Posted on 10/31/2002 5:55:55 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
Top Bush advisor Karen Hughes, sometimes referred to as the most powerful woman in Washington, has hired D.C. power-lawyer Robert Barnett, the attorney who bailed out Hillary Clinton at a crucial point in the Whitewater scandal.
While Barnett is more recently famous for nailing down record-breaking book deals for the former first couple, it was in the aftermath of the death of White House lawyer Vince Foster that the name of the Williams & Connolly attorney first appeared on the Clinton scandal radar screen.
Mrs. Clinton was in Little Rock when Foster died, but when she got the news she immediately called her chief of staff Maggie Williams in D.C. After several conversations Williams went to the White House to comb through the dead lawyer's office. Over the next two days the top aide removed 24 files and hid them in Hillary's bedroom closet.
Five days later, when the then-first lady was back in D.C., Barnett was summoned to the White House to collect the files. Mrs. Clinton later told Whitewater probers that she never reviewed the material - and didn't even meet with her lawyer that day, a detail Barnett corroborated despite Williams' account that he and Clinton had talked at length.
Some see the Barnett hire by Hughes, first reported Wednesday by Chicago Sun-Times gossip columnist Michael Sneed, as yet further evidence that the Bush political operation remains unconcerned about corruption in the previous White House.
Book deal I expect.
She must have a fascinating story to tell.
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