Posted on 06/17/2003 7:58:11 PM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
Former President Clinton seriously considered issuing a pre-emptive pardon for his wife, Hillary, after he was re-elected in 1996, just a few months after the former first couple's two Whitewater business partners, Jim and Susan McDougal, were convicted for bank fraud. "[Clinton] had asked my opinion of a blanket Whitewater pardon including all those involved in any aspect of the scandal," Clinton's top political adviser Dick Morris tells NewsMax.com exclusively. Morris says that Clinton wanted to start his second term with a clean slate and was thinking out loud. "He speculated that Hillary might be part of such a blanket pardon. He cited the Bush pardon of Casper Weinberger, who was pardoned before any indictment had been rendered." At the time, rumors swirled that Mrs. Clinton was about to be charged as part of either the Whitewater or Travelgate probes then being run by independent counsel Kenneth Starr. But Morris knew instantly that pardoning Hillary would be a political disaster and he pulled out all the stops to torpedo the plan. "I told him that I felt that U.S. presidents often misread a re-election mandate and took arrogant actions after their re-election. I cited FDR's court-packing plan, which backfired and screwed up his second term. I said he would 'go down in history right alongside of Jerry Ford' if he tried it." Just to make sure, the top White House adviser tipped Hillary to the pardon scheme by raising the possibility of coming Whitewater trouble. "I then called Hillary and speculated that Starr might indict her," Morris reveals. "'He wouldn't dare indict me,' she replied angrily and loudly." Morris said that he reminded Hillary that Bill "would have the power to pardon her if he did." "She flew into a rage, saying, 'If [Starr] decided to play that way, I will fight it with all that I've got. I don't want any pardon. I won't take any pardon." The indictment ruse worked so well that, to this day, Mrs. Clinton still believes she was about to be charged, recounting the episode in her memoirs as if Morris was acting as an agent for Starr or "carrying water for his Republican clients." But Morris explains to NewsMax: "I wasn't, as she writes, 'carrying water' for the Republicans. I was carrying it for her husband. It is also totally untrue that I was passing along any message from Starr's people. I didn't know anyone close to him and no Republican ever spoke with me about it." The top consultant adds: "My purpose was to run by her a trial balloon from her husband that I hoped would be shot down. That she thought I was passing on a plea bargain offer is a level of paranoia high even for her."
He makes me think of the sleazy lawyer you can't stand until suddenly you're in court and he saves your butt. Ya know? Kind of a double agent. (reminds me of the character Popov in Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six.)
Dick Morris can open his big mouth and not end up pushing up daisies. I'll bet he has a lot of dirt on his former pals.
Will they sell more decks of cards they she will books?
The left is upset at the "conservative hate" for the Clintons which they see revealed by NewsMax bias. They feel too many other topics are being overlooked:Microsoft files suit in US, UK, over spam; Beckham to sign $40 million deal with Real Madrid; More riots in Michigan city; Bush kicks off fundraising blitz; Self-destruct files to destroy CD's, DVD's; 'Roe' wants Roe v Wade overturned...
Josef Stalin was an extreme paranoid. Stalin is the historical personality whom I believe Hillary! resembles most.
Is that any way to talk about the junior Senator from New Yarkansas?
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