Posted on 05/09/2005 5:06:08 PM PDT by doug from upland
Hillary Trial Starts Tuesday
May 9, 2005
RUSH: Well, tomorrow is a big day in American fund-raising circles. (Story) "The trial of a key financial officer on Senator Hillary Clinton's 2000 campaign is set to open tomorrow. That trial and secretly recorded audiotape by the brother-in-law of Ted Kennedy, Raymond Reggie, is at the core of the case, and it could prove embarrassing to politicians, political operatives and wealthy donors to the Democratic Party. This is the trial of David Rosen. He faces three felony counts of causing the filing of false campaign finance reports in connection with a celebrity studded fund-raiser and concert held in August of 2002 at a radio executive's estate in Brentwood Hills above Los Angeles. Prosecutors have asserted that the true cost of the fund-raiser was more than one million dollars, but that Mr. Rosen reported costs of just $400,000 as part of a scheme to increase the funds Mrs. Clinton had to spend on her Senate bid. Mr. Rosen, now a Chicago-based political consultant, has pleaded not guilty to the charges. The evidence keeps mounting up and it's speculated by some that his cooperation may be more ready and plentiful than previously thought. As part of the investigation the FBI asked a New Orleans political consultant and friend of Mr. Rosen, Raymond Reggie, to wear a wire and surreptitiously record the former Clinton aide. In September 2002, Reggie invited Mr. Rosen to dinner at a Chicago steakhouse, Morton's. There, the two had a freewheeling conversation about the August 2000 fund-raiser, top Democratic Party figures, and the sex-and-drug laced lifestyles of rich donors. The New York Sun reported last month on an FBI affidavit that detailed Reggie's role as an informant, as well as Mr. Rosen's alleged statements that costs for the Los Angeles fund-raiser probably exceeded what was reported to federal officials."
Now, the reason this is interesting is because... do you remember the debates between Rick Lazio and Mrs. Clinton? Remember Rick Lazio walked over there to Hillary's podium with a piece of paper, a pledge to do away with soft money, and he was attacked for being a predator? "He actually walked over to her? Why, that's a cheap theatrical stunt and we're not going to let him get away with this!" But anyway she ended up as sort of a tantamount agreement to go along. That put her in a little bit of financial duress because she needed to get some money, and hence this fund-raiser, the expenses underreported so that more of the net could be tabulated, a bigger net that could be sent to Mrs. Clinton. Now, this Raymond Reggie guy, his sister Victoria married Teddy Kennedy in 1992. He wore the wire, and he taped what prosecutors called incriminating chat here with Rosen over dinner in 2000. Now, there was a report on Saturday that offered a partial transcript of that conversation with Rosen. The transcript is not definitive but prosecutors and other filings claim to have witnesses who say that Rosen told them there was no way he could truthfully report the cost of this gala on August 12th of 2000. Now, the key point is that if the gala really cost two million dollars, much of it had to be secretly and illegally donated if the cost was really $2 million. "Senator Clinton is said to be cooperating with the probe. Prosecutors say she's not a target of the probe." She's not a target? Well, she may not be a target but it could very well be embarrassing. No, it's a fund-raiser who is the target right? And Mrs. Clinton is always said to be the best darn fund-raiser of the Democratic Party next to her husband, but here's something interesting from the transcript that was reported on Saturday.
"Over their meal, David Rosen told me [Raymond Reggie] a rambling anecdote about a big Clinton donor who after a night of partying sent hookers to the hotel rooms of two Clinton loyalists. So the next day..." This is all on the tape. "The next day, one of the loyalists who got the hookers sent over to him, calls the donor from the golf course." The donor is with Clinton. The guy who got the hooker called the donor who gave him the hooker and he's with Clinton when he makes the call and Clinton gets on the phone, and he says, "Hey, I just want to tell you something, buddy. The day I'm outta office I'm going out with you." That is on the transcript of the tape. So one of Clinton's cronies gets a couple hookers sent over; the next day Clinton is playing golf with the guy who got the hookers, the donor calls, and Clinton gets on the phone with the donor and says, "Hey, man, hookers like this, I want to go out with when I'm out of office." Now, Dick Morris has written a piece about this, and the title of his piece is: "Rosen Could Turn On Hillary – The justice department case against David Rosen is getting stronger, increasing the possibility that he will flip and start cooperating with the government which could be disastrous for Hillary's presidential ambitions. Rosen's been indicted for deliberately reporting that the cost of this fund-raising event was only 400 grand when the actually tab was 1.2 million." There's also something else I'm reminded here.
