Kennedy In-Law Secretly Taped Hillary Aide

Newsmax ^ | April 22, 2005

[ArmyBratproud]

Sen. Ted Kennedy's brother-in-law, who pled guilty to bank fraud charges yesterday in New Orleans, secretly tape recorded former top Hillary Clinton campaign aide David Rosen - and may have taped Hillary herself - as part of an FBI probe into an Aug. 12, 2000 gala fundraiser for Mrs. Clinton's Senate campaign.

Ray Reggie, the brother of Kennedy's wife Victoria Reggie, was identified by prosecutors yesterday as the confidential witness who had been cooperating with investigators for three years as part of his bank fraud plea bargain. "I wasn't sure if anybody made any of these connections yet or not," Assistant U.S. Attorney in New Orleans, Jan Mann, told the New York Sun, which first reported the wiretapping on Thursday.

Prosecutors say Rosen, who served as finance chairman for Mrs. Clinton's 2000 Senate race, "made a number of incriminating statements" on the Reggie tapes, which they intend to introduce at his trial, set to begin on May 3.

In an indictment announced in January, Rosen was charged with hiding from the Federal Election Commission hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the related to the Hollywood gala.

Mr. Reggie traveled extensively with both Bill and Hillary Clinton, put together fundraisers for the former first couple and was an overnight guest at the Clinton White House.

During a June 2000 White House visit, the Clintons and the Reggies stayed up late into the night "chatting," the New York Post said.

Asked if Reggie may have also recorded one or both of the Clintons, attorney David Kendall "had no immediate response," the Sun said. The key government witness was "wearing a wire and making secret tapes as recently as last December," the Post said.

Another key witness in the probe, celebrity fundraiser Aaron Tonken, says the FBI asked him to record his conversations with Mrs. Clinton, in a bid to gather evidence about the Aug. 2000 fundraiser, which Tonken helped produce.

But Clinton insiders suspected he was cooperating with investigators and refused to take his calls.

If Mrs. Clinton was captured on tape making comments indicating she knew the extent of Rosen's alleged misdeeds, it could have a devastating impact on her plans to run for president in 2008.

Both Tonken and Hollywood mogul Peter Paul - who bankrolled the Clinton gala - say they personally apprised the top Democrat about the costs of the fundraiser.

"I told her about virtually every penny I'd spent on her behalf," Tonken recalled in his recent book "King of Cons."

"I told her about the money and what a pleasure it was to spend it on her [Senate] candidacy."

Mr. Paul says Mrs. Clinton was even involved in trying to trim some of the event's production costs.

"Hillary Clinton personally called the producer of the concert part of this event," he told Fox News Channel's Eric Shawn last November.

"She asked him to lower the fee that he was charging of $850,000 at my request. So I don't understand how she could possibly say that she didn't know" about the costs.

[kcvl]

And David Brock, the admitted LIAR.

[ravingnutter]

Hillary Clinton's Fundraising Troubles Worse Than Tom DeLay's:

But unlike the top Republican, the case against Clinton includes not one but two witnesses who say she "knew everything" about what Rosen was doing.

"Hillary Clinton personally called the producer of the concert part of this event," claims Peter Paul, the Hollywood mogul who bankrolled the Aug. 2000 event.

"She asked him to lower the fee that he was charging of $850,000 at my request," he added, in an interview last year with the Fox News Channel. "So I don't understand how she could possibly say that she didn't know."

Lest anyone doubt Mr. Paul's word, there's Aaron Tonken, whose specialty was rounding up stars for charity events in Tinseltown - and who distributed most of the cash Peter Paul used to pay for the Hillary bash.

In his recent book "King of Cons," Tonken describes his sit-down with the former first lady in the backseat of a limo, where he gave her a chapter and verse update on the money her top aide was hiding from the feds.

"I told her about virtually every penny I'd spent on her behalf," Tonken recalled. "I told her about the money and what a pleasure it was to spend it on her candidacy."

Both Tonken and Paul kept meticulous records on the gala Hillary fundraiser - records prosecutors used to indict Mr. Rosen.

Of course, the press has virtually ignored the claims of the two Clinton accusers, while reporting every tidbit of dirt anyone cares to share about DeLay.

[SerpentDove]

"Unfortunately, this story will die from a lack of MSM coverage."

Not if it's true...remember, the MSM ignored the Swifties too.