William Jefferson Clinton | |||
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42nd President of the United States From: January 20, 1993 – January 20, 2001 | |||
Vice President | Al Gore | ||
Predecessor | George H. W. Bush | ||
Successor | George W. Bush | ||
40th and 42nd Governor of Arkansas From: January 9, 1979 – January 19, 1981; January 11, 1983 – December 12, 1992 | |||
Predecessor | Joe Purcell (first term) Frank D. White (second term) | ||
Successor | Frank D. White (first term) Jim Guy Tucker (second term) | ||
50th Attorney General of Arkansas From: January 3, 1977 – January 9, 1979 | |||
Governor | David Pryor | ||
Predecessor | Jim Guy Tucker | ||
Successor | Steve Clark | ||
Information | |||
Party | Democratic | ||
Spouse(s) | Hillary Rodham Clinton | ||
Religion | Baptist |
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III, August 19, 1946), was the 42th president of the United States and the second to be impeached. He is married to Hillary Rodham Clinton, the first woman candidate for president on a major party ticket and was defeated.
The corrupt Clinton political machine dominated Arkansas and the national Democratic Party for four decades. Both Clintons were deeply involved in the defunct Bank of Credit and Commerce International scandal. The Clinton Foundation now serves as a slush fund for all sorts of nefarious activities globally.
Bill Clinton was elected twice with pluralities in 1992 and 1996, he previously served as governor of Arkansas. His administration was characterized by rampant corruption,[1][2] abuse, sexual harassment, and blackmail.[3][4][5][6][7] The post-Cold War era reduced defense spending, lower interest rates, and created a flood of ready cash which led to stock and real estate bubbles and more scandal.
The Chinese Communist Party illegally aided Bill Clinton's re-election in 1996 and was awarded entrance into the World Trade Organization (WTO) shortly after Clinton left office.
After a Special Prosecutor identified 11 felonies, Clinton was impeached by the United States House of Representatives for obstruction of justice and perjury related to his sexual misconduct in office and abuse of women prior to taking office. The Senate failed to convict along party lines. Liberal historians call Clinton's impeachment a "partisan lynching."[8] Clinton was found in contempt by a federal judge for lying and barred from ever practicing law again.
Clinton and his wife Hillary - the "American Evita" - promised "two for the price of one" and are credited with debasing modern American political discourse through the politics of demonization.[9] He served out his term despite legislative defeats, repeated scandal and being impeached.[10]
After leaving the White House, he became a high-paid speaker in liberal circles. Clinton is the first former president to be hired by foreign governments. Like other Southern Governors in the tradition of George Wallace, when Clinton was term limited-out his wife ran in his place.[11] A June 2018 Rasmussen poll found 53% of registered voters consider Bill Clinton a sexual predator.[12]
The Clinton Foundation was established in 1997 as the William J. Clinton Foundation[13] under the Federal Tax ID number 31-1580204 for the purposes of building and maintaining the William J. Clinton Presidential Library. In the following years' budget request President Clinton proposed substantial increases for several defense contactors.[14] After the library was built the defense contractors made contributions to the same Federal Tax I.D. number.
Clinton was born in Hope,[16] Arkansas, a month after his father William Jefferson Blythe II, a salesman, was killed in an auto accident. He was raised by his maternal grandparents until age 4, when his mother Virginia Kelly (1923-1994), a nurse, married Roger Clinton (1909-1967), a car dealer. Roger was an alcoholic and violent; the marriage was tempestuous, including a divorce and a remarriage in 1962. A life-long Southern Baptist, Clinton graduated from the Hot Springs public high school in 1964. He attended Georgetown University in Washington D.C., where he became active in Democratic politics.
During his college days in the 1960s, he also attended, participated in, and even organized various anti-American protest rallies, which included reading from the Quotations of Mao Zedong.
Bill and Hillary Rodham met in 1972 while studying law at Yale University. Inspired by Alabama Democrat Gov. George Wallace and his wife Gov. Lurleen Wallace, the two forged a pact to help each other's career - when one was termed-limited out, the other takes over.[17][18][19] They worked as a team on George McGovern's 1972 presidential campaign and then on Bill's first unsuccessful bid for the U.S House in 1974.
Contrary to decades old myth, Bill Clinton did not receive a Rhodes Scholar degree. Clinton was booted out of the Oxford program for the rape of 19 year old Eileen Wellstone, his first known sexual assault victim.[20][21][22][23][24] Despite this, however, he nonetheless was reported to have gotten one, with it being suspected that this dealt more with his adherence to radical left-wing ideology than to actual academic standing.[25] As a result of being tossed out Clinton lost his deferment and was drafted.[26] Through his Arkansas political patrons, namely Sen. J. William Fulbright, he was able to evade Vietnam and serve the two years active duty he owed his country in the CIA as a snitch spying on European anti-Vietnam war movements and their alleged links to Moscow. He reported to Cord Meyer in London.[27][28][29] Clinton's Oxford roomate Strobe Talbot, who was fluent in Russian, likewise was recruited to work for the CIA at this same time and translated Nikita Khruschev's memoirs which had been smuggled out of the Soviet Union and published in the West by CIA.[30] Despite this, however, documents indicated that he attended, participated in, and even organized anti-American rallies as late as while Richard Nixon was president of the United States, even distributing leaflets referring to him as an "imperialist chieftain." In addition, Colonel Eugene Holmes recalled a conversation where Clinton made it sound as though he wanted to join the ROTC in 1969, and left out that Clinton was in fact responsible for participating in and even organizing several anti-war protests, with Clinton also admitting he duped them in a letter afterward.[31] In addition, he also spent some time in the 1970s in Moscow, Russia.[32][33] He either arrived there via plane or by train, and it was also strongly suggested that Clinton got his funding for the trip via the KGB.[25]
Clinton's status as a CIA "Company man" and operative was reactivated in the 1980s as governor of Arkansas when he was called upon to host the Mena, Arkansas base of operations for Iran-Contra. His CIA contacts and relationships ultimately served to further his personal career and ambitions.
Throughout Bill Clinton's life he has exhibited a particularly nasty and disdainful attitude toward women and minorities.
In George Stephanopoulos's memoirs of the Clinton 'War Room', a war waged by the Clinton machine and surrogates against fellow citizens with as much vitriol and hate as against any foreign oppressor...
..."We have to destroy her story," Mrs. Clinton said of one of the first women to come forward during her husband's first presidential campaign, Connie Hamzy, in 1991.
In January 2016, Esquire magazine reported on a gathering in the fashionable Upper East Side apartment of the chief executive of HBO. Several conflicted past and present Clinton surrogates discussed how...
...the Clintons and their allies discredited women who said they had had sexual encounters with, or been sexually assaulted by former President Bill Clinton.
The conversation, relayed by several people with knowledge of the discussion who would speak about it only anonymously, captures the deeper debate unfolding among liberal-leaning women about how to reconcile Mrs. Clinton's leadership on women's issues with her past involvement in her husband's efforts to fend off accusations of sexual misconduct.[34]
The conundrum these conflicted Clinton surrogates face is how to explain their own past participation in sliming and vilifying women who came forward with accusations against the President of the United States with a history of untoward, and even violent, sexual misconduct to a generation of Millennials unfamiliar with the brazen history of the pair:
Even some Democrats who participated in the effort to discredit the women acknowledge privately that today, when Mrs. Clinton and other women have pleaded with the authorities on college campuses and in workplaces to take any allegation of sexual assault and sexual harassment seriously, such a campaign to attack the women's character would be unacceptable.
But such a public campaign of abuse and ridicule of the victim was acceptable under the Clintons, by Clinton media and Hollywood surrogates. And virtually all historical and inside eyewitness accounts, dating back to Arkansas and the White House years, point to Hillary Clinton as the source who made it a mission.
