Word: pardons
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...this ninth year of the Clinton Administration, Clinton continues to soil Gore's reputation. Last Thursday it was Gore's allies who bore the brunt of the criticism for Clinton's eleventh-hour pardon of financier Marc Rich at hearings chaired, just for old times' sake, by Representative Dan Burton, of Who Murdered Vince Foster? fame. Clinton, with his eyes wide open, had his reasons for pardoning Rich--like the near half a million Denise Rich gave to his library--but the hot lights were trained on Jack Quinn--closer to Gore than to Clinton--and former Deputy Attorney General...
...calls, letters and e-mails in the frantic effort to secure a presidential pardon for rogue financier Marc Rich, the oddest may have come on Jan. 10. That day, a Democratic socialite and fund raiser named Beth Dozoretz was on a ski trip in Aspen, Colo., when she got a call from the Leader of the Free World. Bill Clinton said he was impressed with the argument for forgiving tax-evasion and fraud charges against the fugitive tycoon, and wanted to grant the pardon...
Those prayers were answered 10 days later, when Clinton pardoned Rich. The behind-the-scenes campaign to win clemency for the nation's most controversial fugitive came to light last week with the release of hundreds of e-mails and other documents at a congressional hearing into the Rich pardon--a scandal that threatens to extend the Clinton era well into George W. Bush's first year. The documents revealed that Rich strategists debated whether to enlist Hillary Clinton in the effort and whether to tap Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel to serve as a "moral authority" in favor of forgiveness...
Beth Dozoretz's involvement in a pardon discussion was not in itself remarkable. What investigators want to know is whether her fund-raising work for the Clinton presidential library had any connection to the pardon. Sources tell TIME that Dozoretz raised $450,000 from Denise Rich for the library. Its donor list is not public, and though Rich is not thought to be among the biggest givers, sources say her first gift of $250,000 was a significant early step in the fund-raising process...
Clinton has publicly denied being influenced by Denise Rich and has insisted to friends that if anyone helped nudge the pardon, it was former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who called repeatedly to press Rich's case. Sources tell TIME Barak's influence could also be seen in the talks held at least as late as the second week of January between White House staff and lawyers for another pardon applicant, Jonathan Pollard, the convicted spy for Israel. While not dismissing Barak's influence, House investigators are focusing on the more familiar nexus of money and politics. According...