Not only did the Riches donate $450,000.00 to Bubba for his Liebrary, but they also donated $70,000.00 to Hillary for her Senate campaign.
RUN HILLARY RUN!!!
Posted on 12/14/2004 12:44:55 AM PST by kattracks
WASHINGTON — Manhattan grand juries probing the U.N. oil-for-food scandal have subpoenaed some 20 U.S. businesses and individuals — and pardoned billionaire Marc Rich is sure to join them if he returns to the United States, law-enforcement sources told The Post.Rich, 68, and oil trader Ben Pollner are suspected of helping broker Saddam Hussein's sinister multibillion-dollar scheme of giving sweetheart oil deals to international political and financial figures he was trying to woo for support at the United Nations.
As first reported in yesterday's Post, Rich has emerged as a central figure in the rip-off. But he's out of reach of the federal and state grand juries now meeting in lower Manhattan.
Despite his controversial pardon by former President Bill Clinton, he's chosen to continue to live a life of luxury with his second wife Gisela in a Swiss mansion.
[snip]
News of Rich's role in the U.N. scandal has outraged many lawmakers.
"The apparent involvement of Marc Rich in the oil-for-food scandal is just one more indication how vulnerable the system was to sanctions-busters and it demonstrates how outrageous President Clinton's pardon of Marc Rich was in the first place," said Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.), whose Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security is also probing the scandal.
Clinton declined comment. Also staying mum yesterday was Rich's socialite ex-wife Denise, who lobbied intensely for the pardon and donated heavily to Clinton.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
bttt
Clinton stays mum on the Marc Rich scandal. That's rich coming from Clinton who generally can't stop talking.
Run Hillary Run!!! Oh, PLEASE be the 2008 'rat candidate for the Presidency!
Ping
BTTT!
 GUIDO ROEOESLI/AP Marc Rich and then-wife Denise in a 1986 photo |
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Fortune.com: Living Rich |
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CNN: Senators Hear Details of Clinton's Last-Minute Pardon of Rich |
Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2001
President Clinton's eleventh-hour pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich has sparked a firestorm of controversy, launching investigations in both houses of Congress and igniting fierce protest from both Democrats and Republicans. The U.S. House and Senate have issued a rash of subpoenas calling for witnesses as well as financial records, as the House Government Reform Committee continued its hearings and the Senate Judiciary Committee geared up for its own proceedings.
Thursday, the controversy took another step forward — no, we're not at impeachment yet, but it's been suggested — when federal prosecutors in New York officially opened a criminal investigation into whether Rich did indeed buy his pardon with his ex-wife Denise's pointed largesse to the First Couple and the Democratic party.
That prompted Dan Burton, chairman and lead Clinton-hunter on the House Government Affairs Committee's ongoing investigation into the matter, to put on hold his request to the Justice Department to give Denise Rich immunity in exchange for her testimony. Rich has already declined to testify, citing her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.
As with almost everything relating to the former president, the Marc Rich pardon case raises a lot of questions. Some answers will surface only after all the Capitol Hill witnesses are heard and the U.S. Attorney's office does its thing. Others, happily, we can answer here and now.
First of all, what does it mean to be "pardoned" by the President?
In legal terms, a pardon in an exemption from punishment for a criminal conviction. Presidential pardons are granted unilaterally and cannot be reversed.
So what's the point of all these hearings?
Some are calling the inquiries a field day for die-hard Clinton-haters. But most see this as a source of bipartisan outrage. Republicans and Democrats alike were dumbstruck by the Rich pardon. The federal prosecutors who indicted Rich are especially livid, particularly because, by definition, Rich appears to be ineligible for a pardon: He never took responsibility for his actions or served any sentence.
The congressional panels were called to investigate the path to Rich's pardon — which, as various documents seem to indicate, did not follow usual channels. In testimony Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, U.S. pardon attorney Roger Adams says when the White House sent over Rich's name for pardon consideration — only a few hours before the President was due to leave office — there was never any mention of Rich being a fugitive. There is also suspicion that donations made to Clinton campaigns and to the Clinton presidential library by Rich's ex-wife, Denise, could be a quid pro quo for the pardon.
There are other questions looming: Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, asked whether Clinton even had time to sign all of the paperwork required to seal Rich's pardon before he left office — raising the possibility that the pardon may not be valid. Specter has also floated the idea of a constitutional amendment giving congressional oversight to presidential pardons.
Will Clinton be brought in to testify about the pardon?
It doesn't look like it. Senator Orrin Hatch, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, has indicated he's interested in having Clinton appear to "clear the air," but says he doesn't believe the former president should be forced to testify.
How does President Bush feel about the Rich pardon inquiries?
Bush has been quoted as saying he thinks "it's time to move on," and by all accounts has little interest in pursuing any investigation that keeps his predecessor in the national spotlight.
What was Marc Rich's alleged crime?