“ | When Hillary hired this fleet of detectives to go around examining all of the woman who had been identified with Clinton. Not for the purpose of divorcing Clinton. Not for the purpose of getting him to stop, but for the purpose of developing blackmail material on these women to cow them into silence that had a Nixonian quality that I hold against her and I continue to. | ” |
One of the more abhorrent aspects of Hillary Clinton's personality is a well documented pattern by multiple Clinton confidants and advisors of intimidation and blackmail toward female victims of Mr. Bill Clinton's sexual misconduct. Mrs. Clinton is accredited with introducing the sexist pejorative, 'bimbo', into the American political lexicon to disparage victims of sexual assault by the rich and powerful.[36] The politicalinsider.com identified the problem,
One of the most incredible things about Hillary Clinton running for President is that there is an extraordinary long list of scandals that younger voters have never heard of. Just trying to keep up with the multiple decades of corruption and criminal activity of Bill and Hillary Clinton which happened long before the recent email scandal is overwhelming.[37]
The New York Times noted before the 2016 primary election season began that the ’90s Scandals Threaten to Erode Hillary Clinton’s Strength With Women, and Hillary Clinton certainly was not, by any account, a victim, or a victim of her husband's faithlessness.[38] In the recent book, The Clinton's War on Women, the authors cite a sociological phenomena known as elite deviance in a society where the elites no longer believe the rules apply to them and their behavior is justified and facilitated by a cadre of sycophants, apologists, supporters, and surrogates collectively known as the Clinton smear machine.[39][40]
To locate, stalk, harass, and intimidate the women, Betsy Wright was put in charge of the operation. According to Carl Bernstein, "Betsy's operation became known as 'The Defense Department', and Wright was sometimes known as the 'secretary of defense'"[41] For this Jack Palladino, Terry Lenzner, Ivan Duda, Jerry Parks,[42] Anthony Pellicano, and others were employed.[43][44][45]
To silence the women, all sorts of threats and intimidation were common, such as murdering the family pet on the doorstep or blatant threats against the lives of their children.[46][47] Pornographer impresario Larry Flynt was called to boot a $1,000,000 reward to anybody to come forward with sexual innuendo, whether true or not, to attack Clinton's enemies with.[48]
Hillary's obsession with sexual blackmail wasn't limited to compromising and silencing disgruntled mistresses or women Bill Clinton assaulted, it became a ready tool against political opponents as well. To politicsl opponents and the women, Clinton surrogates routinely use the material, truth not being a factor, dug up by Hillary's investigator's to slime anyone publicly who wouldn't fall into line. A recent lawsuit filed just days after it became evident Trump was considering using the case of Joe Epstein in the election is intended to neutralize criticism.[49] And the surrogates relish their jobs. Indeed, many Clinton supporters believe this is the essence of politics — slander, defamation, and demonization of living human beings — not formulation or discussion of public policy.
In what perhaps may or may not be a Freudian slip Hillary Clinton titled her last book, Hard Choices.
The general pattern of the Clinton's being above the law is illustrated the Juanita Broadderick case from 1978.
Rumors circulated about Broaddrick's allegations for many years, but she refused to speak to the media. In an interview with Dateline NBC, that aired after the impeachment trial, Broaddrick claimed she had indeed been raped by then Arkansas Attorney General Bill Clinton.[50] The abuse put Broadderick in a quandry: who could she turn for help in a case against the state's highest ranking law enforcement official?
Broaddrick first met Clinton when he made a visit to her nursing home during his first gubernatorial bid. Broaddrick offered to volunteer for the campaign, and Clinton invited her to stop by the campaign office in Little Rock.[51] She contacted the office a few weeks later when she was in Little Rock for a nursing home conference. Clinton said he would not be in the office that day and suggested they meet at her hotel’s coffee shop instead. Upon his arrival, however, he allegedly requested that they instead have coffee in her room to avoid a crowd of reporters in the lobby. Broaddrick agreed.[50]
Broaddrick says the two spoke briefly in her room, then Clinton suddenly kissed her.[50] Broaddrick pushed Clinton away and told him she was married and not interested, but he persisted. As recounted in the NBC interview:[50]
"Then he tries to kiss me again. And the second time he tries to kiss me he starts biting my lip … He starts to bite on my top lip and I tried to pull away from him. And then he forces me down on the bed. And I just was very frightened, and I tried to get away from him and I told him ‘No,’ that I didn’t want this to happen but he wouldn’t listen to me. … It was a real panicky, panicky situation. I was even to the point where I was getting very noisy, you know, yelling to ‘Please stop.’ And that’s when he pressed down on my right shoulder and he would bite my lip. … When everything was over with, he got up and straightened himself, and I was crying at the moment and he walks to the door, and calmly puts on his sunglasses. And before he goes out the door he says ‘You better get some ice on that.’ And he turned and went out the door.”
When asked if there was any way Clinton could have thought it was consensual, Broaddrick said “No, not with what I told him and with how I tried to push him away. It was not consensual.”[50]
Broaddrick shared the hotel room with her friend and employee Norma Rodgers. Rodgers attended a conference seminar that morning, and says she returned to their room to find Broaddrick on the bed “in a state of shock,” her pantyhose torn in the crotch and her lip swollen as though she had been hit.[51] Rogers says Broaddrick told her Clinton had "forced himself on her."[51] Rogers helped Broaddrick ice her lip, and then the women left Little Rock. Rogers said that Broaddrick was very upset on the way home and blamed herself for letting Clinton in the room.[50]
Broaddrick says she did not tell her then-husband about the incident.[50][52]
At the time, she was having an affair with her eventual second husband, David Broaddrick. He remembers her injured lip, and she told him that Clinton had raped her.[50] Three other friends confirmed that Broaddrick had told them about the incident at the time: Susan Lewis, Louis Ma, and Jean Darden, Norma Rogers’ sister.[50]
Broaddrick recalled incident occured in the spring of 1978 and that she had stayed in the Camelot Hotel. Records show Broaddrick attended a nursing home meeting at the Camelot Hotel in Little Rock on April 25, 1978.[50][52] The Clinton White House would not respond to requests for Clinton's official schedule for the date,[53] but news reports suggest that he was in Little Rock that day, with no official commitments in the morning.[50]
Three weeks later Broaddrick attended an event where the Clintons would be in attendance at the home of a local dentist.[50] Broaddrick said she was “in denial,” and felt guilty, thinking that she had given Clinton the wrong idea by letting him into her room.[50] When she arrived she says, her friend who had picked the Clintons up from the airport told her that Hillary Clinton had asked if she would be at the event.[54] Broaddrick says Clinton did not speak to her at the event, but his wife Hillary approached her, took her hand, and said 'I just want you to know how much Bill and I appreciate what you do for him.”[54] When Broaddrick moved her hand away, she says, Mrs. Clinton held on to her and said, "Do you understand? Everything that you do."[54] Broaddrick says she felt nauseated and left the gathering. Broaddrick says she interpreted the incident as Mrs. Clinton thanking her for keeping quiet.[54]
In 1984, Broaddrick's nursing facility was adjudged the best in the state, which brought a congratulatory official letter from the governor. On the bottom was a handwritten note from Clinton, saying, "I admire you very much."[55] Broaddrick said that in 1991, Clinton called her out of a state nursing standards meeting to try to apologize. In response to his apologies, as she told The Washington Post, "I told him to go to hell, and I walked off".[53] Darden also attended the meeting, and said she saw Broaddrick talking to Clinton in the hallway.[50]
Lisa Myers if NBC, who conducted the Dateline interview, added she had no reason to doubt the veracity of Broadderick's accusations.
An instance of media coverup, or failing to ask the right questions while promoting the Clintons and their careers is illustrated in Clinton's time at Oxford University.
The earliest known incident of a reported rape is from 1969 while at Oxford in England on the Rhodes Scholarship program. As is common knowledge, women's rights, prosecution of offenders, and protection for rape victims in 1969 were not what they are today.
The prestigous Rhodes Scholarship is an elite program intended to cement Anglo-American relations and train tomorrows world leaders. Clinton was recommended for the program in 1968 by his Georgetown Professor Carol Quigley and his political mentor, the notorious segregationist Senator J. William Fulbright. It's a two year program. Clinton received a draft deferment from conscription into the US Army during the Vietnam war for his enrollment in the program. It has been stated that 99% of all Rhodes Scholars graduate, the only cause of failing to graduate being death. Dropping out, or being thrown out, is/was virtually unheard of.
