Posted on 03/22/2002 7:02:44 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
The final Whitewater report released by the Office of Independent Counsel on Wednesday said prosecutors didn't have enough evidence to indict and convict either Bill or Hillary Clinton on charges stemming from the legendary failed land deal.
But that wasn't always the case.
In fact, just how close Mrs. Clinton came to prosecution was a well-guarded secret until May 2000, when a book by the Washington Post's Sue Schmidt and Time magazine's Michael Weisskopf blew the lid off a planned Hillary indictment.
Before the death of key Whitewater witness James McDougal, deputy independent counsel Hickman Ewing had actually prepared a draft indictment of the former first lady - and was considering submitting it to a Little Rock grand jury. Prosecutors believed the case would stick as long as McDougal was still around to testify in court.
In their book "Truth at any Cost," Schmidt and Weisskopf report that on April 27, 1998, Ewing assembled his team of prosecutors to decide whether to prosecute Hillary.
"[Ewing] paced the room for more than three hours, recalling facts from memory in his distinctive Memphis twang. He spoke passionately, laying out a case that the first lady had obstructed government investigators and made false statements about her legal work for McDougal's S&L, particularly the thrift's notorious multimillion-dollar Castle Grande real estate project."
However, as Schmidt and Weisskopf report, Ewing's case against the first lady had a giant hole in it.
"The biggest problem was the death a month earlier of Jim McDougal," the reporters said. "Without him, prosecutors would have a hard time describing the S&L dealings they suspected Hillary Clinton had lied about."
In the end, it wasn't so much "insufficient evidence" that spared Mrs. Clinton the ignominy of becoming the only first lady ever to stand trial for criminal conduct, as it was the propitious (for her) jailhouse death of McDougal, which came, ironically, six years to the day after the New York Times broke the original Whitewater story, on March 8, 1992.
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Poll: Don't Pardon Clinton or His Whitewater Cronies [Free Republic]
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2.
Whitewater Inquiry Ends Due to Lack of Evidence Against Clintons [Free Republic]
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3.
Another Whitewater Death
Topic: White Water Another Whitewater Death WorldnetDaily March 31, 1998 Un-signed Johnny Franklin Lawhorn Jr., 29, the transmission shop owner who discovered Whitewater documents and a cashier's chec
4.
Whitewater report won't KO Clintons, sources say [Free Republic]
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5.
The Original WHITEWATER Article - Jeff Gerth, NYT, March 8, 1992
Topic: White Water The Original WHITEWATER Article - Jeff Gerth, NYT, March 8, 1992 The New York Times March 8, 1992 Jeff Gerth Clintons Joined S & L Operator in an Ozark Real Estate Venture by Jeff G
6.
Whitewater: Case Closed [Free Republic]
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Ray closes book on Whitewater [Free Republic]
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8.
Another Amazin Whitewater Appearance (& Another DEATH)
Topic: White Water Another Amazin Whitewater Appearance (& Another DEATH) Washington Times 11-7--97 Editorial Topic: White Water Another amazin' Whitewater appearance (An article from Novemver and now
9.
Whitewater cash inquiry leaves Clintons in clear [Free Republic]
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10.
OIC Ray press release on the 'Madison Guaranty/Whitewater' matter [Free Republic]
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Gore Campaign Threatens Harris with "Whitewater-style" Investigation [Free Republic]
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12.
Whitewater defeat for First Lady - (Complete with great Foster links)
Topic: White Water Whitewater defeat for First Lady - (Complete with great Foster links) The Electronic Telegraph 06//24/97 By Hugh Davies in Washington International News Electronic Telegraph Tuesday
13.
Another Clinton Witness Caught in Whitewater Hush Money Bombshell [Free Republic]
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Here's a link to all 1556 pages of the Final Report on Whitewater Investigation
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Starr had nothing on Clinton except the testimony of Jim McDougal and David Hale . . . .
Afraid it's your reasoning that's bogus here.
Ewing--as you freely admit--had McDougal's testimony in hand--testimony that would have been just as helpful as Susan McD's in getting an indictment from a so-called "ham sandwich" Grand Jury.
Once Jim was safely boxed up in the slammer, word obviously went out from the White House defense team to prison brass at the Federal prison that McDougal should be "helped along" to the next world at the first best opportunity.
