that Cisneros, who was Clinton's secretary of Housing and Urban Development, lied to the FBI about payments to his mistress. It expanded years ago into a broader obstruction case involving alleged tax fraud, according to the sources.
The report will allege that Justice Department officials snuffed out a tax case against Cisneros and that the IRS sometimes audited Clinton critics without good cause.
Barrett's investigation was wrapped up two years ago, and his 400-page final report was submitted to a three-judge panel last August, said two sources.
Because those named in the report have until the end of June to refute Barrett's findings, Kerry and Dorgan's amendment would prevent its release.
I have a question. How is it that the questions and accusations about DeLay have been allowed to grow if not for a provision, a bill, or some funding?
Or is it an entirely different kind of investigation and I'm asing about apples and oranges?
Thanks for posting this. I heard part of Rush's discussion while driving to lunch, but I did not get the details on who it was about.
.....to where he received Iraqi oil voucher money ......
Never. He and Hillary are too smart for that.
The funds went to some very obscure Netherland Antilles corporation with accounts in Panama and Isle of man. The stock holders are all obscure nobodies except Chelsa Clinton.
Some such was the procedure.
Do you think enough prayer can break up this unholy "2-Party Cartel"?
The funding is for the independent counsel. The allegations about Cisneros (and the clintons) are out there, too, but what's at issue here is the official report and the parties' responses (if any).
See the link at #96. Very info, kcvl.
Did you go to the site and ask them ..?? and attach the story - you know - just in case they didn't see it ..??
Also .. while you're at it .. how about Mark Levin and Sean Hannity ..??
Just now - Dick Morris: "This might be the scandal that really brings Hillary down." ---- DREAM ON.
Also indicted were two former Cisneros aides, Sylvia Arce-Garcia, 43, of Los Angeles, who was charged with conspiracy, and John D. Rosales, 41, of the Washington area, who was charged with conspiracy and two counts of making false statements.
snip
The grand jury also said Cisneros had made payments to a second woman with whom he had an affair, though it did not name her. Medlar knew about the other woman and was being paid to also keep that quiet.
All of the lies, the grand jury said, became a conspiracy to impede the Senate in its confirmation responsibilities, the FBI in doing background investigations of Cabinet nominees and the Justice Department in determining who is worthy of top-secret national security clearance.
snip
Cisneros, 50, was one of three members of President Clinton's Cabinet to come under scrutiny by independent counsels. An investigation of Commerce Secretary Ronald H. Brown was dropped when he died in a plane crash, and former agriculture secretary Mike Espy was indicted on charges of illegally soliciting and accepting more than $45,000 in gifts from companies with business before his department.
snip
Cisneros, the charismatic former mayor of San Antonio who was once viewed as an up-and-coming politician nationally, is president of Univision, a Los Angeles-based Spanish-language television network. His attorney, Cono R. Namorato, said in a statement, "While Mr. Cisneros has admitted that he has made mistakes in his personal life, he has attempted for many years to put these mistakes behind him."
Namorato added, "While Mr. Cisneros and his family do not relish the prospect of further public airing of private events beginning a decade ago, he will defend himself vigorously and expects complete exoneration after a trial."
Cisneros and Medlar began their affair in the late 1980s while he was mayor of San Antonio. He broke up with his wife, but they have since reconciled.
In 1988, the relationship was made public. Since then, the issue has always been how much Cisneros had paid Medlar, who now goes by her maiden name, Jones. The grand jury said Cisneros paid her about $5,000 a month from 1990 through 1993 -- with the help of others, who were not named in the indictment.
Cisneros also allegedly gave her an additional $16,000 -- split in two payments to avoid IRS detection. Medlar allegedly used the $16,000 to buy a house in Lubbock in the name of her sister and brother-in-law to conceal that Cisneros was the true source of the money.
The grand jury listed several instances in which Cisneros met with representatives of then-President-elect Clinton's transition team to discuss his relationship and payments to Medlar. He even met with Clinton personally to discuss the matter, according to the indictment.
After the FBI's first interview with Cisneros on Dec. 30, 1992, it became suspicious, according to the indictment. On Jan. 7, 1993, FBI agents were dispatched to question him again -- and urge him to be forthcoming and truthful, the grand jury said.
But, the indictment said, Cisneros continued to lie.
snip
Cisneros allegedly lied about his dealings with her during the confirmation process. He told the FBI that he had not had any lengthy conversations with her since early 1991. The grand jury said he talked with her numerous times, often immediately after he met with the FBI or representatives of Clinton's transition team.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/cisneros/stories/cis121297.htm
The grand jury that Barrett was ordered to shut down was investigating to determine if the Clinton administration was using political influence, through the Justice Department, to interfere with investigations of tax evasion involving Cisneros and other Democrats. According to the Wall Street Journal, Barrett pressured a lawyer in the chief counsel's office of the IRS to testifying by telling him he was a target of the probe. The IRS employee took the fifth, and under an immunity deal began to cooperate with the investigation. Several other IRS officials have testified as well.
snip
According to Safire's sources, the "immunized IRS employee is 'singing like a birdie,'" and at least one Justice Department official has been talking. Fox News reports that the IRS whistleblower said that Justice department officials have put pressure on the IRS to help friends of Clinton. As with so many other serious abuses of power by the Clinton administration, there has been little coverage of this potentially explosive story by the establishment media.
Can you please outline and cite examples for your claim that Bill Clinton and his administration were "...the most corrupt administration in history." I'm just curious. I'm new around here. I read both sides. They think Clinton is a god. Y'all think he is the worst person on the face of the earth, or at least in American history. So, how come?
The American people paid for this probe. We have the right to read it!!! It belongs to us.
If the report is ready, why would cancelling the funding prevent it's release? Takes no money to hand it to interested people.
No. If they can't do justice in ten years on a tax evasion case, they don't have a case.
Did you read the article that this thread is based on?
Then read the articles linked further in the thread.
There is evidence of corruption regarding the Clintons and their administration. You don't need to buy into the hyperbole about "worst person on the face of the earth" or "hater" in order to concede facts.
I've read lots and lots of articles. About lots and lots of administrations.
Is it safe to assume, by your answer, that this article is enough of an example to label Clinton the "most corrupt administration in history"?
.
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