Eileen Wellstone is an English woman who came forward saying Clinton raped her in 1969 after she had met him at a pub near the University. A retired State Department employee confirmed that he spoke with the family. The employee said he believed the story of Miss Wellstone.[56]
"There was no doubt in my mind that this young woman had suffered severe emotional trauma, But we were under tremendous pressure to avoid the embarrassment of having a Rhodes Scholar charged with rape." The State Department official who investigated the incident said Clinton's interests appeared to be drinking, drugs and sex, not studies. "I came away from the incident with the clear impression that this was a young man who was there to party, not study."[57]
The victim's family declined to pursue the case; Wellstone re-confirmed the incident in 1999, but asked to be left alone.[58]
In his book, Unlimited Access, former FBI agent Gary Aldrich reported that Clinton left Oxford University for a "European Tour" in 1969 and was told by University officials that he was no longer welcome there. Aldrich said Clinton's academic record at Oxford was lackluster.
Having been thrown out of Oxford, Clinton lost his draft deferment. Clinton entered Oxford in October 1968, according to David Maraniss, and received a draft induction in late July 1969. Yet the focus of news reporting in the 1992 presidential election was on championing Clinton as a 'Rhodes Scholar' while never asking how it was possible for a Rhodes Scholar with a draft deferment to receive a draft notice. The issue focused on his failure to report for induction rather than the fact that he was not a Rhodes Scholar, that he had been thrown out of Oxford, or the reason for being thrown out.
Most cited by name in this section of assault victims are of women who have spoken about the crimes they've suffered, although some have been intimidated into silence after going public. Others remain fearful to come forward.
In 1972, a twenty-two-year-old woman told Yale University’s campus police that she was sexually assaulted by Bill Clinton, and although no charges were filed, a retired policeman confirmed the incident to Capitol Hill Blue. The woman herself was also tracked down and confirmed it, though she elected to stay anonymous.
In 1974 a female student at the University of Arkansas complained that then law school instructor Bill Clinton tried to prevent her from leaving his office during a conference, groping her and forcing his hand inside her blouse. Although she complained to her faculty advisor, who confronted Clinton, the complaint again failed to go anywhere. The student left the school shortly after the incident, and more recently confirmed the incident. Several former students also confirmed the incident in confidential interviews and also said there were other reports of Clinton attempting to force himself on female students.
Arkansas state troopers assigned to protect Clinton have knowledge of at least seven other complaints from women who said Clinton forced himself on them sexually or attempted to do so.[59]
A Little Rock legal secretary named Carolyn Moffet claimed that in 1979, she met the governor at a political fundraiser and shortly afterward received an invitation to meet him in a hotel room. She was escorted there by a state trooper. When she arrived he was sitting on a couch wearing an undershirt and nothing else, and angrily assaulted her. She was able to escspe before being raped. Moffet received threatening phone calls. “He said that people who crossed the governor usually regretted it and that if I knew what was good for me I’d forget that it ever happened...I haven’t forgotten it. You don’t forget crude men like that.”[60]
Elizabeth Ward Gracen, a former Miss Arkansas who won the Miss America crown in 1982 told friends she was forced by Clinton to have sex with him shortly after she won her state crown.[61] Clinton media surrogates publicly hype and boast of Clinton's manliness and machismo for his sexual conquest if Miss America.
An Arkansas state employee named Paula Corbin filed a sexual harassment case against Clinton after she said the governor exposed himself and demanded sex in a Little Rock hotel room. President Clinton finally settled the case with Paula Corbin in 1998 with an $850,000 cash payment.[62]
Sandra Allen James, a former Washington, DC, political fundraiser said Clinton invited her to his hotel room when he was in Washington in 1991, pinned her against the wall and stuck his hand up her dress. She says she screamed loud enough for the Arkansas state trooper stationed outside the hotel suite to bang on the door and ask if everything was alright. Then, she said, Clinton released her and she fled the room. When she reported the incident to her boss, he advised her to keep her mouth shut if she wanted to keep working. ‘’My husband and children deserve better than that..I wasn’t raped, but I was trapped in a hotel room for a brief moment by a boorish man...I got away. He tried calling me several times after that, but I didn’t take his phone calls. Then he stopped. I guess he moved on.” She said she learned other women had similar stories during Clinton’s 1992 presidential run. She has since married and left Washington and retreated from public view.[63]
Christy Zercher, a flight attendant on Clinton’s campaign plane in 1992, reported that he exposed himself to her, groped her, and made explicit sexual remarks. A video filmed on board the plane by ABC News showed an obviously drunken Clinton with his hand on intimate parts of another young flight attendant. Zercher said later in an interview that White House attorney Bruce Lindsey tried to pressure her into not going public about the assault.[64]
Kathleen Willey was a volunteer at the White House when Clinton grabbed her, fondled her, and pressed her hand against himself during an Oval Office meeting in November, 1993. Willey, who told her story in a 60 Minutes interview, became a target of a White House–directed smear campaign after she went public.[65] In 1998, just before Willey was to testify in the Paula Jones trial, Willey had a disturbing encounter where she was approached by a jogger near her home. The complete stranger asked her menacing questions about her children, naming them by name. According to Willey, "I'll never forget that look in his eyes . . . He just looked at me and he said, 'You're just not getting the message, are you?'" On Hardball in 1999, MSNBC host Chris Matthews identified the mysterious jogger as Cody Shearer.[66]
The other encounters were confirmed with more than 30 interviews with retired Arkansas state employees, former state troopers and former Yale and University of Arkansas students. Like others, they refused to go public because of fears of retaliation from the Clinton White House and smesr machine.
Peter Baker in The Breach: Inside the Impeachment and Trial of William Jefferson Clinton, which the Washington Post describes as the definitive account of the impeachment saga, reported that in the files of the independent prosecutor lawyers had collected the names of 21 different women. Baker noted
“One woman was alleged to have been asked by Clinton to give him oral sex in a car while he was the state attorney general (a claim she denied). A former Arkansas state employee said that during a presentation, then-Governor Clinton walked behind her and rubbed his pelvis up against her repeatedly. A woman identified as a third cousin of Clinton’s supposedly told her drug counselor during treatment in Arkansas that she was abused by Clinton when she was baby-sitting at the Governor’s Mansion in Little Rock.”[67]
On November 21, 2014, columnist Joan Vennochi of the a Boston Globe wrote, “Rape allegations hurt Bill Cosby but sail past Bill Clinton.”
“Power—who has it, who doesn’t, and how it can for years insulate the holder of it—is the common thread between Cosby, Clinton, and their accusers,” Vennochi wrote. Clinton apologists, surrogates, sycophants, and spin-meisters srgur their public policies are more important than his private failings.
“Meanwhile, the Clinton spin machine did its best to portray his accusers as ‘nuts or sluts,’ ...against women who dare to hold men accountable for their actions,” Vennochi wrote.[68]
According to billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, he helped found the Clinton Foundation.[69] Epstein also founded his own Epstein Foundation.
When the Clinton's left the White House in 2001, Bill spent more time with his cohort and business associate commonly known in the media as 'the billionaire pervert'. His friend is involved in a child sex trafficking ring. He is a registered sex offender for sex crimes involving children.[70]
Clinton's pedophile friend and associate, Jeffrey 'Joe' Epstein, is a donor to the Clinton Foundation.[69] He began making donations shortly after his arrest on child sex charges. Epstein recieved a relatively light sentence in view of the charges against him. Epstein has settled lawsuits with 33 of his child victims. Other suits are still pending.[71] Epstein is said to have provided minor girls for Prince Andrew. When the Palm Beach Florida police seized Epstein's contact book,[72] 21 different phone numbers and email addresses for Clinton machine operatives were discovered, including the personal cell number for Bill Clinton, and numbers for Bill's flunky Doug Band and Hillary's flunky Cheryl Mills.[73]
Epstein owns property in Manhattan, Palm Beach and the Virgin Islands where the child molestation acts are said to have taken place.[74] Seized flight logs in the investigation reveal Clinton flew on Epstein's private plane 18 times.[75] It has been established some of these flights were to Epstein's Virgin Islsnds retreat.[76] A woman who victims name as procurring underage girls is s donor to the Hiilary Clinton Presidential campaign and attended Chelsea Clinton's wedding in 2010.[77]
In 2007 former Whitewater prosecutor Ken Starr, whom critics accuse of whitewashing the Vince Foster investigation,[78] defended Epstein from a second conviction of having sex with a 14 year old minor.[79] Starr was forced out of his position as president of Baylor University in May 2016 for mishandling another sex scandal.