That's exactly what happened:
Bank Embezzlement crook, Clinton's convicted Whitewater partner. Died 3-8-98 of an apparent heart attack, while in solitary confinement, serving 3-yr sentence for bank fraud. He was going to be a key witness in Ken Starr's investigation and died while the reporters who were covering him were away covering a sudden, new standoff in Waco, (which, when he died, suddenly went away.) Jim McDougal suffered a heart attack that was brought on by the diuretics forced on him. They took him out of solitary as he collapsed, then left him alone in the medical wing. Instead of attempting to defibrillate his heart with equipment on hand at the facility, he was taken on a LONG drive to John Peter Smith hospital. Not the closest hospital to the Fort Worth Federal Medical Center, JPS is a welfare hospital, where (in the words of one local,) "they let interns practice on deadbeats".
Wall Street Journal says "The most credible aspect of the book is that it was not written with Whitewater in mind. It simply collided with Whitewater."
"It will put to the test Clinton's remarkable ability to survive." ~~The Boston Globe. It is about 700 pages, small type, in the paper back form, and weighs a couple of pounds. I know two guys who were there and they said it is all true.
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"I did not have any involvement in the pardons that were granted or not granted," insisted Sen. KnowNothing, seeming to forget her presence at the New-Square/Oval-Office schmooze that secured pardons for the four Hasidic felons who set up a phony school in Brooklyn to swindle the government out of millions intended for the poor. |
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the Gestalt--the synthesis of the evidence -- the absurd reason for the president's Thanksgiving-Day Camp David-DC-Camp David trip; the Ron-Brown-posthumous, Ron-Brown-related, Thanksgiving-Day corpse; the Sonya Stewart deposition informing us that evidence of illegal Commerce activity had "left the building;" and "a huge box" hauled back to Camp David by said corrupt president under subpoena. Mia T, Helen Thomas Syndrome: THE SYMPTOMS
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WASHINGTON- February 22. Sen. KnowNothing Victim Clinton held her premiere press conference today on Capitol Hill, ostensibly to answer questions about the peddling of White House pardons by her brother and her campaign treasurer. Notably absent among the press queries were any about her own involvement not only in those pardons, but in the larger universe of sold pardons--the incipient clinton scandal du jour--Pardongate. KnowNothing's brother, Hugh Rodham, secured two of the 141 clinton midnight pardons, one for a cocaine kingpin and the other for a snake-oil swindler. Rodham netted a quick $400,000 for his "work" according to various rodhams and clintons and their assorted lawyers. KnowNothing's campaign treasurer, William Cunningham III, himself a law partner of longtime KnowNothing adviser Harold Ickes, helped obtain last-minute pardons for two convicted felons. LA FAMIGLIA Displaying a willingness to throw her brother (along with her husband) to the wolves, Sen. Victim Clinton was quick to make a distinction between her big, bad brother's pardon "work" and that of her campaign treasurer, "a fine lawyer and a fine man." The "family" connection of brother Rodham to Clinton made brother Rodham's "work" bad, bad, bad, whereas the campaign treasurer Cunningham's connection to the senator and her campaign coffers made his securing of two pardons in record time a sterling example of highminded, effective public service. KnowNothing is apparently not the best of thinkers. If the "family" connection makes lobbying for cocaine-kingpin and snake-oil-swindler pardons bad, bad, bad for brother Rodham, then the "family" connection makes lobbying for the Hasidim 4 (see Keating 5) pardons bad, badder, baddest for the wife, First Lady and senator-elect. Moreover, pardons for votes is arguably worse than pardons for dough. EFFECTIVELY PLEADS 5TH BY INVOKING SPOUSAL PRIVILEGE KnowNothing specifically declined to answer when asked whether she discussed the pardons with her husband, effectively pleading the 5th. Turning aside questions about the pardon decisions her husband had made, she told reporters they should address those issues with him and his staff. She refused to say whether he should agree to appear voluntarily before congressional committees investigating the pardons. Interestingly, no one asked her whether she would agree to appear voluntarily before those same congressional committees. I DIDN'T HAVE SEX WITH THAT PARDON "I did not have any involvement in the pardons that were granted or not granted," insisted Sen. KnowNothing, seeming to forget her presence at the New-Square/Oval-Office