Posted on 02/03/2002 4:14:41 PM PST by MeekOneGOP
NewsMax.com
Sunday, Feb. 3, 2002 11:51 a.m. EST
O'Reilly: Bush Justice Dept. Hamstringing Pardongate Probers
Investigators with the office of the U.S. Attorney for New York's Southern District are being actively discouraged from pursuing evidence of criminal wrongdoing in the Clinton Pardongate scandal, with one insider charging that any prosecutor who tries to build a case against the former first family may actually hurt his career.
So says Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly, who made the startling cover-up allegation in his column this weekend.
"Although the Justice Department continues to say the probe is 'on the front burner', agents have told me there is little incentive to get things done," the Fox News commentator claimed. "In fact, one investigator said, if you push too hard on the case, you could find yourself in Fargo, N.D."
O'Reilly suggested that the Justice Department's go-slow regimen for probing the Clintons final White House scandal was likely instigated by the Bush White House.
"George W. Bush understands the way the game in Washington is played. You must make 'accommodations.'..... And what Bush may have given the Democrats is the assurance that he will not embarrass their party by aggressively pursuing the Marc Rich pardon investigation."
The first sign of Justice Department footdragging emerged last year, when New York attorney Ed Hayes, whose client Garland Lincecum had given prosecutors damaging evidence implicating former first brother Roger Clinton in Pardongate wrongdoing, expressed doubts about the probe.
In comments covered exclusively by NewsMax.com, Hayes told WABC radio's John Batchelor and Paul Alexander last June:
"The big issue now is does the government want to press the case. Because, for one thing, to really show whether or not there was a crime committed, you really have to question Bill Clinton. You really have to ask, 'Did Roger talk to his brother Bill about getting a pardon for Garland? Did Roger talk to anybody about getting a pardon for Garland?'"
Bill Clinton still has yet to testify. Even back then Hayes suggested that probers were being reined in on orders from Washington.
"You never know in these cases how dedicated they are to making the case. ... I think [lead Pardongate prober] Elliot Jacobson is a very conscientious prosecutor. But he does what he can do within the Justice Department."
Hayes hinted a political deal was already in the works: "You don't know whether [the Bush administration] is going to trade three federal judicial appointments in return for turning a blind eye to this." (See: Bush Justice Department Putting the Brakes on Pardongate Probe?)
O'Reilly now agrees, positing that Bush will reactivate the Clinton probe only if the GOP regains control of the Senate or if "things get rough."
"The Marc Rich pardon deal can always be used as a threat," he concluded.
Read Bill O'Reilly's full column on the Pardongate cover-up in NewsMax.com's magazine.
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Bush Administration
Clinton Scandals
Pardongate
Sen. Hillary Clinton
Whatever the reason---holding himself above the fray, taking the high road---whatever---President Bush needs to let the prosecutors go for it.
Stopping Hillary is as important to the future of this nation as stopping terrorism. I would hate for us to look back in a few years at how we could have stopped her but didn't.
Bump this back up tommorow AM.
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I've not heard it put in those exact words before. You've totally nailed it.
Get over it! Ford pardoned Nixon. We got over it.
Clintons' legal problems are coming round, coming round slowly and profoundly. She is in terror now that she will be indicted. He is in a turmoil of being irrevelant...even after being disbarred.
Revenge cannot be hot...but a cold side dish.
Listen folks, like it or not, Bush told us that he would put this behind us, and now he's doing his best to do just that. "Uniter not a Divider" remember that????
The dude actually does what he says, and that wasn't just a stupid slogan. I'm guessing that he really does think that healing the nation is more important than further dividing it to prosecute these people. We had our one best shot and the Senate punted. (They were probably too dirty to live through the fight.)
And don't think that the nation can't heal without justice. You political freaks and geeks (I include myself) may not, but the rest of the nation will bask in the serenity and get on with life.
That's the obvious direction that Bush has taken this since the moment he stepped into the office - one investigation after another has been shelved. This is old news. Don't expect that to change. Deal with it.
Mena.
And they both play the victim so well that without absolute proof, it will be made to appear that the GOP political machine is still out to get the Clintons. We REPS should realize by now that the Clintons cover their tracks too well for anything to be found that would stand up in court.
It was within Clinton's power as president to pardon anyone he damn well pleased and you can be certain that no evidence of the probable 'quid pro quo'(sp?) was left behind. So like Whitewater, Filegate, Vince Foster, Travelgate, et al, the GOP would again lose public support when nothing could be proven in court.
Of course we REPS would like to see Clinton punished, but at what cost? Our man is in office now, with an 83% approval rating. While I do not agree with all of his politics, I know for certain that I would not have approved of 100% of Gore's.
Personally, I think Bush simply wants the Clintons to disappear and he is not going to be party to putting them back in the headlines on the dim hope that something could be proven in a court of law against them.
Do you understand what this statement actually means? It means that there is no way to get a conviction unless Bill Clinton confesses onder oath.
No wonder so many people are getting irritated with you. Try thinking about the article before posting it.
Bill Clinton will never be found guilty, probably because either he's too far removed from the people who actually broke laws, or the things he did weren't unlawful.
Did he behave like a scumbag while in the White House? Yes, he sure did, and America elected him to a second term.
Bottom,line is, after eight years of Bill, to put him on trial would give us the OJ trial from hell, a trial from which Bill will come out exonerated, and claiming "unjust persecution by the vast, right-wing conspiracy".
Forget him.
Do you understand what this statement actually means? It means that there is no way to get a conviction unless Bill Clinton confesses onder oath.
No wonder so many people are getting irritated with you. Try thinking about the article before posting it.
1. Why would you blame me because of an article's content and someone's interpretation of that content?
2. "No wonder so many people are getting irritated with you." Really? First complaint I'd had along those lines. Are people talking behind my back?? Tell them to talk to ME if they have a problem with any of my posts. Maybe I'll learn something. . .If you have a complaint about any OTHER articles I've posted that have irritated you, let me know which ones and why.
Thanks for your input.
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