In 1983, Rich was indicted in federal court of evading more than $48 million in taxes. He was also charged with 51 counts of tax fraud and with running illegal oil deals with Iran during the hostage crisis.
So does the pardon mean that if Rich leaves Switzerland (where he's been living for 17 years and seems quite happy to stay) and comes back to the U.S., that he won't face any legal proceedings at all?
Possibly. He's free of any criminal charges in connection with the case, but Rich can still be charged in civil court on, say, tax evasion charges. In fact, when Clinton finally signed off on Rich's pardon, the President stipulated that Rich waive the statute of limitations normally placed on as yet unspecified civil charges.
Rich has been living in Switzerland for almost 20 years now. Is he still a U.S. citizen?
That's one of the major questions connected with this case. And the answer, legally, anyway, appears to be yes. While Rich's lawyers can't seem to decide if their client is a citizen — sometimes he is, sometimes he isn't — and Rich himself reportedly considers himself a citizen of Israel and Spain, a federal appeals court ruled in 1991 that Rich had not actively renounced his U.S. citizenship, and therefore he was subject to U.S. law.
Why does his citizenship matter?
If Rich is, in fact, still a U.S. citizen, he's liable for taxes, no matter where he lives. So the IRS wants to know if Rich filed taxes for 17 years he spent abroad — and the congressional panel is investigating whether Rich's money made it back to Bill and Hillary Clinton; non-citizens are not permitted to make political contributions.
What does Denise Rich have to do with all this?
Marc Rich's socialite ex-wife has donated an estimated $1 million to Democratic causes, including $70,000 to Hillary Clinton's successful Senate campaign and $450,000 to the Clinton presidential library fund. She also lobbied heavily for Marc's pardon. Investigators want to know if Denise's contributions led to a direct quid pro quo exchange for her ex-husband's pardon. Clinton has denied any connection, saying he relied solely on the information provided by Jack Quinn (former White House counsel and Rich's current lawyer) when he was weighing the pardon request.
What happens to Denise Rich now?
Last week, when she was called to testify before the congressional panel, she took the Fifth (the amendment to the Constitution that allows potential witnesses to decline testimony out of fear that they might incriminate themselves). Now the same House panel wants to offer Rich immunity in order to discuss her ex-husband's case. House Republicans want approval from Attorney General John Ashcroft before granting immunity. Ashcroft is currently "considering" the request.
What about Washington Democratic fund-raiser and socialite Beth Dozoretz, whose name has come up in connection with the case?
Beth Dozoretz, fund-raiser and FOB, was, according to TIME, skiing when she heard that Clinton was "impressed" by Rich's case for a pardon. Dozoretz eagerly told skiing partner Denise Rich about the development, who called Marc Rich's supporters in Israel, then Washington. Dozoretz is also a big contributor to the Clinton presidential library fund. As in Denise Rich's case, congressional investigators want to know if there's a trail leading straight from Dozoretz's bountiful checkbook to Clinton's signature on Marc Rich's pardon.
"That's rich coming from Clinton who generally can't stop talking."
You would be surprised how many secrets old Bubba keeps.
Yet another Clintoon scandal floating to the surface. I guess that Voo-Doo baby eating ritual they did in Haiti didn't work out all that well for the Clintoons. Things just haven't been working out well for them ever since...
"Run Hillary Run!!! Oh, PLEASE be the 2008 'rat candidate for the Presidency!"
I'd rather head her off in 2006 if she has the nerve to run in NY again.
This is nonsense. Rich was pardoned when Clinton said "he's pardoned". The paperwork is irrelevant and Spector is engaging in one of his favorite pastimes, saying things that sound meaningful but in fact are gobbleygook.
Niether Ashcroft or Bush or any member of the administration are going to do anything to pursue this. There is no political upside for one, and for two, chasing after former occupants of the white house is stricktly taboo for the current occupant.
And well it should be too. The people elected him twice and declined to punish him for his crimes when they had him cold. So be it. There is no future trying to undo what is already done.
The 'rats unfortunately completely run NY, soon to be the most pathetic state in the union.
Mr. Rich fled to Switzerland after his 1983 indictment by Justice Department prosecutors on 65 counts of racketeering, fraud, tax evasion and illegal oil trading in a case involving the evasion of $48 million in taxes and the violation of U.S. sanctions by trading with Iran while American hostages were held in that country.
"Rich and Green have had extensive trade with terrorist states and other enemies of the United States. Despite clear legal restrictions on such trade, Rich and Green have engaged in commodities trading with Iraq, Iran, Cuba and other rogue states that have sponsored terrorist acts," the committee said, noting that that information was available to Mr. Clinton prior to his signing of the pardon.
It doesn't really matter to democrats. she is a goddess to them. They will vote for her no matter how much dirt she has behind her ears. Democrats will cling to the Clintoons like people cling to Elvis, and the party will become just as irrelevant.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1300929/posts <-- Lookie here
You can bet there won't be any comments from slick willie or his wife on this now.
I would bet the MSM won't even ask them to comment.
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