Hillary Rodham Clinton
From Corruptapedia
| Hillary R. Clinton | |
 | |
| Assumed Office January 3, 2001 | |
| State | New York |
| Party | Democrat |
| Preceded By | Daniel Patrick Moynihan |
| Succeeded By | Incumbent (2013) |
| Born | October 26, 1947 Chicago, Illinois |
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is a junior Senator from New York. She was the first lady to President William (Bill) Jefferson Clinton. When she was elected to the Senate by New York she became the first First lady of the United States to be a candidate for elected office.
Committee Assignments
- Committee on Armed Services
- Subcommittee Assignments: Airland | Emerging Threats and Capabilities | Readiness and Management Support
- Committee on Environment and Public Works
- Subcommittee Assignments: Clean Air, Wetlands, Private Property, and Nuclear Safety | Fisheries, Wildlife, and Water | Superfund, Waste Control, and Risk Assessment
- Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
- Subcommittee Assignments: Aging | Children and Families
- Special Committee on Aging
Contents |
[edit] Litigation
[edit] Whitewater
During 1992 Bill Clinton's first bid for the presidency, reporters from the New York Times asked him about the failure of the Whitewater development, which Bill Clinton and Jim McDougal originally purchased in 1978. After they published an article in March that was critical of the real estate dealings, Vince Foster, White House deputy counsel, who had been a former law partner of Hillary Clinton at the Rose Law Firm in Arkansas, completed and submitted several years' worth of delinquent tax returns for the project.
On July 20, 1993, at Fort Marcy Park in Virginia, Vince Foster was found dead from a bullet wound. His death was ruled a suicide by multiple investigations by the United States Park Police, the United States Congress, and Independent Counsels Robert B. Fiske and Kenneth Starr. After Foster's death, chief White House counsel Bernard Nussbaum removed documents concerning the Whitewater Development Corporation from Foster's office and gave them to Margaret Williams, who placed them in a safe in the White House for five days before being turned over to their personal lawyer.
Because of the allegations made in the New York Times article, the Justice Department opened an investigation into the failed Whitewater deal. At Clinton's request, Attorney General Janet Reno appointed a special prosecutor Robert B. Fiske in 1994 to investigate the legality of the Whitewater transactions. Two allegations surfaced: 1) that Clinton had exerted pressure on an Arkansas businessman to make a loan that would benefit him and the owners of Madison Guaranty; and 2) that an Arkansas bank had concealed transactions involving Clinton's gubernatorial campaign in 1990.
In May of '94, Independent Counsel Robert Fiske issued a grand jury subpoena to President and Hillary Clinton for all documents relating to Madison Guaranty, with a deadline of 30 days. They weren't turned over for eighteen months.
In August 1994, Kenneth Starr was appointed by a three-judge panel to continue the Whitewater investigation, replacing Robert B. Fiske, who had been specially appointed by the Attorney General prior to the re-enactment of the Independent Counsel law. Fiske was replaced due to an apparent conflict of interest, having been chosen and appointed by Janet Reno, Clinton's Attorney General. In February 1997, Starr announced he would leave the investigation to pursue a position at Pepperdine University's law school. However, he "flip flopped" in the face of "intense criticism."
In December 1994, one week after Webb Hubbell pleaded guilty to mail fraud and tax evasion, Associate White House Counsel Jane Sherburne creates a "Task List" which includes a reference to monitoring Hubbell's cooperation with Starr. Hubbell is later recorded in prison saying "I need to roll over one more time" regarding the Rose Law firm lawsuit. In his next court appearance, he pleads the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination.
The Clintons were cleared of all wrongdoing in two reports prepared by the San Francisco law firm of Pillsbury Madison and Sutro for the Resolution Trust Corporation, which was overseeing the liquidation of Madison Guaranty.
On January 26, 1996, Hillary Clinton testified before a grand jury concerning her investments in Whitewater. She noted they "never borrowed any money from the bank, nor had they caused anyone to borrow money on their behalf." Over the course of the investigation, fifteen individuals — including Clinton friends Jim McDougal and Susan McDougal, White House counsel Webster Hubbell and Arkansas Governor Jim Guy Tucker — were convicted of federal charges unrelated to Whitewater. Clinton pardoned four of them in the final hours of his presidency (see list of people pardoned by Bill Clinton).