Joe Klein in TIME has a piece on how disastrous a Hillary candidacy would be, that it would just split the country into a partisan divide unlike anything we've ever seen and he ends up by saying, "You know what? I, frankly, hope it's not Hillary. I'm sick and tired of the Bushes and Clintons trading office every four years. We've got to move on," and so forth. And a lot of people, I've told you people, you know, everywhere I go, people ask, "What about Hillary? What about her?" and I get frustrated. What are you so afraid of, for crying out loud? What, is she unbeatable? She shaves her legs one leg at a time just like every other woman does. What in the world are you afraid of her for? And people say, "Well, you know, the media." Ah, look it, she's not that popular. She is a polarizing figure. She could possibly redefine negative turnout. At any rate, here's more from Morris' piece. In this conversation that David Rosen had with Reggie in Chicago at Morton's that was taped, David Rosen calls himself a guinea pig for Clinton's lawyers noting that, "The former White House wanted to hire, or argue the case in a certain way." In fact, the Clintons have been begging this guy to cop a plea, and essentially what the Clintons have been trying to do is to get this guy to behave like Web Hubbell. You remember what Web Hubbell said, "Yeah, I've got a take a bullet one more time for the Clintons." A lot of people have taken bullets for the Clintons and they want this guy to do it and so far he's refused to do it. He did say, "I did it for them. Like, I bit the bullet and went in as a guinea pig, and argued their argument for me. Instead of frettin' and runnin' and coverin' my a-, I was a good soldier. So far it's worked out, but I coulda done it a lot different."
The question is what could Rosen have done differently and who is it that he refers to as the former Clinton White House? Because they were trying to Web Hubbell the guy, for a while he went along about it but he's not copped a plea which is what they did him to do. The ultimate biting of the bullet would be to cop a plea and take the hit himself out of loyalty to the Clintons. He hasn't done that. And so as Dick Morris writes, "Now as the net is getting closer around him he may indeed do it a lot different and begin cooperating with the feds and building a case that Hillary knew about the underreporting. When Rosen was indicted it seemed to be a case of his word against Peter Paul's about the true costs of the event. With Peter Paul's previous criminal record, Rosen might have beaten the charge, but now he can't be so sure because he implicated himself on that tape, and the government is not relying solely on Peter Paul's testimony." The Times-Picayune in New Orleans reports that it has lined up several other witnesses who will testimony that Rosen was aware the event cost far more than his reports indicated.
"The federal brief says that Rosen became increasingly panicked as the costs began to spiral out of control on some occasions when news of yet another cost was revealed to him, he literally threw up his hand and announced, 'I didn't just hear that. Don't tell me that again,' and that he didn't want the subject discussed around him again. The feds also say that Rosen directed one witness to take thousands of dollars of line items off a campaign report about the event's costs and indicate that Rosen told a confidante that there was no way he could accurately report the cost of the fund-raiser. Asked about this guinea pig comment, Clinton's lawyer, David Kendall, said, 'Hey, it's no secret that counsel for Mr. Rosen and the lawyers for the Clintons and the Senate campaign committee were cooperating in their defense against this civil lawsuit from Peter Paul.'" What he does not say, and may have been the point of Rosen's remark, is that they may also be cooperating in his defense against criminal charges. "As long as any such arrangement helped Rosen and there was a realistic chance of acquittal, there was little chance he would turn on the Clintons. But now, with no plea and very little chance of an acquittal, who knows?" writes Dick Morris. "Indeed, on the tape Rosen says that he spoke to President Clinton regularly, at least once a week, about the campaign fund-raising. What could the president have told him that the federal prosecutors would find interesting?" We may find out. The trial starts tomorrow.
are you watching OReilly right now?
What is happening?
I wish the trial was being shown on CourtTV. It's going to be massaged into meaningless by the MSM.
someone will post more details, I was channel surfing. He was covering the issue of the Kennedy family member wearing the wire.
I am debating whether to go tomorrow. They haven't chosen a jury, and who knows how long that could take.
Dear Hillery!,
May you live in interesting times.
"What about Hillary? What about her?" and I get frustrated. What are you so afraid of, for crying out loud? What, is she unbeatable? She shaves her legs one leg at a time just like every other woman does.
Ewww.
Yick, lucky you......
I'm wondering if the Arizona Republic will even carry any news of it at all. Pretty much seems to be a shill for Janet Napolitano. Todays front page was about the Phoenix Suns...
Save your time doug. This is going to get better, potentially. Of course we have all been through these hopeful times so many times, it's getting old. At least this one is getting some national attention.
1. Janet Reno doesn't control the justice department
2. The power of talk radio and FReeRepublic
3. FOX News
4. The takedown of Dan Rather
5. Very serious evidence in the biggest campaign fraud in history
6. Kerry and his Lifeguard mentor want Hillary out of the way
7. A man who has had his life ruined by her and will never abandon the fight
8. A defendant who had better make a deal
The timing of this trial must be why the Dems were trying to make the DeLay "case"...to distract attention away from Hillary's true guilt.
Mr Bill did the short segment with Josh Gerstein from The NY Sun and Judge Napolitano
Thanks for letting me know.
bump
I'll see your bump and raise you a BTTT.
And don't forget to mention other stations taking a cue from Fox's success.
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