The Clintons are known for their cynical manipulation of Black voters and pandering to "white working class, hard-working white" nativist sentiment.[81][82] Reminiscent of Hillary's famous "bring them to heel" speech, while discussing police shootings Hillary said, "We have got to rein in what is absolutely inexplicable" without bothering to explain what is inexplicable.
The Clinton's racism runs deep. The night Bill Clinton lost his bid for a Congressional seat in 1974 and disappointing their immediate personnel ambitions, Hillary blamed the loss on campaign manager Paul Fray. "She called me everything but a white man," Fray explained to the BBC.[83] Tensions escalated. Then she called him a "F***ing Jew bastard." The Cinton's of course deny it but five separate surving witnesses corroborate each other in detail.[84][85] The incident was first reported in a book published by Harper Collins in 2000 entitled, State of a Union: Inside the Complex Marriage of Bill and Hillary Clinton.[85][86][87][88][89]
Clinton begun his first two years in the Arkansas State House in 1979 as governor by inviting the venomous old segregationist Orval Faubus to a place of honour at his inaugural ceremony.[90]
The Clintons call Jesse Jackson that "Goddamn n****r" behind his back.[91][92][93][94] Jackson refused to release his delegates in 1984 to Gary Hart, Clinton's old boss from the McGovern campaign of 1972. Jackson, the first African-American to win states in a major party primary, questioned the disparity between his vote total and delegate count, but even Hart sided with the DNC's rigging the primary rules.[95] In 1988 Jackson selected Ron Brown as his chief negotiator at the 1988 Democratic National Convention.[96] Brown went on to serve as DNC Chairman and Commerce Secretary until he died in a plane crash.[97]
The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) was a racist organization formed by remnants of the McGovern and Hart campaigns - less the Rainbow Coalition.[98][99] By 1992 it had taken over the DNC. Democratic strategists sought to distance themselves from the civil rights movement and begin pushing the "centrist" candidacy of Bill Clinton.[100]
That fact that 30 year old allegations of sexual asssult and improprieties are hurled at Bill Cosby with a devastating effect on his life and career while Bill Clinton is held up as a paragon of manhood and public service by the media and judicial system is a testament of the bigotry and racism of the mainstream media and their supporters. Rumors persist that the Clinton's have effectively blackmailed Barack Obama to drop thd email investigation and for his active support in the 2016 presidential campaign.[101]
In June 1974, a few months before Clinton would narrowly lose his congressional bid, he sat down for an interview with an oral history project.[102] Reaching out to the notorious segregationist was just good politics, he told the interviewers.
“When did you build this friendship with Faubus?” one asked.
“When I got ready to run for Congress,” Clinton answered.
“But wouldn’t he be the last guy to go see, represented the old time machine?” the interviewer pressed.
“No, no. See, that’s why I got elected. Because I don’t do things — I don’t think in terms of that,” Clinton said.
“But wouldn’t the liberal mind, whatever it is in this district, think that way?”
“Well, the liberal mind might, but I don’t have a liberal mind, I guess, if that’s the way they think. It’s a matter of politics and how you get votes,” Clinton said of doing his dance with white supremacists. “Faubus has a fine mind and a lot of influence in these hills, these people, and knows things that are worth knowing. The reason that they will vote for me, if they do, the people, even if they think that I’m liberal, whatever that is, is that I’ll sit down with all these people and talk to them.”
In Arkansas, the Clinton administration was sued several times by blacks and Hispanics for violations of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and lost every case. 10 years into their grip on Arkansas the United States Supreme Court ruled
violations of the fourteenth or fifteenth amendment justifying equitable relief have occurred in Arkansas.In May 1990, the district court turned to those claims, holding that "the State of Arkansas has committed a number of constitutional violations of the voting rights of black citizens." In particular, the court determined that the "State has systematically and deliberately enacted new majority-vote requirements for municipal offices, in an effort to frustrate black political success in elections traditionally requiring only a plurality to win." In 1990...Devotion to majority rule for local offices lay dormant as long as the plurality system produced white office-holders. But whenever black candidates used this system successfully -- and victory by a plurality has been virtually their only chance of success in at-large elections in majority-white cities – the response was swift and certain. Laws were passed in an attempt to close off this avenue of black political victory...
This series of laws represents a systematic and deliberate attempt to reduce black political opportunity. Such an attempt is plainly unconstitutional. It replaces a system in which blacks could and did succeed, with one in which they almost certainly cannot. The inference of racial motivation is inescapable.[103][104]
In more than one thousand legislative elections, the Arkansas delta region sent not one black to the legislature. In 1988 the federal district court forced a change to the system in Crittenden County that watered down the presence of a large number of black voters.
The case began when blacks in Crittenden County filed a voting rights lawsuit attacking the county's at-large system for electing two members to the Arkansas House. The suit contended that the system deprived black voters of a chance to elect a black to the state assembly.
The evidence at trial was indeed overwhelming that the Voting Rights Act had been violated. Plaintiffs offered plenty of proof of monolithic voting along racial lines, intimidation of black voters and candidates, other official acts that made voting harder for blacks. A panel of 3 judges ordered Gov. Clinton, the Attorney General, and Secretary of State to redraw the boundaries to give maximum strength to black voters.
Local press reports in Arkansas from the late 1980s paint an ugly picture of the Clinton administration's attempts to intimidate black voters.[105] In her 1998 memoir Lift Every Voice, former U.S Justice Department Civil Rights Division nominee Lani Guinier revealed that Clinton's record on race in Arkansas was so bad she was forced to take legal action. "As a staff lawyer for the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund [LDF], I had sued Gov. Clinton over Arkansas's deputy voter registration statute." A deputy voter registrar is someone authorized to register voters.
Guinier wrote, "In the late 1980s, in a particularly tense meeting in southeastern Arkansas - a section of the Mississippi Delta region where antebellum social relations are still in many respects the order of the day," Dayna Cunningham, a civil rights lawyer, "were one of a handful of black people there to discuss remedies for a highly contentious LDF voting rights suit. The meeting turned sour when one of the local whites demanded to know why, in his view, the whites were always made to pay for others' problems. Other whites in the group began to echo his charge...Bill Clinton, the lead defendant in the case, took to the podium to respond. In a tone of resignation, Clinton said, 'We have to pay because we lost,'" the inference being the loss of the Civil War as well as the Clintons loss in the Supreme Court.
"Clinton had irresponsibly pandered to the backwards feeling of the white constituency," said Cunningham.
No good deed goes unpunished of course, so Guinier was not without her own problems for having unfortunately crossed paths with the Clintons, beginning at Yale. Three years after the ruckus in Arksnsas President Clinton nominated her as Deputy Attorney General for Civil Rights. But the Clinton surrogates were lying in wait for her. A media smear campaign not only distorted her views, but in many cases presented them as the exact opposite. The New York Times, which ordinarily presents the Clintons as the wonders of an age, ran an op-ed highly critical of Clinton's appointment, alleging Guinier was in favor of “segregating black voters in black-majority districts.” The Washington Post, again no friend of conservatives, twisted Guiniers advocacy of proportional representation into a vision of “a society in which a minority can impose its will on the majority.”
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting says of the ambush and firestorm that surrounded Guinier's nomination:
there was also an ideological agenda at work: promoting Clinton’s media-celebrated shift “back to the center.” ... To make her a proper sacrificial offering, however, the establishment media had to reinvent Guinier — transforming a sophisticated advocate of racial reconciliation and participatory democracy into a sinister, race-baiting enemy of the American Way.[106]
The Democrats held both Houses of Congress and the presidency. Guinier's nomination, if the Clintons were serious about it should have been easy. She had been Hillary snd Bill's classmate at Yale. It was classic Clintonism: destroying the life of a friend and who was an advocate of racial reconciliation, painting the American people as racist, and promoting themselves. George Will, it has been said, was too stupid and too lazy to actually read her writtings. As Mike Klonsky noted, when the liberal lions of the Democratically controlled Senate, such as Ted Kennedy and even Carole Moseley Braun stepped away, now the Clintons could turn a message of reconciliation into repudiation in front of the whole nation.
