Clintons Lose Whitewater Appeal

NYT ^

[Sub-Driver]

Clintons Lose Whitewater Appeal By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 10:49 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The federal government does not have to pay for the bulk of former president Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton's legal fees arising out of the Whitewater independent counsel investigation, an appeals court ruled Tuesday.

The Clintons had sought reimbursement for more than $3.5 million in lawyer costs stemming from the long-running probe of the failed Arkansas land deal.

But a federal appeals panel issued a 14-page decision ruling the Clintons would have been investigated with or without the appointment of an independent counsel, and therefore should pay the overwhelming majority of those legal costs.

The federal government will pay $85,312.01 to the Clintons in legal fees for their lawyers' review and response to the counsel's final report, the judges ruled.

``We harbor no doubt that in the absence of the independent counsel statute the allegations surrounding the Clintons, Madison Guaranty, and Whitewater would have been similarly investigated and prosecuted by the Department of Justice,'' the three-judge panel wrote.

A spokeswoman for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton did not immediately return a call for comment. Sen. Clinton's most recent financial disclosure forms show the couple owed between $1.7 million and $6.5 million in outstanding legal bills.

[mtbopfuyn]

I have a vague memory of the former prez saying he would not get the taxpayers to pay his legal bills,,does anyone else remember that? I swear he said that along with other lies.

Depends what the definition of "pay" is. We're out at least $85K.

[Sub-Driver]

yea, good news, now watch the press bury it....

[Pagey]

but it is satisfying to see it committed to paper in such a legal ruling
It is also WHOLLY satisfying for me to see it written in the Court Legal Decision

If any Republican cavorted with the likes of the McDougals, had associates like Hubbell who had been given a post at the DOJ and ended up in jail,

Where he said,among other things on the taped Prison phone,while talking and looking at his wife---and I Quote: "Well, it looks like I'll have to roll over one more time then..."

I can only imagine the "constant verbal hell" that would've been coming through the TV screen had this occurred in a Repub. Administration.Would it have been weeks long? Months long? You betcha. If the Rats thought what Ken Starr was accomplishing was 'evil',(and it certainly wasn't and they slimed him nightly)imagine what they could do when lock in on a Repub. actually doing something really wrong.Hillary's Fingers were all over the sliming of K.S. and public defense of her( alleged) spouse and that is a fact.Read a couple of Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals,that she based her 75 page college thesis on (which you and I still can't read) and you'll see what I mean. I'll gladly Freepmail them to anyone who would like them BTW.

[timestax]

I have a vague memory of the former prez saying he would not get the taxpayers to pay his legal bills,,does anyone else remember that? I swear he said that along with other lies.

I remember...I also remember Bill, right after the FBI File Scandal broke, being asked at press conference..."Who hired Craig Livingston" ( Head of White House Security). Bildos' answer was , quote,"I don't know, but I will get the info and get right back to you."

HE NEVER DID GET BACK WITH ANY ANSWER!

Cuz he Knew that Hitlery had hire the goon!! that's why.

[timestax]

ping

[PackerBoy]

You are very perceptive.

BTW, I believe the Clintons will pay their attorneys. If they don't, their attorneys can sue them and the attorney-client privilege is often determined to have been waived. That would mean they could testify as to how many hours they slaved over a hot LEXIS terminal trying to locate a helpful definitition of the word "is," or the hours they spent coaching Mr. Clinton not to snicker when he was later questioned in his deposition about his lack of "seck-shell relations" with "that woman, Miss Lewinsky."

[PackerBoy]

I think you are right, although I am not a tax attorney. I think the issue is when they were incurred, not paid. Although they will find a way around this, I am sure.

[nutmeg]

ping!

Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent ‘miscellaneous’ ping list.

[PackerBoy]

Sen. Clinton's most recent financial disclosure forms show the couple owed between $1.7 million and $6.5 million in outstanding legal bills.

Um, could you be a little more specific, please, Senator Clinton?

[ameribbean expat]

I would expect that Uncle Bob and Kendall both work for firms sophisticated enough to understand the beauty of factoring. I bet those accounts receivable were sold to a factoring firm many moons ago...can't have the cash flow interrupted and at 85% of face value, hell it's easy to just overbill (no pun intended) the next client to make up the difference.

[pyx]

There's always genius in your posts.
I do indeed remain a devoted fan.

[evilC]

Those number probably come from forms that have boxes with value ranges, where you tick off the range you fall into.

Many election related disclosure forms of this nature. In other words, you don't need to give a hard figure, just indicate a range.

Example Income 0-20,000 20,001-50,000 etc.

[CyberAnt]

Well ... that's fine - x42 can write it all off - BUT AT LEAST HE ISN'T LINING HIS POCKETS WITH MY MONEY!!

[CyberAnt]

Exactly!

And ... that's exactly why they don't want Estrada on the D.C. Court. If the DOJ has enough info to prosecute them - and the DOJ now decides to take this to a conservative judge - their whole house of cards will start the slipper slope to oblivian!!

[CyberAnt]

"how much lattitude do these folks get?"

Whatever they want!

[VRWC_minion]

On the one hand Clinton wants to pay more taxes and on the other he wants 3.5 million dollars for his personal screw ups. And the press will never ever put these two things together unless it was a republican. I really can't stand these hypocrits.

[CyberAnt]

Well ... she made a bad deal then because Faust sold his sole for power and KNOWLEDGE - she's dumb as a stump, at least in politics.

[CyberAnt]

"bad mouthing ones country"

Well ... as if Hitlery's actions were not Treasonous enough, x42 had a private meeting with Tony Blair and told Tony to dump Bush if he wanted to keep his job. Tony didn't take the bait, because it was later learned that Hitlery was also BASHING TONY BLAIR.

Soooooo ... we have 2 Treasonous actions by "the couple". How crass is it to go to a foreign country and try to undermine YOUR OWN PRESIDENT!!! I am outraged!

I can hardly wait until Thursday night! I'm hoping Bush and Blair wipe the floor with these people.

[ladyinred]

At least there is one piece of good news today in the middle of the firestorm of liberal lies.
Why the heck the Clinton's think we should pay for their legal bills was always a mystery to me.

[Alissa]

Here's a maddening liberal media alert:

I'm driving home from work tonight. . . the top-of-the-hour headline news: Clintons lost their case for the gov't to pay their $3.5K bill for their Whitewater defense, however, the 'taxpayers' paid out $70K to convict them. PERIOD - that was the headline - nothing about how many convictions that were made - nothing about the Clinton's stonewalling!

The "top-of-the-hour" blurb is all many Americans hear and it is DANGEROUS!!