There was much acrimony from critics of the Clintons after release of the Starr report on the Whitewater matter. The apparent suicide of White House aide Vincent Foster has been the source of many conspiracy theories. Christopher Ruddy, a reporter for Clinton critic Richard Scaife's Pittsburgh Tribune-Review helped fuel much of this speculation with claims that Starr had not pursued this line of inquiry far enough. [1]
Ultimately the Clintons were never charged, but 14 other persons were convicted of more than 40 crimes, including a sitting Governor who was forced to resign.
* Jim Guy Tucker: former Governor of Arkansas, forced to resign (fraud, 3 counts) * John Haley: attorney for Jim Guy Tucker (tax fraud) * William J. Marks Sr.: Jim Guy Tucker business partner (conspiracy) * Stephen Smith: former Governor Clinton aide (conspiracy to misapply funds) * Webster Hubbell: Clinton political supporter; Rose Law Firm partner (embezzlement, fraud) * Jim McDougal: banker, Clinton political supporter: (18 felonies, varied) * Susan McDougal: Clinton political supporter (multiple fraud, embezzlement, contempt) * David Hale: banker, Clinton political supporter: (conspiracy, fraud) * Neal Ainley: Perry County Bank president (embezzled bank funds for Clinton campaign) * Chris Wade: Whitewater real estate broker (multiple loan fraud) Bill Clinton pardoned. * Larry Kuca: Madison real estate agent (multiple loan fraud) * Robert Palmer: Madison appraiser (conspiracy) * John Latham: Madison Bank CEO (bank fraud) * Eugene Fitzhugh: Whitewater defendant (multiple bribery) * Charles Matthews (Whitewater): Whitewater defendant (bribery)
[edit] Tax Returns
In March 1992, during his presidential campaign, the Clintons acknowledged that on their 1984 and 1985 tax returns, they had claimed improper tax deductions for interest payments made by the Whitewater Development Company and not them personally. Due to the age of mistake, the Clintons were not obligated to make good the error, but Bill Clinton announced that they would.
Almost two years then passed before, on December 28, 1993, the Clintons did make this reimbursement payment, for $4,900, to the Internal Revenue Service. This was done just before Justice Department investigators started seeking the Clintons' Whitewater files. The payment was made without filing an amended return (possibly because the three-year period for amended return filing had passed), but did include full interest on the amount in error, including the additional two-year delay. The Whitewater files in question, publically released in August 1995, cast some doubt on the Clintons' assertions in the matter, as they showed that the couple were aware that the interest payments in question were by the Whitewater corporation and not them personally. [2]
[edit] Ray Report
Kenneth Starr's successor, Robert Ray, released a report in September 2000 that stated "This office determined that the evidence was insufficient to prove to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that either President or Mrs. Clinton knowingly participated in any criminal conduct." Ray nonetheless criticized the White House in a statement regarding the release of the report, saying delays in the production of evidence and "unmeritorious litigation" by the president's lawyers severely impeded the investigation's progress. Ray's report effectively ended the Whitewater investigation, with a total cost to American taxpayers of nearly $60 million.
Throughout the affair, the White House repeated alleged various forms of "privilege" in order to avoid turning over evidence sought by the Office of Independent Counsel. At the same time, Clinton's private lawyer, David Kendall, often claimed that the OIC was engaged in illegal acts or various forms of misconduct. In each case, the OIC went to court and won. These blockade attempts dramatically increased the duration and expense of the investigation, an ironic point considering that one of the major accusations leveled at the OIC was that its investigation was overly long and expensive.[3][4]
[edit] Travelgate
The White House travel office controversy of 1993, often referred to as Travelgate, began on May 19, 1993, when seven longtime employees of the White House Travel Office were fired. A whistleblower's letter, written during the previous administration, triggered an FBI investigation which revealed evidence of financial malfeasance. Billy Dale was later found not guilty at trial. Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr also investigated the firings and could find no evidence of wrongdoing on the Clintons' part.
The White House Travel Office is in the residential section of the White House, and as such, staffers serve strictly at the pleasure of the president. Historically, a change of administrations usually resulted in a brand new Travel Office staff. Despite the established presidential privilege of replacing staffers at will, Congressional Republicans alleged that friends of President Bill Clinton, including his cousin Catherine Cornelius, had engineered the firings in order to get the business for themselves.