What's a little misunderstanding among friends? Guinier said she felt betrayed by Clinton, whom she considered a friend since their days together at Yale Law School, and was angered when he called her "anti-democratic," - the person who protected voting rights of African-Americans despite Clinton's fight against it - in a nationally televised address announcing he was scuttling her nomination.[107]
In 1988 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Clinton wrongfully tried to overturn the election of a black state representative, Mr. Ben McGee, and replace him with a white Democrat Clinton handpicked. The case grew out of the suit against Clinton to win voting rights for the people of Crittenden County.
Robert 'Say' MacIntosh is a civil rights activist who the Arkansas Democrat newspaper named Arkansan of the Year in the late 1970s for his charitable work with children in Little Rock's housing projects.[108] MacIntosh unsuccesfully ran for public office under Arkansas's racial gerrymanderring and minority voter suppression laws of the Clinton era, including as Lieutant Governor in 1980. He considered challenging Bill Clinton in the 1986 Democratic gubernatorial primary, but backed out when another African-American candidate, former anti-poverty agency head W. Dean Goldsby, filed on the last day.
A tree was ceremoniously planted on the Arkansas capitol grounds in the Clinton years on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day to honor Dr. King. McIntosh showed up the next day and chopped it down in front of the press, and commented, "No black man was invited to be present for the tree planting. I'm cutting it down till blacks are invited to be part of the political process in Little Rock." Wikipedia says "few debate that he has been a major part of local color in Arkansas."[109]
MacIntosh publicized allegations Bill Clinton fathered an out of wedlock child named Danney Williams.[110] When Bill Clinton was in Little Rock, McIntosh would distribute leaflets within a five block area to raise money for the child's upbringing. He had frequent face-to-face confrontations with Gov. Clinton over child support. Clinton privately referred to MacIntosh with aides using the "n" word.[93]
The story resurfaced during the 2008 primaties, only this time the denials weren't so strong and adopted a more forgiving attitude.[111][112] Many blacks and Obama supporters were put off by the mainstresm media spin and questioned the untimely death of Ron Brown.[113][114] Even the Washington Post noticed the racial undercurrent in Hillary Clinton's campaign.[115]
The death of Ron Brown remains a contoversial subject among African-Americans.[116] Ron Brown was the first black Secretary of Commerce who died in the crash of Air Force Two. The crash occurred one week before Brown was slated to give testimony in the Clinton campaign finance scandal, among other scandals.[117]
The Arkansas Legislature's Act 116 of 1987 designated the star above the word "Arkansas" on the state flag as a commemoration of the Confederacy, signed into law by Gov. Clinton, as well as annual proclamations for Confederate Flag Day.
In April 1985 Clinton signed Act 985 into law, making the birthdates of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert E. Lee, General of the Confederate army, state holidays on the same day. The coded message sent to white constituents could not have be clearer.
On the eve of the New Hampshire primary in 1992, Bill Clinton took off from the campaign trail to sign the death warrant and oversee the execution of a retarded black man, Ricky Ray Rector. Recktor, who had been lobotomized, was mentally incompetent and unable to understand the charges against him. [118][119] "It was like executing a child," the prison chaplain said. Hillary, the master strategist of the Clinton's rise, fearing the Willie Horton syndrome which torpedoed Michael Dukakis in 1988 and the 'monkey business' which destroyed Gary Hart as well, still defended the execution in 2016.[120][121]
Hillary was at his side when Bill Clinton raised mandatory sentencing guidelines which disproportionately sent Blacks to prison, giving the United States the highest mass incarceration rate in the world.[122] The Clinton's championed the “three strikes you're out” law, passed a crime bill that created dozens of new federal capital crimes, mandated life sentences for some three-time offenders, and authorized more than $16 billion for more state prisons. By the time the Clinton's left office in 2001, the United States had the highest rate of incarceration in the world. Human Rights Watch reported that in seven states, African Americans constituted 80 to 90 percent of all drug offenders even though they were no more likely than whites to use or sell illegal drugs. Prison admissions for drug offenses reached a level in 2000 for African Americans more than 26 times the level they had been under Ronald Reagan.[123]
In late 2015, while several American cities smoldered in riots over police shootings, Hillary Clinton had several prison industry lobbyists working as fundraisers on her campaign. The fundraiser-lobbyists worked for the Corrections Corporation of America and Geo Group, which also run most of the immigrant detention centers.[124]
The Clintons99 instituted racial profiling of Latinos as drug dealers in 1988. Specifically, the troopers were authorized to stop and search cars driven by Hispanics, especially those with Texas license plates. Again, the Clinton's Criminal Apprehension Program was challenged in federal court and ruled unconstitutional. But the program went on anyway with further destruction of civil liberties when the Clinton's authorized state troopers to stop and search any car regardless of race.[125]
Roberto Garcia de Posada, executive director of the Hispanic Business Roundtable, cited the fact that Clinton was "a strong supporter of racial profiling against Hispanics," and thst they do not have "the moral authority to lead a national campaign on this issue." The Clintons need to "apologize to all those Hispanics who suffered this 'morally indefensible' practice".
A Black Lives Matter activist confront Hillary Clinton in 2016 about the Clinton's history of racism.[126] In January 2016 Salon published an article on the dirty little secret among the liberal intelligentsia no one wants to talk about: the Clinton's rise and success has been based on stoking racial fears. Stan Greenberg conducted the focus groups that dictated the Clinton's daily buzzwords and talking points to provide the fodder and fuel the Clinton's lived and died on. Greenberg's work produced results claiming the Democratic party was too identified with Jesse Jackson and minorities to speak for 'average Americans' and it needed to appeal to white working class swing voters.[127]
Perhaps nothing reveals the cold, cruel, calculated and hateful divisiveness in the heart of the woman than her comment to Sam Donaldson on ABC's Prime Time Live that Gennifer Flowers was the daughter of Willie Horton. Intended as a throwaway line, with all the facts in now - that it was a lie and she knew it was a lie - we see the cynical manipulation of people, particularly those in the civil rights and women's movements, and her incipient predations.[128]
In 1992 for the first time in nearly half a century the party platform made no mention of redressing racial injustice. Through triangulation and a policy of 'get tuff on crime', the Clinton's sought to repudiate and distance themselves from the Democratic party's commitment to the struggles of African-Americans. The Clinton's formulated a crime bill purportedly to 'put 100,000 new cops on the street'. Hillary became one of the chief spokespersons referring to black teens as dogs.
“ | They are not just gangs of kids anymore. They are often the kinds of kids that are called ‘super-predators.’ No conscience, no empathy. We can talk about why they ended up that way but first we have to bring them to heel.[129][130] | ” |
In the 2008 presidential primaries, the Clinton's were back at it: fostering racial fear and paranoia,[131] which by now seemed to be the regular program of the Democratic Leadership Council.[132] They tried to marginalize Obama as the black candidate with comparisons to Jesse Jackson[133] emphasizing Hillary's 'wide appeal': "Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again", Hillary told USA Today.[134] She mocked and ridiculed Obama's fitness to lead on his no first strike nuclear pledge saying, "I don't believe that any president should make any blanket statements with respect to the use or nonuse of nuclear weapons," whereas two months earlier she promised to nuke Iran. She stayed in the race even after it became apparent she lost, according to her, only because Obama might be assassinated.
As heir to the New Deal tradition and key to the New England donor base, Sen. Ted Kennedy's blessing on the candidate for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination was vital. The Clinton's also were seeking bona fides among liberals and the civil rights movement. Clinton said of Obama, "that boy would have been carrying our bags and getting us coffee a few years ago".[135] Kennedy was offended by Clinton's racism and refused to give Hillary the endorsement.[136][137]
"We come to celebrate and give thanks for the remarkable life of J. William Fulbright, a life that changed our country and our world forever and for the better. . . . In the work he did, the words he spoke and the life he lived, Bill Fulbright stood against the 20th century’s most destructive forces and fought to advance its brightest hopes.[138]So spoke President William J. Clinton in 1995 of a man was among the 99 Democrats in Congress to sign the “Southern Manifesto” in 1956. The Southern Manifesto declared the signatories’ opposition to the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education and their commitment to segregation forever. Fulbright was also among those who filibustered the Civil Rights Act of 1964. That filibuster continued for 83 days.
