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 oger Clinton,
Bill Clinton's recently pardoned younger half-brother, was charged
yesterday with two misdemeanor
counts for drunken driving and disturbing the peace. Apparently
Roger threatened to assault a nightclub doorman for refusing to
let him back inside the establishment. Still, Roger appears to be
the smartest of the Clinton clan.
Roger's older half-brother, impeached ex-President Bill Clinton,
spent his last hours in office granting pardons to all kinds of
traitors and misfits. By now most of us are familiar with Marc Rich,
the fugitive tax-cheat who profited from trading with Iran while
that country was holding American hostages. Rich fled to Switzerland
and renounced his U.S. citizenship. Clinton says he pardoned Rich
because, well, it seemed like the right thing to do. Never mind
the $1.3 million Denise Rich, Marc's ex-wife, gave to the 1996 Clinton-Gore
campaign and the Democratic National Committee; or the $450,000
Denise gave to the Clinton library; or the over $100,000 she gave
to Hillary's campaign; or the thousands of dollars in gifts she
gave to both Clintons. That's all just a coincidence. And besides,
as the pundits and journalists keep reminding us, proving a quid
pro quo (i.e., buying a pardon in exchange for something of value)
must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, and that's very difficult.
Then there's ex-convict Susan McDougal, who was convicted on four
felony counts related to the Whitewater scandal. She refused to
testify before a grand jury and discuss the Clintons' role in the
Whitewater and Castle Grande land schemes, even after Federal Judge
Susan Webber Wright granted her immunity from future prosecution.
Judge Wright held McDougal in contempt of court and threw her in
prison for 18-months. Still, Susan would not talk.
At the time there was speculation that McDougal had been promised
a pardon for her silence. But Clinton put such nonsense to rest
when he was asked about it by Jim Lehrer. Clinton said, "I've given
no consideration to that. And you know, their cases are still on
appeal. And that would — my position would be that their cases
should be handled like others, they should go through — there's
a regular process for that, and I have regular meetings on that,
and review those cases as they come up after there's an evaluation
done by the Justice Department. And that's how I think it should
be handled." McDougal was among about forty cases in which Clinton
did not involve the Justice Department. But I digress. Oh how I
miss those television shots of Susan in her fashionable orange jumpsuit
with matching leg irons.
Now we learn that Hugh Rodham, Hillary's brother and Bill's brother-in-law,
was paid nearly $400,000 in legal fees for
| “Are
we to believe that Rodham was hired because of his legal
skills, or his access to his relatives?” |
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winning a presidential pardon for Glenn Braswell, a convicted herbal-remedy
marketer now under investigation for tax fraud, and a commutation
for Carlos Vignali, a convicted drug dealer. $200,000 of the fee
was a contingency payment that would only be received by Rodham
if he was successful in securing Braswell's pardon. Braswell's pardon
request went directly to the president, bypassing the Justice Department
and the usual pardon process. Vignali's commutation request was
opposed strongly by federal prosecutors and the federal judge involved
in his case. Yet, Hugh's brother-in-law granted Braswell's pardon
and Vignali's commutation.
So, why was Hugh Rodham paid such large fees, and why was he so
certain that Braswell would get his pardon that he accepted a contingency
fee arrangement?
Are we to believe that Rodham was hired because of his legal skills,
or his access to his relatives? Of course, Bill and Hillary claim
no knowledge of Hugh's fees, which they, of course, urged him to
return after The National Enquirer was about to break the
story. And they assure us that they're "deeply disturbed" by all
of this. Hugh's lawyer assures us that he did not speak to either
Clinton at any time about his clients. That's comforting. My concerns
have now been put to rest. However, there's one lingering question:
If Hugh wasn't paid nearly $400,000 to use his influence at the
White House, then for what was he paid?
This brings us back to Roger Clinton. Who would believe that he
used to be considered the black sheep of the family?
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