Clinton Regrets Making Rich Pardon

AP ^ | 31 March, 2002 | Jesse J. Holland

[Roy Tucker]

WASHINGTON - Former President Clinton (news - web sites) says he regrets the last-minute pardon he gave to fugitive financier Marc Rich (news - web sites) because it has tarnished his reputation.

Asked if he would do it again, "probably not, just for the politics," he said in an interview with Newsweek magazine. "It was terrible politics. It wasn't worth the damage to my reputation. But that doesn't mean the attacks were true."

A list of 177 pardons and clemencies was released by the Clinton White House just hours before Clinton left office and George W. Bush was sworn in on Jan. 20, 2001.

Since then, they have been investigated by federal prosecutors and Congress. That scrutiny, Clinton said, made him "just angry that after I worked so hard and after all that money had been spent proving that I never did anything wrong for money, that I'd get mugged one more time on the way out the door."

Rich was indicted in 1983 on federal charges accusing him of evading more than $48 million in income taxes and illegally buying oil from Iran during the 1979 hostage crisis. He left the United States before the indictment and now lives in Switzerland.

Rich is the ex-husband of Denise Rich, a financial contributor to the Democratic Party and to Clinton's presidential library.

The House Government Reform Committee (news - web sites), headed by a longtime Clinton foe, Rep. Dan Burton (news, bio, voting record), R-Ind., said in a report last month that it thinks Rich's pardon "raised substantial questions of direct corruption, primarily whether pardons were issued in exchange for political and other financial contributions."

Federal investigators in New York are investigating whether any of Clinton's last-minute pardons were offered in exchange for contributions.

Clinton denied all wrongdoing in regard to the Rich pardon. "The fact that his ex-wife ... was for it and had contributed to my library had nothing to do with it," according to the Newsweek interview released Sunday.

"People are free to say that they disagreed with this or that part of the decisions I made, but there wasn't a shred of evidence that it had been done for any improper motive," Clinton said. "In fact, there is a lot of evidence to the contrary. I thought there was a little bit of a double standard in the way I was treated, to put it mildly. And I still do."

Clinton did say he was a little more open to Rich's claim of prosecutorial abuse because of all the investigations he endured as president.

"I don't know Marc Rich and wouldn't know him if he walked in the door there," Clinton said. But, he added, "I was very sensitive to prosecutorial abuse because I had seen it. ... I don't think that's all bad for a president to be sensitive to any kind of abuse of power."

On a lighter note, Clinton said he is getting a chocolate Labrador puppy, a descendent of his late dog, Buddy.

Buddy, a frisky retriever often seen at Clinton's side as he jogged, was killed in January by a car outside the former president's home in Chappaqua, N.Y.

[Roy Tucker]

This guy is beyond the pale. He doesn't regret the Rich decision because the guy was a tax-evading, traitorous low-life but becaue it tarnished Bill's reputation with the last vestige of Democrats who supported him through eight years of the most thoroughly corrupt administration in history.

[week 71]

Asked if he would do it again, "probably not, just for the politics,"

This how this pathetic president negotiates through life. No principal or core beliefs...simply politics.

[wienerdog.com]

Amazing.

For what it's worth, I found out a lot more information about Al Gore's past here.

[Scutter]

Either it wasn't the right thing to do to begin with, or (as he claims) it was the right thing to do. Now he is basically saying it was the right thing to do, but he wouldn't do it again because it makes him look bad.

Either way, you see Clinton's true nature. A self-serving, lying piece of human debris.

[TheRedSoxWinThePennant]

Clinton Regrets Making Rich Pardon

and slowly but surely america is regretting ever puting you in the white house in the first place

[Semi Civil Servant]

That scrutiny, Clinton said, made him "just angry that after I worked so hard and after all that money had been spent proving that I never did anything wrong for money, that I'd get mugged one more time on the way out the door."

I can't decide if Criminal X42 is a particularly piggish 9 year old brat, the result of a deal with the devil, a psychopath, or a dirty old man. I guess he's a blend of all four.

[xm177e2]

Asked if he would do it again, "probably not, just for the politics," he said in an interview with Newsweek magazine. "It was terrible politics. It wasn't worth the damage to my reputation. But that doesn't mean the attacks were true."

How spineless can you get? Principle means nothing to that guy.

[Roy Tucker]

The man no longer realizes what he reveals when he speaks. Even his formerly ardent admirers must see through this.

[cardinal4]

I can't decide if Criminal X42 is a particularly piggish 9 year old brat, the result of a deal with the devil, a psychopath, or a dirty old man. I guess he's a blend of all four.

Im more inclined to think psychopath.

[Roy Tucker]

He is a sociopath. He needs new people to work his nefarious behavior. Many of the people who were willing repeat victims or refused to acknowledge his character until the pardons are no longer around to be foisted.

[RightWinger]

after all that money had been spent proving that I never did anything wrong

This guy doesn't have a clue.
For somebody who is supposed to be so smart . . . he sure is stupid!

[Dog Gone]

He actually thinks this interview helps justify the pardon and himself.

Totally delusional.

[Sgt_Schultze]

...On a lighter note, Clinton said he is getting a chocolate Labrador puppy, a descendent of his late dog, Buddy

Ha! I wonder if Buddy sperm donation came from a stained blue pantleg.

[vannrox]

"...Former President Clinton says he regrets the last-minute pardon he gave to fugitive financier Marc Rich because it has tarnished his reputation..."

BAHAHHHHHAHAHHHHAAAAAA

[denydenydeny]

"The fact that his ex-wife ... was for it and had contributed to my library had nothing to do with it"

What a lying pig.

[cmotormac44]

'how spineless can you get'----he is not the only one, you meet them every day, everywhere---he just was a president who never should have been but that is the american publics fault---

[drstevej]

tarnished his reputation

Crap doesn't tarnish.

[Pharmboy]

The only things he regrets about this sorry tale is that he 1) didn't ask for more money and 2) didn't get more hummers from Denise.

[Arthur McGowan]

Asked if he would do it again, "probably not, just for the politics," he said in an interview with Newsweek magazine. "It was terrible politics. It wasn't worth the damage to my reputation. But that doesn't mean the attacks were true."

In other words, "It was the right thing to do, but I wouldn't do it again because it damaged my reputation."

Even when lying and trying to cover his tracks, Clinton reveals his utter lack of morals.