The House Government Reform and Oversight Committee eventually launched an investigation into the White House Travel Office firings. After a three-year investigation, the Chair of the committee, Pennsylvania Republican William Clinger, accused the Clinton administration of having obstructed the committee's efforts to investigate the Travelgate scandal. Clinger also challenged the White House access to Billy Dale's FBI records in the Filegate affair. The role of the White House staff in pressuring the FBI to launch an 'investigation' was also heavily criticized.
[edit] False Testimony
Independent counsel Robert Ray's investigation of Travelgate began in the Clinton Administration’s first term when seven members of the Travel Office staff were terminated and replaced by a company run by Clinton friends. The issue for prosecutors was whether anybody in the White House tried to cover up alleged mismanagement of the firings.
In a report, released October 18, 2000, Ray determined Hillary had given false testimony when questioned about the travel office firings, a crime that Ray declined to prosecute. Under oath, Mrs. Clinton flatly denied any role and denied that she had any input, but later a memo surfaced from administration chief David Watkins suggesting Mrs. Clinton wanted the travel staff fired. Watkins said there would be "hell to pay" if swift action was not taken in conformity with the First Lady’s wishes. A friend of Watkins also alleged that Watkins was told to quote, ‘fire the sons of bitches.’
While that claim could not be substantiated, Ray cited eight separate conversations between the First Lady and senior staff and concluded: "Mrs. Clinton’s input into the process was significant, if not the significant factor influencing the pace of events in the Travel Office firings and the ultimate decision to fire the employees.”
In a FoxNews report, George Washington University professor Jonathan Turley said, “It essentially says that she satisfies all of the components of an indictment and is ultimately safe from trial simply by the discretion of the prosecutor. That’s pretty damning.” [5]
[edit] Filegate
The White House personnel file controversy of June 1996, often referred to in the press as Filegate, arose around improper access to FBI security-clearance documents. Craig Livingstone, head of White House security, improperly requested, and received from the FBI, personnel files without asking permission of the subject individuals. Estimates range from 350 to 900 unauthorized file disclosures. The incident caused a firestorm of criticism because many of the files covered White House employees from previous Republican administrations.
In March 2000, Independent Counsel Robert Ray determined that there was no credible evidence of any criminal activity. Ray's report further stated "there was no substantial and credible evidence that any senior White House official, or First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, was involved" in seeking the files.
Craig Livingstone controversy also covers the question of who hired Craig Livingstone. Livingstone's only job that could lead him to be head of White House Security was a local bar bouncer at a Washington, D.C., night club. Yet, his White House Security position is on of the nation's most sensitive. Livingstone had the highest security clearances in the U.S. government. Mrs. Clinton and other White House staff could not explain why Livingstone has hired, nor who had hired him.
Judicial Watch lawsuit alleges that Livingstone, along with Anthony Marceca and William Kennedy, obtained the files and then rifled through them.
Mrs. Clinton claimed she did not know Livingstone – though Livingstone had bragged to associates he was very close to both the president and his wife, and that Mrs. Clinton had personally hired him for the security job.
Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group, engaged in long-running litigation over the white house personnel file controversy.
[edit] Affiliations
[edit] Peter F. Paul
Peter Paul is a lawyer, entrepreneur and former partner of the Spider-man creation. Peter Paul directed a fraud on the Cuban government of $8.75 million by selling agents of Cuban director Fidel Castro nonexistent coffee. The plan apparently also included sinking the ship that was to deliver to nonexistent coffee to hide the fraud from Castro and to defraud the insurer. Unfortunately for Paul, the ship never sunk.
Paul pled guilty to conspiring to defraud the Cuban government. In a raid of his home police found cocaine in his garage. Paul pled guilty to possessing the cocaine. He was paroled after 3 years. His license to practice law was suspended due to his convictions.
In 1983, Paul was caught traveling to Canada under a false identity and he pled guilty to federal charges of making false statements to custom inspectors. This was a violation of his parole and he was sent back to jail.
Upon his release from federal prison Paul become active in politics and the entertainment industry. In 1998 Paul co-founded Stan Lee Media. In February of 2000, in the midst of the internet stock boom Stan Lee Media built a 165 person studio and the company's market capitalization grew to over $370 million. However, at the end of the year Stan Lee Media ran out of money.