schmooze that secured pardons for the four Hasidic felons who set up a phony school in Brooklyn to swindle the government out of millions intended for the poor. RESURRECTING RUFF KnowNothing noted that her"best memory" was that she never spoke to her brother or to Mr. Cunningham about the pardons. With variations of "I don't have a memory" and "my best memory, and avoiding the more obvious "I don't recall" and "my best recollection," KnowNothing reprised the Ruffian standard used during the clinton years to commit perjury without penalty. I GET LETTERS ...or more precisely, envelopes. During her denials of involvement in any of the pardons, KnowNothing made the curious claim: "People handed me envelopes, I passed them on [and never opened a single one. Honest.]" I AM VICTIM Reprising the role of victim that enabled her to win a senate seat in spite of record-high personal negatives and public failures, the senator peppered her answers about big, bad Hugh (understanding that the subtext was big, bad Bill) with "saddened" and "disappointed" and "heartbroken" and "shocked." UTTER CONTEMPT FOR THE PEOPLE This session today was cut short by a staffer when reporters appeared dissatisfied by Senator KnowNothing's lack of candor. In the end, this press conference full of poses, poll-tested phrases and prevarication was just another display of the clintons' utter contempt for the people. Bill Clinton committed the same error last Sunday in his shameless, lie-filled New York Times Pardongate Apologia. The clintons' fundamental error: They are too arrogant and dim-witted to understand that the demagogic process in this fiberoptic age isn't about counting spun heads; it's about not discounting circumambient brains.
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Yet, it will be Starr who will carry McDougal's death on his conscious the rest of his life. Or, at least, he should.
One does not put their key witness against mafia dons in a place where the mafia controlled "guards" have free access to that witness.
Either Starr (like so many) were naive about the murderous capabilities of the Clintons (he may have been since Starr - unlike Schippers - seems to live in lalaland when it comes to the Clinton Crime family's capabilities to murder those who are gonna "Squeal" on them) or Starr himself was compromised from the get go and put McDougal there on purpose - knowing his silent "friends" would take care of this inconvenient and most damning witness against the Clintons.
I tend to go with option 1. Jim McDougal was murdered to prevent his testimony. Mission accomplished.
Same for Vince Foster, Ron Brown, Barbara Alice Wise, Jerry Parks - I am sure you know the list.
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n Hannity & Colmes last night, Joe Klein undermined the central thesis of his most recent clinton hagiography, "The Natural," that clinton ran "a serious, disciplined, responsible presidency." Klein exposed the absurdity of his own reasoning by admitting that "clinton was weak on terrorism," (a position, BTW, that is not inconsistent with the more enlightened current leftist dogma). The clintons' failure to confront terrorism -- the clintons' failure even to recognize the critical need to confront terrorism -- indeed, the clintons' aiding and abetting of the terrorists -- must necessarily be the defining moment of the clintons' --uh -- presidency, trumping even the systematic deconstructing of our society as a democracy by clinton corruption. . . And all of this, BTW, ultimately renders "sleaze, the sequel" unelectable, clinton "infrastructure" notwithstanding.
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Q ERTY6 DEAD-KIDS-DON'T-MATRICULATE DUMB! the clintons were utter failures and the GOP had better exploit it 4th-Estate Malfeasance (DEATH BY MISREPORT) REALITY CHECK bump! |
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THE OTHER NIXON In this postmodern Age of clinton, we may, from time to time, selectively stomach corruption. But we must never abide ugliness. Never.
I choose the latter. Else tell me why Starr allowed the Whitehouse and FBI to get away with publically claiming that the FBI files had been returned, when they remained in the Whitehouse for YEARS after Starr told us it was illegal for the Whitehouse to have them. And many other aspects of Starrs Filegate investigation were DELIBERATELY flawed. I don't even think he bothered to answer Barr's letter. Starr was bought and paid for from day one. After all, he was the #2 name (after Fiske) on a list of IC's suggested by the Clintons. Do you think for one minute the Clinton's would have suggested someone they couldn't control. Maybe at the end of the list ... but #2? Anyone who believes that should contact me about a bridge I have to sell.
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