Word: pardoners
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President Clinton's pardon of fugitive billionaire Marc Rich ignited the firestorm - but inside the Justice Department, career prosecutors are also burning over the clemency grant for Manhattan lawyer Harvey Weinig, sentenced in 1996 to 11 years in prison for facilitating an extortion-kidnapping scheme and helping launder at least $19 million for the Cali cocaine cartel. In Weinig's case, Clinton didn't bypass the Department of Justice - he defied...
...When Weinig petitioned DOJ for a commuted sentenced last April, U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White of New York - whose office also indicted Rich - objected. Justice pardon attorney Roger Adams agreed, and so did Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder, who sent a formal memorandum to White House counsel Beth Nolan with the department's negative views...
Bill Clinton has portrayed the Marc Rich pardon as a favor to Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, citing the imperative of foreign policy to justify his last-minute decision. Had he checked with his own State Department, however, he would have discovered that diplomatic experts rejected a similar plea five years...
...unsigned, seven-page memo was turned over by Rich's lawyers to the House committee investigating Clinton's controversial pardon on his last day in office. Rich sources said it was written by someone working on the fugitive's legal fight. It suggests the President may have found little sympathy for a pardon at the State Department if he had inquired. Last week, Clinton's national security adviser, Sandy Berger, said he also was not consulted, joining federal prosecutors in the Rich case who have complained they were shut out of the decision. It should be noted that...
...pardon petition to the White House, Rich submitted many supportive letters from Israeli politicians, cultural figures and even former Mossad intelligence officials - a pitch reinforced by three calls from Barak. But the earlier Israeli offensive was not publicly known until the release of the 1997 memo...