Paul later claims in a civil fraud and coercion suit against Bill and Hillary Clinton[6] that the company failed because of the intervention of the Clintons, who he claims persuaded a large investor to end further support with the company.
[edit] Connections to Hillary Clinton's senatorial campaign
Paul was a leading supporter of the Clinton campaign in 2000. He claims he supported Hillary for two reasons, he wanted Bill Clinton to serve on the board of Stan Lee Media and in hopes Paul could receive a presidential pardon for his criminal history.
Paul produced and underwrote the largest fund raising event ever held for a federal candidate days before the 2000 Democratic Convention began. The event featured prominent singers and entertainers as well as raised over $1 million to Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign. Two days after the event the Washington Post publicized Paul's criminal record and suddenly Hillary Clinton denied knowing Paul and vowed to not take contributions from him.
Paul hired Judicial Watch to represent him in a series of civil and criminal lawsuits against the Clintons as well as the FEC who he claims failed to also charge Clinton for his campaign contributions that far exceeded the legal limits.[7]
The Clinton campaign was eventually fined by the FEC for underreporting the event.
[edit] America Coming Together
At least four persons who worked for the now defunct America Coming Together (ACT) fundraising group work directly for the Clinton campaign or hold top positions within consulting firms hired by it. ACT was recently fined $775,000 by the FEC. In addition, the group's former president and longtime Clinton aide, Harold Ickes, has been identified as a volunteer adviser to the Clinton campaign. In the FEC filings, the Hillary campaign listed a debt to Mr Ickes of more than $2,000 for travel-related expenses.
ACT was founded by billionaire George Soros and misued $70 million in "soft money", uncapped donations that aren't supposed to be used to urge election or defeat of a candidate as determined by the FEC.[8]
[edit] Abdul Rehman Jinnah
As reported by the LA Times March 3, 2007:
A Pakistani immigrant who hosted fundraisers in Southern California for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is being sought by the FBI on charges that he funneled illegal contributions to Clinton’s political action committee and Sen. Barbara Boxer’s 2004 reelection campaign. Authorities say Northridge businessman Abdul Rehman Jinnah, 56, fled the country after an indictment accused him of engineering more than $50,000 in illegal donations to the Democratic committees. A business associate charged as a co-conspirator has entered a guilty plea and is scheduled to be sentenced in Los Angeles next week.
The case has transformed Jinnah from a political point man on Pakistani issues, a man often photographed next to foreign dignitaries and U.S. leaders, into a fugitive with his mug shot on the FBI’s “featured fugitives” wanted list. Jinnah’s profile peaked in 2004 and 2005 as he wooed members of Congress to join a caucus advancing Pakistani concerns and brought Clinton to speak to prominent Pakistani Americans, lauding their homeland’s contributions to the war on terrorism and calling relations with Pakistan beneficial to U.S. interests.
[edit] Sandy Berger
Sandy Berger was the National Security Adviser for President Bill Clinton.
In 1997, Berger paid a $23,000 civil penalty to settle a conflict of interest allegation over not selling his stocks for an oil company. Berger claims he forgot and the US Justice Department determined a civil penalty was enough.
In 1999, Berger came under fire of the Chinese nuclear espionage scandal. Berger was informed that the People's Republic of China had stolen designs of a number of US nuclear warheads. Berger was briefed on this in 1996, but did not tell the President until July 1997. Leading Republicans called for Berger's resignation. Bill Clinton rejected these calls and said "The record is that we acted aggressively" and that "Mr. Berger acted appropriately."
On July 19, 2004 it was revealed that the US Justice Department was again investigating Berger for unlawfully stealing classified documents in October 2003, by removing them from the National Archives reading room prior to testifying before the 9/11 Commission. Berger initially claimed the removal of the documents in his pants was accidental. A witness saw Berger stuffing documents into his socks [9]
Berger eventually pled guilty to a charge of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material on April 1, 2005. Critics claim that Berger destroyed primary evidence to hand-written notes President Bill Clinton had written in the margins. The claim is that President Clinton had written "No No No" next to increased anti-terrorism. There is no other public explanation as to why Berger was stuffing the original hard copies of the documents in his pants, when electronic copies are stored in the archives.
Hillary Clinton has requested Sandy Berger join her presidential campaign.[10][11]
[edit] Illegal Campaign Contributions
Unlike her opponents for the upcoming Presidential election Hillary Clinton is publicly accepting donations from major lobbyists.