After returning to Arkansas as a law professor at the university, Clinton was elected state Attorney General in 1976. In 1978, he was elected Governor of Arkansas, becoming the youngest governor in the country at age 32 . Though defeated in 1980, Clinton won back the governorship in 1982 and held it until becoming President in 1992. Several eyewitnesses attest to Bill Clinton's use of physical violence when he assaulted campaign adviser Dick Morris inside the Governor's Mansion during the 1990 campaign. Clinton was angry that polls showed his primary opponent gaining on him. Clinton threw Morris to the floor and cocked his fist back, Mrs. Clinton intervened and yelled for him to get control of himself. She later tried to reassure Morris saying, "He only does that to people he loves.".[139]
Clinton was involved in several scandals while Governor of Arkansas. He converted governmental resources for personal use by having Arkansas state policemen arrange and stand guard during his extramarital rendezvous with women.[140] The tales told by Arkansas State Troopers of Bill Clinton's attitude and approach toward women in his domain of Arkansas[141][142] evoke images of the same attitude and approach Uday Hussein was known for in his stalking of women and girls in Iraq.[143][144]
His close personal business partnerships with Susan and James McDougal in a failed Savings and Loan business venture led to investigation of the Whitewater affair and the death of Vince Foster. Several of the people involved with the sale of land prior to the Clinton presidency were indicted, but prosecutors never charged either Clintons with a crime.
Foster's last weekend had been spent in the company of Webster Hubbell, his wife and another couple, White House counsel Michael Cardozo and his wife. Hubbell joined the group in Maryland after leaving the meeting that informed William Sessions of his dismissal as FBI director. After returning from a Hawaiian vacation, Bill Clinton spent that weekend in Arkansas dining with David Edwards, a former Stephens Inc. employee and conduit for $23 million from the king of Saudi Arabia for the Middle Eastern studies program at the University of Arkansas. Clinton had one last twenty minute conversation with Foster the Monday night before his death.[145] Oddly, one of Foster's last phone conversations on the morning of his death was with Brantley Buck, the Rose Law Firm partner assigned to investigate Webster Hubbell and Park-On-Meter (POM),[146] an Arkansas firm the Clinton machine attempted to use to muscle in on as the CIA's choice as a domestic arms manufacturer with untraceable serial numbers for the Nicaraguan Contras. The firm was owned by Webster Hubbell's father-in-law, Seth Ward. The CIA already had its own manufacturer, Iver Johnson Arms of New Jersey, and was planning to relocate it to Arkansas, closer to the Mena airport. The sloppiness, cronyism, lack of security, and presumptiveness of Bill Clinton's Arkansas political machine jeapordized the Iran-Contra operation.
The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) formed in early 1985 to formulate a moderate Democratic agenda. With Al From as executive director and Georgia Senator Sam Nunn as chairman, DLC comprised mostly Southern Democratic congressmen. They sought to rebuild the party's image after a series of defeats by Reagan and Bush. They wanted to assure voters that the moderate-conservative wing of the party was alive and well, and that progressive policy initiatives may be marketable to mainstream America. After the Democrats 1988 defeat, From asked Clinton in March 1990 to become the first DLC Chair from outside Washington. He and Clinton recruited state and local officials from around the country for the DLC, trying out talking points for new spending authority initiatives developed by an affiliated think tank, the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI). Proposals that found their way into Clinton's 1992 platform included:
The two DLC manifestos and Clinton's 1991 "New Covenant" speech accounted for more than 60% of the spending promises in the 1992 Democratic platform.[147] Clinton campaigned as a "New Democrat," with an appeal to southerners and moderates that included demands for welfare reform and support for the death penalty.
After the surge of support for the war policy of President George H.W. Bush pushed his popularity to the 90% level, most prominent Democrats decided to wait out the 1992 election. Clinton's main rival, Sen. Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts, called Clinton "pander bear" who "will say anything, do anything to get votes."[148] Appalled by both candidates support of the pending NAFTA agreement, billionaire Ross Perot entered the race, ran on a balanced budget and anti-free trade, and briefly led the polls. Both Bush and Perot proved poor campaigners, as Clinton and his running mate Al Gore made promises tailored by focus groups and opinion polls. Republicans tried to use the character issue, questioning his failure to the draft board as required by law and stories of his illegal drug use in college days. Cheryl Mills ran the "bimbo unit" aimed at targetting and harassing Clinton's sexual assault vicitms to intimidate them into silence. Bush however was handicapped by a bad economy, and was wounded badly among moderates and conservatives for breaking a promise to not raise taxes. Clinton hammered away at the economy--"It's the economy, stupid!" explained his campaign manager. Clinton and Gore ran as "New Democrats", promising to cut middle class taxes, increase direct spending, end welfare cash payments "as we know it", and support capital punishment. Clinton won a plurality over Bush 43% to 37%, with 19% for Perot.
Clinton thus entered Washington with a Democratic Congress and a vague agenda. As the first President born after World War II, Clinton represented the "baby-boom" generation.
“ | People should not be able to raise questions and erode people's moral authority in this country. | ” |
—Bill Clinton, Press Conference, March 24, 1994 [149] |
Clinton was hailed by liberals and the media for his intellect. Alan Greenspan, who served six presidents in a long career said of Clinton after their first meeting, "for sheer intelligence, Bill Clinton was on a par with Richard Nixon."[150] Throughout his time in the Presidency, he was also rather notorious for being the subject of various endless bull sessions in a similar manner to college to allow for "open debate",[151][152][153] of which at least 76 cases were documented in the book "The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President."[154]
Five monthes into Clinton's first term the body of White House Counsel Vince Foster was found shot to death one day after Bill Clinton took the unprecedented step of firing the head of the FBI. Under the law, the FBI should have been the lead agency investigating the death of a high ranking Executive Branch official. Foster was the highest-ranking Executive Branch official killed since John F Kennedy. It was led by the relatively inexperienced US Park Service in the Department of the Interior.
Forbes magazine Senior Editor James Norman uncovered evidence that Foster had a Swiss bank account and was under investigation by the US government for espionage at the time of his death.[155][156] An FBI interview report by agent Russell Bransford and a handwritten note from the Office of Independent Counsel found at the National Archives refer to Vince Foster's Swiss bank account.[157] Norman wrote to the White House press office to inquire about these allegations.[158] White House chief of staff Abner Mikva leaked a copy of Norman's inquiry to Mark Tuohey, deputy Independent Counsel investigating Foster's death.[159] Both Mikva and Touhey resigned because of the apparent collusion in an independent investigation.[160] Tuohey, who has been accused by US Attorney Miguel Rodriguez on the staff of the Independent Counsel of sabotaging the investigation,[161] then went to work representing the Rose Law Firm - the firm Vince Foster, Hillary Clinton, and Webster Hubbell all we're employed to represent clients of the Independent Counsel's Whitewater investigation.[162][163]
Chief Counsel to the Watergate Committee, Sam Dash, the new 'independent' counsel's 'ethics' advisor, ruled there was no conflict of interest in Tuohey's working for the Rose Law Firm. Hillary Clinton previously served on the Congressional Watergate Committee as well.[164]
Independent Counsel Ken Starr later defended Clinton's friend and co-founder of the Clinton Foundation,[69] registered pedophile Joe Epstein, from a second felony conviction in a child rape case.[79]
One of President Clinton's early acts was an overhaul of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). In 1995 the implementing regulations were strengthened by focusing government regulators' attention on a financial institutions' performance in doling out credit within specified communities. Clinton's changes to the CRA[165] substantially increased the amount of home loans to unqualified low-income borrowers and, for the first time, allowed the securitization of CRA-regulated loans containing subprime mortgages.[166][167][168]
Howard Husock wrote:[169] "The Clinton administration has turned the Community Reinvestment Act into ...a vast extortion scheme against the nation's banks. Under its provisions, U.S. banks have committed nearly $1 trillion ... the evaluation process allowed advocacy groups a chance to express their views on individual banks" to receive a favourable CRA rating. These community groups worked out individual agreements and commitments from the Fannie Mae-backed lenders. A radical group called ACORN Housing "has a $760 million commitment from the Bank of New York; the Boston-based Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America has a $3-billion agreement with the Bank of America; a coalition of groups headed by New Jersey Citizen Action has a five-year, $13-billion agreement with First Union Corporation," among a host of others.
