Hillary Clinton's past assures a GOP win in '08
Harry Dope
By FRANCIS X. CLINES
Published: January 27, 1996
Hillary Rodham Clinton testified for more than four hours today before a
Federal grand jury investigating whether there has been obstruction of
justice at the White House in the inquiry into the First Lady's former
Arkansas law firm.
With a nervous but determined smile, Mrs. Clinton emerged from the extensive
grand jury session and declared, "I tried to be as helpful as I could in
their investigation efforts."
It's been a long day," she said after enduring the extraordinary event of
the President's wife being summoned to defend her veracity in the convoluted
issue, known broadly as Whitewater, that has been intensifying in the
opening weeks of a Presidential election year.
"I was glad to have the opportunity to tell the grand jury what I have been
telling all of you," she told a throng of reporters who had waited into the
evening darkness for her to emerge from the Federal courthouse. "I do not
know how the billing records came to be found where they were found, but I
am pleased that they were found because they confirm what I have been
saying," she declared. She also confirmed that much of the questioning
concerned the copies of long-sought billing records from her days at the
Rose Law Firm in Little Rock, Ark., that mysteriously turned up three weeks
ago.
Whitewater investigators had conducted fruitless subpoena searches for more
than two years for the records, which detailed some of Mrs. Clinton's legal
work in Whitewater-related matters at the Rose firm.
But this month, they were suddenly turned over to the prosecutors by a White
House aide, Carolyn Huber. Mrs. Huber said she had found them on a table in
a room in the White House living quarters last August and put them in a box,
then had realized this month that they were the records that had been
subpoenaed. The grand jury is investigating whether someone had tried to
hide the records to obstruct the investigation.
Their discovery was soon followed by the subpoenaing of Mrs. Clinton by
Kenneth W. Starr, the independent counsel in charge of the Whitewater
investigation, which has already produced a string of Arkansas indictments
and guilty pleas.
Three times previously, Mrs. Clinton had responded in writing and under oath
to independent counsels' questions, but in the far more protective
surroundings of the White House, with her lawyers at hand. Today, the grand
jury scene was considerably different, with Mrs. Clinton alone in directly
answering questions.
With her grand jury testimony kept secret under seal and her lawyer kept
outside the third-floor jury room but available for consultation, Mrs.
Clinton was very much on her own. Outside the building, the national press
corps crowded in waiting, recording her arrival and departure in every
detail with live television coverage provided repeatedly through the day.
The courthouse was ringed with security agents for the appearance of Mrs.
Clinton, who had worked as a lawyer more than a decade ago in some of the
tangle of real estate, banking and legal affairs being investigated in the
Whitewater inquiry.
"I, like everyone else, would like to know the answer about how those
documents showed up after all these years," she told reporters, insisting
that they bore out her contention that she was not deeply involved in
Whitewater dealings. She has said that she did only minimal work for the
savings and loan association involved in the Whitewater venture and that
there was nothing improver in her communications with savings and loan
regulators who had been appointed by her husband.
Republicans on the separate Senate committee inquiry into Whitewater insist
that she was a leading player and say they suspect that the billing records
were secretly removed by her aides from the office of Vincent W. Foster Jr.,
the deputy White House counsel and close aide to the Clintons after he
committed suicide in 1993.
This was the first time in history that a First Lady had been subpoeanaed
before a grand jury and required to testify under oath. While Mrs. Clinton
has repeatedly contended that this is a politicized inquiry, she took care
to use the main entrance of the court house and to pause with a smile for
pictures, emphasizing an air of cooperation and confidence that the inquiry
would end favorably.
In general, Whitewater relates to two areas of inquiry. One is the Clintons'
business dealings in the 1980's as the First Family of Arkansas; the other
concerns subsequent conduct in the White House as official inquiries pressed
the Clintons for Whitewater documents and details.
In her brief comments, Mrs. Clinton reiterated the White House position that
neither she nor the President had any knowledge of how the documents came to
be in the West Wing residence nor of who put them there. The records include
some 60 hours of her legal services across 18 months in the 1980's in a
variety of matters related to Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan of Little
Rock.
The Madison owner, James B. McDougal, was a business partner of the Clintons
in the Whitewater land investment deal in the Ozarks. Madison failed in
1989, in the midst of the nationwide savings and loan scandal, at a cost to
taxpayers of $60 million.
In the Whitewater investigation, nine officials and business executives,
including some political associates of the Clintons, have pleaded guilty to
a variety of charges. Three others, including Mr. McDougal and Gov. Jim Guy
Tucker of Arkansas, are awaiting trial.
