2. Benghazi: Four Americans killed, an entire system of weak diplomatic security uncloaked, and the credibility of a president and his secretary of state damaged.
4. Hillary’s private emails: Hundreds of national secrets already leaked through private email and the specter of a criminal probe looming large.
5. Whitewater: A large S&L failed and several people went to prison. [see footnote]
6. Travelgate: The firing of the career travel office was the very first crony capitalism scandal of the Clinton era.
7. Humagate: An aide’s sweetheart job arrangement.
8. Pardongate: The first time donations were ever connected as possible motives for presidential pardons.
9. Foundation favors: Revealing evidence that the Clinton Foundation was a pay-to-play back door to the State Department, and an open checkbook for foreigners to curry favor.
10. Mysterious files: The disappearance and re-discovery of Hillary’s Rose Law Firm records.
11. Filegate: The Clinton use of FBI files to dig for dirt on their enemies.
12. Hubble trouble: The resignation and imprisonment of Hillary law partner Web Hubbell.
13. The Waco tragedy: One of the most lethal exercises of police power in American history.
14. The Clinton’s Swedish slush fund: $26 million collected overseas with little accountability and lots of questions about whether contributors got a pass on Iran sanctions.
15. Troopergate: From the good old days, did Arkansas state troopers facilitate Bill Clinton’s philandering?
16. Gennifer Flowers: The tale that catapulted a supermarket tabloid into the big time.
17. Bill’s Golden Tongue: His and her speech fees shocked the American public.
18. Boeing Bucks: Boeing contributed big-time to Bill; Hillary helped the company obtain a profitable Russian contract.
19. Larry Lawrence: How did a fat cat donor get buried in Arlington National Cemetery without war experience?
20. The cattle futures: Hillary as commodity trader extraordinaire.
21. Chinagate: Nuclear secrets go to China on her husband’s watch.
Footnote:
A March 1992
New York Times article published during the
U.S. presidential campaign reported that the Clintons—then governor and first lady of
Arkansas—had invested and lost money in the Whitewater Development Corporation. The article stimulated the interest of
L. Jean Lewis, a
Resolution Trust Corporation investigator who was looking into the failure of
Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan, owned by McDougal. She looked for connections between the savings and loan company and the Clintons, and on September 2, 1992, she submitted a criminal referral to the FBI naming Bill and Hillary Clinton as witnesses in the Madison Guaranty case. Little Rock
U.S. Attorney Charles A. Banks and the FBI determined that the referral lacked merit, but she continued to pursue it. From 1992 to 1994, Lewis issued several additional referrals against the Clintons and repeatedly called the U.S. Attorney's Office in Little Rock and the
Justice Department regarding the case. Her referrals eventually became public knowledge, and she testified before the
Senate Whitewater Committee in 1994.
David Hale, the source of criminal allegations against the Clintons, claimed in November 1993 that as governor of Arkansas, Clinton had pressured him into providing an illegal $300,000 loan to
Susan McDougal, the Clintons' partner in the Whitewater land deal. Clinton supporters regarded Hale's allegations as questionable, as Hale had not mentioned Clinton in reference to this loan during the original FBI investigation of Madison Guaranty in 1989; only after coming under indictment in 1993 did Hale make allegations against the Clintons. A
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation did result in convictions against the McDougals for their role in the Whitewater project; and Bill Clinton's successor as governor,
Jim Guy Tucker, was convicted of fraud and sentenced to four years of probation for his role in the matter. Susan McDougal later served 18 months in prison for contempt of court for
refusing to answer questions relating to Whitewater. The Clintons themselves were never prosecuted, after three separate inquiries found insufficient evidence linking them with the criminal conduct of others related to the land deal, and McDougal was
granted a pardon by President Clinton before he left office.
Whitewater Convictions:
Ultimately the Clintons were never charged, but 15 other persons were convicted of more than 40 crimes, including Bill Clinton's successor as Governor, who was removed from office.
- Jim Guy Tucker: Governor of Arkansas at the time, removed from office (fraud, 3 counts)
- John Haley: attorney for Jim Guy Tucker (tax evasion)
- William J. Marks, Sr.: Jim Guy Tucker's business partner (conspiracy)
- Stephen Smith: former Governor Clinton aide (conspiracy to misapply funds). Bill Clinton pardoned.
- 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). Bill Clinton pardoned.
- David Hale: banker, self-proclaimed 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 W. Palmer: Madison appraiser (conspiracy). Bill Clinton pardoned.
- John Latham: Madison Bank CEO (bank fraud)
- Eugene Fitzhugh: Whitewater defendant (multiple bribery)
- Charles Matthews: Whitewater defendant (bribery)
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