Clinton told Jim Lehrer in an interview on the PBS Newshour,[170] January 21, 1998,
“ | The Community Reinvestment Act was set up to say to the bank regulators: Look, you guys go in and look at these banks and tell them, you got to take some of your money[171] and invest it in inner cities and neighborhoods, and with people who otherwise would not get it so they have a chance to build homes, to build businesses, to create jobs, to build neighborhoods. In the 20-year history of the Community Investment Act, 85 percent-plus the money loaned out under it to poor inner city neighborhoods has been loaned in the five years since I've been President. | ” |
The threat of civil action caused many mortgage lenders to make what otherwise would be considered risky loans. For example, the lead attorney for ACORN Housing, Barack Hussein Obama, sued Citibank in 1995 to force them into making subprime mortgages to unqualified minority borrowers. Obama alleged that, although his clients had been denied mortgages "because of delinquent credit obligations and adverse credit," they were really victims of institutional racism. The suit was brought about by the Community Reinvestment Act, so called "affirmative action mortgage lending." The plaintiffs won $60,000, Obama and two other attorneys were paid $950,000 [172]
Clinton refered to the Mexican bailout in his memoirs as, "one of the biggest crisis of my first term", and quotes Tom Friedman of the The New York Times saying it was the "least popular, least understood, most important foreign policy decision of the Clinton presidency."[173] It was the brainchild of Treasury Secretary Bob Rubin and chief economic adviser Larry Summers who later served President Barack Obama in the same position. Clinton claims it took him 10 minutes to decide on the $20 billion bailout. Polls showed 79% of the American people opposed it, with little support in Congress.[Citation Needed]
Critics cite the modern bailout culture of the Recession of 2008 as originating with Clinton's Mexican bailout. It was allegedly designed to help Mexico using $20 billion from the U.S. Treasury Department's Exchange Stabilization Fund by Executive Order. Congress did not authorize it. And it was done, not for the Mexican banks sake, but for the big Wall Street banks, Citibank, Bankers Trust, and others that were over-exposed to risk for bad loans they made in Mexico. PBS's Bill Moyers calls it "Crony capitalism", "and so the idea got started that Washington would be there with a prop, with a bailout, with a helping hand." [174]
Bill Clinton addressed a letter to HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros on November 3, 1994. In it he instructed Cisneros to
“ | dramatically increase homeownership in our nation over the next six years. I request that you report back to me within six months, with a concrete strategy involving the private and public sectors, and all levels of government, that builds on the base of the more than 1.5 million additional families who have been able to buy their own homes...to ensure that families currently underrepresented among homeowners - particularly minority families, young families, and low-income families - can partake of the American Dream."[175] | ” |
On June 5, 1995, Clinton and Cisneros[176] unveiled one hundred things the Clinton administration planned to do to "increase home ownership to two-thirds of the population"[177] in the United States.
Clinton's plan spoke approvingly of a "no-down payment 100 Percent Mortgage Financing Program" used by one of the "Strategy partners".[178] Where down payments could not be eliminated, the plan called for use of "a second, unsecured, interest-free loan to cover the down payment and other costs."[179] The administration praised Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for their efforts to promote lending flexibility: "In recent years many mortgagees have increased underwriting flexibility. This increased flexibility is due, at least in part to … liberalized affordable housing underwriting criteria established by secondary market investors such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac."[180] To illustrate the desirable flexibility the Strategy cited a program that "allows for nontraditional employment histories, employment histories with gaps, short-term employment, and frequent job changes."[181]
Clinton's first priority while coming into office was a $60 billion stimulus package largely viewed as a payoff to big city mayors for Get-Out-The-Vote efforts. He also sent Congress a proposal to reduce the deficit in eleven years. However, the country's real problem was that about half of government spending goes to nondiscretionary entitlement programs such as social security and medicare. Refusing to control domestic spending, he increased taxes on ordinary consumers for gasoline, heating oil, and natural gas, breaking his campaign pledge not to raise taxes.[182] On Aug. 10, 1993, the largest tax increase in history was signed into law, raising taxes by almost $280 billion over five years.[183] Instead of middle-class tax relief, President Clinton chose to include in his $241 billion tax plan higher federal gasoline taxes, tax hikes on Social Security recipients, and steep income tax hikes on small business owners.[184] Conservatives blocked some proposals, such a new $71 billion BTU energy tax that would have cost the typical family nearly $500 per year.
In 1993 President Clinton sought to increase taxes on Social Security benefits of the elderly and disabled.[185] The final version of the bill passed by the Democratically controlled Congress increased taxes on beneficiaries from the first 50% to 85%[186] of benefits (or "annuity payments" as they were originally called). Vice President Al Gore cast the deciding tie-breaker vote in the Senate to make the tax increase law. The Clinton-Gore tax increase on Social Security benefits imposed a 70% income tax rate on a retired couple making as little as $22,000 per year.[187]
In 1994 Clinton invited his longtime golfing buddy, Sen. Christopher Dodd, to serve as chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and its chief fundraiser. Dodd also occupied the position of ranking Democrat, and later chairman of the Senate Banking Committee tasked with oversight of the nation's banks and financial institutions. Dodd left the DNC in 1997, after accusations that he mishandled charges that a top DNC fundraiser had collected millions in illegal donations.[188]
FBI special agent Gary Aldrich reported, James Carville and former Clinton adviser, now ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos confirmed, after the Gingrich Revolution of 1994 the Clinton administration ran a dirt-digging operation out of the Office of the White House Chief of Staff. "They hired upwards of 36 lawyers to staff the operation to handle 40 different cases," Aldrich, on White House duty at the time, said. "Once it became known that they had such an operation, then the blackmail itself took place." Carville and Stephanopoulos stated publicly there would be a "scorched-earth policy", and that everyone who had "skeletons in their closet" would be exposed.[189][190] Hard on the heels of these threats news that "a reporter" was about to break a story confirming the White House's use of investigators to dig up dirt on critics and investigators. The 28 year old son of Brit Hume of Fox News, Sandy Hume, was found dead in his home from an "apparent" suicide.[191] The Clinton attack machine concocted a narrative Sandy Hume took his life because he was a gay alcoholic.[192] CNN reported on private divorce papers of Newt Gingrich were indeed removed from what was alleged sealed storage at the Carroll County, Georgia courthouse, "when he (Gingrich) became the center of attention." The documents were later made public by CNN.[193]
In 1995 President Clinton and Congressional Republicans fought a bitter battle over the new federal budget. Clinton vetoed the Republican's efforts to move toward a balanced budget, claiming that it cut social programs. Speaker Gingrich believed that Clinton would back down and approve the budget. If not, the entire government would shut down because of lack of funds. Clinton allowed just that, and by doing so gained political capital by successfully blaming that shut down on Republicans. Clinton always opposed a balanced budget until it was reality.[194]
In February 1996 HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros forwarded a memo to Bill Clinton. The memo, from the California Active Citizenship Campaign (ACC), complained of a backlog of alien applications for naturalization in Los Angeles. It contained the words: "INS inaction [on the backlog] will deny 300,000 Latinos the right to vote in the 1996 presidential elections [sic] in California."
Documents show that Clinton asked Doug Farbrother of the National Performance Review (NPR) staff to look into removing barriers to citizenship not only in Los Angeles but also in San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and Miami — major cities in four swing states. The INS concentrated on aliens in key states — California, Florida, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, and Texas — that hold a combined 181 electoral votes, just 89 short of the total needed to win the election. In a memo to the President, Farbrother noted Commissioner Meissner’s concern that expediting the backlog might look politically motivated and suggested two options. Farbrother stated that "we can reduce — but not eliminate -- the risk of controversy over our motives by appointing one of our proven NPR reinventors as Deputy INS Commissioner . . . As part of the official INS management team, our reinventor would have more direct influence and the INS staff would be less likely to go public with complaints than they would over the interference of an outsider." The memo observed that "reinventors" should be put in many other agencies, as well, to replace leaders who "don’t ‘get it.’"
The White House wanted any applicant for citizenship to be naturalized in time to register for the November election, so the pressure on the INS was constant. On March 21 Elaine Kamarck in the Vice President’s office sent an e-mail to Farbrother saying: "THE PRESIDENT IS SICK OF THIS AND WANTS ACTION. IF NOTHING MOVES TODAY WE’LL HAVE TO TAKE SOME PRETTY DRASTIC MEASURES." Farbrother responded, "I favor drastic measures." If he couldn’t get what he wanted from the INS, he wrote, he would "call for heavy artillery."