Onlookers lingered beyond the courthouse with reminders of the political
backdrop to the Whitewater issue. One sign advised, "Come Clean." Other
partisans paraphrased one of the slogans of President Clinton's election
campaign in a sign that read, "It's ethics, Stupid!" But as she emerged,
still others cheered her and held a sign that read, "We love you, Hillary."
For all the masked windows and secrecy of the grand jury room, one man was
noted carrying a copy of the First Lady's new book near the room during a
recess. Asked whether the book was autographed, the man smiled and said,
"Yes," then entered the grand jury room.
A White House official said later that the man was a member of the grand
jury who had approached Mrs. Clinton during a break and had asked her to
sign the book. Mr. Starr was present and indicated that it was all right,
and Mrs. Clinton did so.
Mrs. Clinton said that in her testimony, "there were other matters
discussed, but most of it concerned the billing records." Under the guidance
of a skilled prosecutor, grand juries can have considerable leeway in asking
questions.
The First Lady stepped up to the microphones looking somewhat weary. She
smilingly admitted, in response to a question, that she would have preferred
today to have been in "oh, about a million other places, indeed." Mrs.
Clinton looked grateful to be heading home to the White House.
--
Eight years before 9/11, on Feb. 26, 1993, Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida
terrorist network declared war against the United States with a deadly
attack on the World Trade Center. Al-Qaida continued to wage war on the U.S.
throughout the Clinton administration, attacking Khobar Towers in 1996, two
U.S. embassies in East Africa in 1998, and the U.S.S. Cole in 2000.
Amanda Williams
news:468ba3db$0$20557$4c36...@roadrunner.com:
> Hillary Clinton Tells Grand Jury She Cannot Account for Records
>
> By FRANCIS X. CLINES
> Published: January 27, 1996
> Hillary Rodham Clinton testified for more than four hours today before
> a Federal grand jury investigating whether there has been obstruction
> of justice at the White House in the inquiry into the First Lady's
> former Arkansas law firm.
>
rotfl....
1996???
In spite of that little repug pervert Starr pissing away $42M of taxpayers
money, no evidence of ANY wrongdoing was discovered.
btw, that's Madame President Clinton to a dribbling little fuckwit like you
EMU...
<snicker>
Gonzo Funeral Watch: 00 days 00 hours 00 minutes and counting.
--
AW
<small but dangerous>
Jim Alder
$4c36...@roadrunner.com:
> Hillary Clinton Tells Grand Jury She Cannot Account for Records
>
> Republicans on the separate Senate committee inquiry into Whitewater insist
> that she was a leading player and say they suspect that the billing records
> were secretly removed by her aides from the office of Vincent W. Foster Jr.,
> the deputy White House counsel and close aide to the Clintons after he
> committed suicide in 1993.
In an interesting bit of irony that's never really been pointed out, let
alone explored by the media, Hillary claimed that her fingerprints found on
the records were from years ago. Meanwhile, in the investigation of Vinc
Foster's death, the absence of fingerprints on the gun that killed him
(supposedly) was explained as them having 'evaporated' in the hot sun in a
day.
> In the Whitewater investigation, nine officials and business executives,
> including some political associates of the Clintons, have pleaded guilty to
> a variety of charges. Three others, including Mr. McDougal and Gov. Jim Guy
> Tucker of Arkansas, are awaiting trial.
The first died in prison. The latter received a lenient sentence of four
years' probation and house detention in part because of his poor health.
> For all the masked windows and secrecy of the grand jury room, one man was
> noted carrying a copy of the First Lady's new book near the room during a
> recess. Asked whether the book was autographed, the man smiled and said,
> "Yes," then entered the grand jury room.
>
> A White House official said later that the man was a member of the grand
> jury who had approached Mrs. Clinton during a break and had asked her to
> sign the book. Mr. Starr was present and indicated that it was all right,
> and Mrs. Clinton did so.
So much for an impartial Grand Jury.
> Mrs. Clinton said that in her testimony, "there were other matters
> discussed, but most of it concerned the billing records." Under the guidance
> of a skilled prosecutor, grand juries can have considerable leeway in asking
> questions.
"So what's it really like being married to Bill? [sigh...]"
--
President Bush was so buoyed by the warm reception he was given in Albania
that he immediately gave all 3 million Albanians American citizenship,
provided they learn Spanish. - Ann Coulter