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.
Charles Krauthammer's Presidential Corruption Index.
Soros (pun) has a ring to it.
What's your opinion on (my belief) Rich being involved in the Oil for Food UN scandal?
Thanks for some very interesting background!
Exactly. The report is finished. Why should it make a difference weather is futher funded or not?
So did Rich continue having dealings with smuggled Iraqi oil after Clinton cleaned his slate and Rich cleared his desk? If so, he's vulnerable to prosecution again. Not to ignore the Clinton foot prints in this trail.
Interestingly, the low oil prices had a precedent; recall the grateful Kuwaitis pumping oil at $10/bbl after the first Gulf War, causing all sorts of problems in domestic oil production. While the Kuwaiti Emirs did this to show gratitude to the US (Right!), they restored their wealth and cornered the market. The GHWB administration had to deal with this to bring oil back to normal market prices.
(GW) Bush had plans for war with Iraq upon entering office
No doubt but those plans would have been in the DoD, rehashed, updated and revised throughout the Clinton admin. 9/11 pulled the trigger. Although Iraq wasn't apparently in our sights, it was one of the ducks in a row, along with the UN, the European kingpins.....and hopefully, the Clintons.
"What a fine mess you've gotten us into this time, HillBilly!
I've been corrected before on the grade of Venezuelan oil (perhaps from you) and its cost to bring to market.
We deal with foreign markets for oil largely due to their dearth of environmental/labor regulations as well as technological inability to extract crude on their own. Oil extraction tech is mainly US/UK/Dutch and others. Despots reap profits from this system. But they are the sovereign leaders responsible for the welfare of their countries. Their attitudes and actions internally are not the point of my reply.
I believe that the creation of petroleum did not stop with the extinction of dinosaurs. That there is evidence our domestic wells are refilling but not profitable to reopen when the cost of imports are reasonably low. That we know of and can access large untapped reserves domestically. That we have the technological ability to create energy from other sources.
Oil is a commodity preyed upon by corrupt pols and despots for their personal lifetime benefit. Clinton knew this, knew how to wheel and deal for filthy lucre. He and his ilk controlled State, Justice and Commerce for 8 yrs and we are paying the price in the market. Up and down , across the board.
Just a rant. But as Dick Cheney said, "I feel better for it."
Business as usual in DC. Bush will probably support killing the report. No need to undermine the taxpayers willingness to be bled further ... by promoting any unnecessary 'illwill'. Besides, Clinton is the Bush's buddy now.
Alternatives are being researched but the bottom line is a disaster. While a fleet owner of LNG vehicles may profit initially, the first accident with a ruptured LNG tank would put a big dent in the whole enterprise.
Electric cars for urban/suburban commuting sounds good but is also a joke. Some one has to pay the electric bill. Imagine the home electric bill after a month of recharging the battery. Think of the down time waiting for sufficient charge. Electricity demands go down after the peak usage times. What happens if 10pm to 5am becomes a "peak usage" time?
But back to the Clinton/Rich/UN oil racket. Cisneros is just a petty corrupt appointment; the dems want the investigation unfunded by attaching a rider to a spending bill. Hillary's campaign fund raising is being investigated, hopefully seriously. Sandy Berger is a thief. Kofi Annan is skating on thin ice. Marc Rich is at large and George Soros is Hollywood.
The press calls these things scandals, all I see is obstruction to finding the true history of the past couple of decades. Let me put it this way, European kingpins, Mid East despots and the PRC found the key to infiltrate the US. Clinton.
I know that if all these characters were jailed tomorrow, I'll still be paying $2.57 a gallon at the pump but the percentage of the price that no longer goes to their racket and is returned to improving the business infrastructure would be worth it. Just another rant.
Good to hear you drive a diesel truck; I'll take torque over speed any day.
Well considering that article was written in 2001, and other than the campaign finance reform, most of Krauthammer's predictions didn't come to fruition. And CK admits that both parties were taking advantage of the soft money loopholes.
Not very compelling.
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