[edit] Norman Hsu
The Clinton campaign came under fire for accepting illegal contributions from Norman Hsu. Hsu was making bundled campaign contributions to the Clinton campaign in order to donate far more than campaign financing laws allow. It was later discovered that Hsu was a long-time fugitive in connection with a 1992 fraud conviction in which Hsu fled the state. Hsu, originally from Hong Kong, became an entrepreneur in the fashion industry.
Hsu has donated to other Democrats as well as causes such as the Clinton Global Initiative. Democratic Party figures didn't know much about him, but he quickly became known to them as someone who could raise large amounts of money very quickly [12]. He networked for the Democrats and always found ways to be included in high-profile events[13].
By 2007, Hsu's status within the Hillary Clinton Campaign had reached the status of a "HillRaiser" for his "bundled" donations exceeding $100,000 and by his co-hosting a $1 million fundraiser.
The source of Hsu's income remains unclear. Previous allegations include altercations with the San Francisco Triades, including a kidnapping.
Initially Hillary Clinton vowed to return the initial donation in question ($roughly 2,500) when the story broke. However, her campaign said they saw no reason to return other donations from Hsu[14]. When the media and GOP cried foul Hillary conceded to return the other $850,000 in Hsu donations. She is returning the money to the names the money was illegally donated under and has asked for the recipients of the refunds to re-donate the dirty money[15].
Hillary Clinton claims she did not know of Hsu's past. However, the LA Times and other media outlets question the authenticity of those statements. Norman Hsu's name was listed under a commonly used databases used to flag such donors[16].
The Wall Street Journal claims actual Hsu donations actually exceeded $1 million, but Clinton's campaign said they will disclose such details and denied comment [17].
[edit] Ethics Violations
[edit] Departure from White House and Gifts
Upon leaving the White House and before she took her Senate seat, Hillary put word out that she wanted things for their two new homes. She registered at luxury retailers and calls were made by her friends. "Would you please buy this silverware, these gifts, for Mrs. Clinton for her new house?" All of these gifts needed to be in by January 3, they explained, when Senate ethics rules kicked in[18]
She received numerous gifts including more than $50,000 in flatware, a $3,000 television, a $22,000 glass sculpture, and a $38,000 Dale Chihuly basket set. They even received $9,683 from Walter Kaye, who introduced Monica Lewinsky to the White House. In all they received $190,000 in gifts--the bulk of which went to Hillary.
Hillary and Bill also took $360,000 in other gifts that had been donated to the White House. They took more than $173,000 in art objects and books, $69,000 in furniture, $26,000 in golf equipment and $26,000 in clothes that were meant for the White House. All these items ended up in the new Chappaqua Clinton home. The White House curator said the shipments occurred on Hillary's orders, though when the scandal went public Clinton blamed it on clerical error as reported by the Washington Post on their cover story "Clintons Shipped Furniture Year Ago."[19]
If Hillary did order the items removed from the Whitehouse and relocated her private home as the White House aide claims, it could constitute Grand Theft. Soon after the scandal broke, most of the items were quietly returned to the White House.
[edit] Tax Evasion
It is shown that the Clintons pay 7% less in taxes than the average family of their wealth despite not having a large home mortgage to deduct. Money Magazine asked accountants to look at the Clinton returns and the verdict came back: "The Clintons appear to have repeatedly overstated their charitable contributions."
The Clintons have also claimed thousands in write-offs they were not entitled to. The largest example of this is the Whitewater scandal. They took numerous deductions from the Whitewater real estate investment of which they never actually invested their own money. When their personal accountant objected, they brushed him aside. In sworn testimony, Gaines Norton said he told Bill Clinton the deductions were probably illegal. Clinton told him to "back off and leave the issue alone." A Senate committee investigating Whitewater also disclosed that in 1984-1985 the Clintons took thousands in deductions that Hillary admitted she knew they were not entitled to.
- A Senate special committee investigation occurred in 1995-1996 and the Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr investigated this matter from 1994-1999. See Special Committee to Investigate Whitewater Development Corporation, Final Report (June 17, 1996) (S. Rept. 104-280); Congressional Research Service, Independent Counsels Appointed under the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, Costs and Results of Investigations, Report 98-19 (updated June 12, 2003)
