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RODHAM WATCH Did Bill Clinton know of gala's financial fraud? 'Dear, dear friend of the president' admits to knowledge of Hillary fund-raiser scam -------------------------------------- Posted: May 17, 2005 5:00 p.m. Eastern By Ron Strom © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com An associate and friend of Bill Clinton has testified in court he knew about the campaign-finance fraud involving a Hillary Clinton fund-raiser, raising further questions about what the president and then-first lady knew about the scam. David Rosen, a fund-raiser for Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign, is on trial in Los Angeles for allegedly lying about the true cost of a 2000 Hollywood gala...

A mounting number of aides, advisors and fundraisers for New York Sen. Hillary Clinton have faced criminal prosecution in recent months, conjuring up memories of her ethically challenged past just as Democrats begin to focus on the former first lady as their probable 2008 presidential nominee. Though press coverage of the trial of Sen. Clinton's finance director, David Rosen, was sparse last week, the case has brought attention to the prosecutions of at least three more Clinton fundraisers. And that's on top of the plea bargain reached with the Justice Department in March by a senior foreign policy advisor to...

It all sounds horribly familiar. Financial skulduggery, calls for a Senate investigation and the whiff of a sex scandal caught on tape. And all of it whirling around the Clinton name. A court case involving the fundraising activities of Senator Hillary Clinton's former campaign finance chief threatens to put a time-bomb under the former First Lady's presidential ambitions. The case in which David Rosen, 40, is denying three charges of making false statements to the Federal Election Commission has opened the lid on an allegedly murky world of Democratic fundraising, FBI wiretapping and salacious gossip about prostitutes for senior figures...

Both the judge and the prosecutor in the trial of Hillary Clinton's one-time finance director, David Rosen, have insisted that Rosen acted alone - and that Mrs. Clinton had no idea that he was cooking the books to give her 2000 Senate campaign an illegal boost. But at least one of Mrs. Clinton's probable 2008 opponents isn't buying that scenario. "All these federal election laws are a bit complicated, but you still ought to abide by the law," Sen. George Allen told Fox News Radio's Tony Snow on Friday. Asked specifically if it was fair to question whether Mrs. Clinton...

In a stunning development in the criminal trial of David Rosen in Los Angeles, whistleblower Peter Paul has said that he believes Andrew Grossman committed perjury in his testimony. It was Grossman's job to take the campaign info and make the official filings to the FEC. On the stand, Grossman claimed that he never before heard of an event costing a million dollars. Paul says that such is not true. On June 18, 2001, Grossman was served with a civil suit by Paul. Paul gave him details and copies of checks to advise him on the cost of the event....

Sen. Hillary Clinton's (search) former national finance director never knew the total cost of a 2000 Hollywood fundraising gala, his attorney said Thursday in opening statements at his federal trial over whether campaign contributions were illegally concealed. Defense lawyer Paul Sandler said the event's expenses were hidden from David F. Rosen (search) by its organizers, Peter F. Paul and Aaron Tonken. [snip]Federal prosecutors allege Rosen panicked when costs for the celebrity-studded event rose, and they say he lied to the government to conceal it.[snip]The event, held at a 112-acre Brentwood estate, attracted such stars as Cher, Diana Ross, John Travolta,...

Hillary gets a pass, DeLay is assailed Posted: May 14, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern WorldNetDaily.com It's really a good thing that Sen. Hillary Clinton is a Democrat. If she were a Republican, she would have been the topic of dire front-page headlines in the New York Times and at the forefront of "CBS Evening News" broadcasts over the past several days with her name being connected with a shadowy political fund-raising imbroglio. What's that? You say you weren't aware that Mrs. Clinton was at the center of a significant controversy? No surprise there. Like I said, she's a Democrat. So...

Clinton Friend With Legal Woes Testifies on Fund-Raising E-Mail This Printer-Friendly Reprints By LESLIE EATON Published: May 13, 2005 LOS ANGELES, May 12 - Add one to the odd cast of criminal characters haunting the trial of David F. Rosen, who is facing felony charges in federal court here in connection with his fund-raising for the senatorial campaign of Hillary Rodham Clinton. The new cast member is James Levin, a Chicago businessman who on the witness stand on Thursday said that he had become a major Democratic donor and fund-raiser at the behest of former President Bill Clinton, whom he...

A former strip club owner and close personal friend of ex-President Clinton has flipped on Hillary Clinton's finance chairman, David Rosen, testifying for the prosecution against Rosen on Thursday in a surprise move sure to cause consternation in the Clinton camp. Levin spent the night at the White House at least twice in 2000. Now a fence company executive, the government witness contributed $1 million to Clinton's presidential library. "He wasn't particularly political before I became president," Mr. Clinton said in 2000, speaking of Levin to a New Jersey fundraiser. "[But] we got to be very close," he added. The...

A. Howard Matz, U.S. District Judge for the Central District of California at Los Angeles, is presiding over the trial of Hillary Clinton finance chairman David Rosen.  Rosen is facing three counts of causing false statements to be filed with the Federal Election Commission in connection with an August 2000 Hollywood gala fund-raiser that Peter Paul produced for Hillary Clinton's 2000 Senate campaign.  The government says Mr. Rosen reported that the event cost at most about $400,000.  Prosecutors contend the real cost was $1.1 million. Judge Matz began the legal process by blasting Senator Hillary Clinton's key accuser, Peter...

LOS ANGELES, May 11 -- David F. Rosen deliberately and illegally underreported the costs of a star-studded Hollywood fundraiser for Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2000 Senate campaign, federal prosecutors said Wednesday at Rosen's trial here. Rosen, who was Clinton's finance director at the time, intentionally underreported the cost of the August 2000 gala by two-thirds, prosecutor Peter R. Zeidenberg told jurors in his opening statement. Rosen did so, the prosecutor said, because as the price of the gala began to spiral out of control, "he knew that there was going to be outrage in the campaign and at headquarters." Rosen, 40,...

LOS ANGELES, May 11 - Before Hillary Rodham Clinton's former chief fund-raiser went on trial here for underreporting donations to her Senate campaign, political speculation has revolved around what if anything Mrs. Clinton knew about his alleged transgressions, as well as what if anything the trial would do to her presidential aspirations (assuming she has them). A federal prosecutor tried to answer at least one of those questions in his opening statement on Wednesday in Federal District Court, when he told the jury, "You will hear no evidence that Hillary Clinton was involved in any way, shape or form." Indeed,...

In his opening statement in the trial of Hillary Clinton's finance director David Rosen, Justice Department prosecutor Peter Zeidenberg seemed to spend as much time insisting that Mrs. Clinton was an innocent victim as he did laying out his case against her underling. "You will hear no evidence that Hillary Clinton was involved [in Rosen's crimes] in any way, shape or form," Zeidenberg told a U.S. District Court Judge A. Howard Matz on Wednesday. "In fact, it's just the opposite," the prosecutor insisted, in quotes picked up by the Associated Press. "The evidence will show that David Rosen was trying...

Hillary's former operative is now on trial in L.A. for cooking her fundraiser books. It all goes back to the costs of one August 2000 Hollywood salute to both Clintons. .......Jimmy Smits thanked them for the Latinos, Alfre Woodard praised them for the blacks, John Travolta worshipped them for the Hollywoodites, Melissa Etheridge adored them for the gays, Mary Steenburgen and Ted Danson greased them for mankind with: "We're so proud of you we can barely bear it." The concert alone was $1,000 per person. It was 2,000 people. To stay for supper with eaters like Bill, Hill and Chel...

Hillary Rodham Clinton's former chief fund-raiser flew into a panic as costs for a star-studded Hollywood gala spiraled out of control — with coddled celebs making outrageous demands...... Former Clinton finance chief David Rosen was authorizing checks so quickly that he feared he'd be fired over the Aug. 12, 2000, extravaganza...... ......Cher, Melissa Etheridge, Toni Braxton, Diana Ross and Michael Bolton agreed to perform for free, but that didn't come cheap...... Several wanted private jets — including Cher, who specified the exact model. Others were content with first-class plane tickets, but wanted their entourages, including hairdressers and makeup artists. It...

LOS ANGELES - As the trial of the top fund-raiser on Senator Clinton's 2000 campaign, David Rosen, opened in federal court here yesterday, a prosecutor accused Mr. Rosen of "deliberately lying" about fund-raising costs to maximize the campaign's financial flexibility in the final weeks before the election. Mr. Rosen, 40, is facing three felony counts of causing the filing of false campaign finance reports in connection with a celebrity-laden gala fund-raising concert held in Los Angeles on August 12, 2000. He has pleaded not guilty. In his opening statement, prosecutor Peter Zeidenberg said the $1,000-a-ticket concert came at a critical...

LOS ANGELES (AP) A former aide to Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign panicked when costs for a star-studded Hollywood fundraiser soared past $1 million, then lied to the government to conceal it, prosecutors said. It was David Rosen's job to raise money for Clinton's 2000 election campaign and to keep track of how much was spent, prosecutor Peter Zeidenberg said in opening statements Wednesday.But ``you will hear no evidence that Hillary Clinton was involved in any way shape or form,'' Zeidenberg told jurors. ``In fact, it's just the opposite. The evidence will show that David Rosen was trying to keep this...

According to a new poll by the Democrat National Committee (DNC), the trial of Sen. Hillary Clinton's former campaign finance director, David Rosen, is "insignificant and uninteresting to 97 percent of all Americans." The DNC-New York Times survey consisted of one question with two possible answers. The poll showed that among the two percent of Americans who had seen news coverage of the case, 97 percent chose: "It's a yawner -- nothing to see here folks." The other three percent selected the alternative choice: "I'm a rabid right-winger so blinded by my hatred of the Clintons that I can't reasonably...

Ex-president Bill Clinton might be called to testify at the trial of his wife's one-time finance director, David Rosen, Rosen's lawyer said Wednesday. Judge A. Howard Matz announced on Tuesday that Sen. Hillary Clinton would not be called to testify in the case, despite allegations by two key witnesses that she was complicit in Rosen's crimes. But Rosen's lawyer, Paul Mark Sandler, asked Judge Matz not to announce that Mr. Clinton wouldn't be called. In a brief exchange Wednesday morning, Sandler asked the judge not to tell the jury that Bill Clinton would not testify, the New York Times said....

LOS ANGELES, May 11 - Before Hillary Rodham Clinton's former chief fund-raiser went on trial here for underreporting donations to her Senate campaign, political speculation has revolved around what if anything Mrs. Clinton knew about his alleged transgressions, as well as what if anything the trial would do to her presidential aspirations (assuming she has them). A federal prosecutor tried to answer at least one of those questions in his opening statement on Wednesday in Federal District Court, when he told the jury, "You will hear no evidence that Hillary Clinton was involved in any way, shape or form." Indeed,...