Federal regulations require that, for an alien to obtain citizenship, his application for naturalization (citizenship) must be accompanied by a complete set of the alien’s fingerprints. The fingerprint cards are then sent to the FBI to determine if the applicant has a criminal or arrest record. The law provides that an application may be denied if the alien has a serious criminal record or if he falsely denies ever having been arrested, even if he was never convicted.
In the INS district offices, the alien applicant for naturalization cannot be scheduled for a personal interview until at least 60 days after the application is submitted. This delay is specifically intended to allow sufficient time for an FBI fingerprint check. If the check reveals an arrest record identification, the arrest report is inserted in the alien’s file prior to the interview. An arrest record does not automatically result in a denial of citizenship, but it alerts an examiner to spend additional time questioning the applicant and to request that he furnish further information.
If there is no criminal arrest record in the file prior to the interview, the examiner will assume that none exists. For that reason, the INS has always considered the FBI fingerprint check to be the only practical way of preventing violent felons, dope peddlers, and the like from obtaining citizenship. Any breakdown in the collecting, checking, and reporting of the fingerprints can cause a breakdown of the entire process.
Congressional investigators discovered that FBI arrest records that were being sent to INS offices simply were not being inserted into the aliens’ files. As a result, aliens with criminal records were being granted citizenship.
Shortly after being inauguarated, Clinton signed an executive order establishing the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" rule. Congress later passed legislation that was very similar. In 2010, the law was found unconstitutional in federal court after a suit brought by Log Cabin Republicans, a homosexual rights and advocacy organization.[195]
After ignoring the controversial issue on the campaign stump, one of his first acts in 1993 was a call for an immense overhaul of the nation's medical care system. The Clintons proposed a plan using regional insurance purchasing agencies along with tax subsidies and transfer payments to implement universal coverage. He and his advisers believed the plan would be acceptable to employers and larger insurance companies, but the plan was opposed by popular sentiment and a well-financed campaign. The pla put immense burdens on small business employers, which feared they could not afford it. The insurance industry, doctor organizations, and medical professionals also opposed it. Republicans argued that it was too costly and imposed too great a burden on government. Congressional Democrats were divided on the issue. Faced with public opposition and a two year national debate, the Clinton plan failed without the Democratic Congress even going on record to a vote.
Skocpol (1996) suggests the major mistake may have been in emphasizing the cost-reducing aspect of the plan, not realizing that Americans were willing to pay for a government program that would provide generous benefits to them. The fear that Clinton's proposals would lead to the sort of health care rationing prevalent in Canada and other countries further troubled the voters. Starr (1997) notes that Clinton sought to achieve liberal ends of universal coverage through the conservative means of managed competition among private health plans, with a backup cap on the rate of growth in average insurance premiums. This approach had a political as well as policy rationale. It was meant to be the basis of an alliance that could include conservative Democrats and moderate Republicans and thereby achieve the majorities necessary for congressional passage. But what we saw as compromise, they did not—especially as the very locus of the political center shifted to the right during the debate. Health care reform that seemed "inevitable" to many serious observers at the start became unthinkable by the end. Polls showed strong initial support, but he never secured passage in either house of Congress and Republican victory in the 1994 elections doomed his plans.
Assistant Attorney General Jamie Gorelick created a 1995 classified memo that forced a wall preventing communication between intelligence agencies and law enforcement organizations, which had the consequence of indirectly setting up the events of the September 11 attacks later on.[196]
Clinton's popularity had slipped by 1994 and the GOP, under Newt Gingrich launched a national midterm campaign based on a Republican "Contract with America". The centerpiece of the proposals was a balanced budget, along with lower taxes, welfare reform, tougher anti-crime laws, term limits for Congress, and revised rules in Congress. Clinton responded by calling it "extreme".[197]
In the elections of 1994, the Democrats lost 54 seats in the House of Representatives, and 8 seats in the Senate (followed by two defections after the election), giving the Republicans a majority in both houses of Congress for the first time since 1954. The Republicans also had a net gain of 12 governors' seats in that election.
Analysts have suggested many causes for the drastic change in political sentiment in the country between 1992 and 1994; among the causes suggested were voter disgust at Congressional scandals mainly implicating Democrats, voter distrust of Clinton after the presentation and defeat of the Clinton health care reform proposal—dubbed "Hillarycare"; the nationalization of the election by Gingrich's "Contract with America", and more skilled framing of issues by the Republicans in 1994.
In their first 100 days, the House passed most items of the Contract with America. Eventually, seven of ten items became law, with the term limits failing. Some GOP members voluntarily adhered to the term limit pledge.
After the Republicans took control of Congress by the time of the 1996 reelection campaign the economy had improved. Unemployment and inflation was low, American wages increased, crime rates fell, and the number of people on welfare declined. The Republican Party nominated Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole. Ross Perot ran again, this time on the Reform Party, but his day was past. Clinton again won only a plurality with 49% of the popular vote. His personal victory had limited coattails, with Republicans retaining a clear majority in the Senate and a narrow majority in the House. It also marked the first time since 1926 and 1928 that the Republican Party carried the House in two consecutive elections.[198]
Clinton successfully hijacked the Reagan Recovery. By the mid-1990s, the "trickle down" of the 1980s turned into a flood of prosperity.
For a more detailed treatment, see Chinagate fundraising scandal.
Agents of China sought to give contributions to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) before the 1996 presidential campaign in violation of US law barring non-American citizens from donating money to American politicians and political parties.[199] This as well as a similar scandal dating back to the 1992 campaign was also suspected to have directly resulted in then-assistant Attorney General Jamie Gorelick creating a 1995 classified memo that forced a wall preventing communication between intelligence agencies and law enforcement organizations, which had the consequence of indirectly setting up the events of the September 11 attacks later on.[196]
With the Cold War over, government borrowing and interest rates were much lower, and after the Republicans won control of Congress the budget was not only balanced but a surplus was produced for the first time in memory. The reasons include reduction in defense spending after the Cold War (from 5% of GDP to 3%), a revenue burst from the dot-com bubble (the short-lived overexpansion of high tech), restraints on spending imposed by Newt Gingrich and the GOP Congress, and the fruition of Reagan era tax cuts for business research and development in the consumer electronics (computer and cell phone) industry.
Shortly after taking office in 1993, Clinton had been sued by a woman alleging sexual harassment during his tenure as Governor of Arkansas. Clinton had studiously avoided being called to testify in the civil case during his first term by gaining postponements. Upon re-election, a federal judge ordered the accuser could finally exercise her rights and have her day in court, and the case should proceed.
In testimony under oath, Clinton committed perjury. A special prosecutor, looking into a host of corruption allegations dating back to Arkansas, was instructed to pursue the matter.
Clinton made history by becoming the first U.S. president to testify in front of a grand jury in an investigation of his own possibly criminal conduct. In an address to the nation, he admitted to having misled the public and a Federal Court over keys elements of testimony.
Clinton was impeached by the U.S. House for perjury. His case was argued by Cheryl Mills at trial in the Senate for two counts: "perjury" and "obstruction of justice".[200] Although a majority of 55 Senators voted to convict, 45 voting against gained his acquittal, a two thirds majority necessary to remove him from office.
David Gergen, former White House Communications Director for both Presidents Reagan and Clinton, summarized the hurt of the President's misconduct:
“ | The deep and searing violation took place when he not only lied to the country, but co-opted his friends and lied to them....when you have gone over the line, you won't bring others into it...You don't foul the nest."[201] | ” |
Clinton lost his law license because he had committed ethical violations for lying in federal court. It was during this scandal that Clinton famously stated: "It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is".[202]
President Clinton signed into law the Financial Modernization Act of 1999 in November of the same year. The Act repealed parts of the Depression era Glass-Steagall Act. In signing President Clinton remarked, "It is true that the Glass-Steagall law is no longer appropriate for the economy in which we live."[203] The Glass-Steagall Act strictly regulated Bank Holding Companies (BHCs) and the types of assets banks could hold as part of their capitalization. The formal repeal allowed for large banks, such as Goldman Sachs, to form newly created Financial Holding Companies (FHCs) and merge with insurers and other financial institutions with potentially riskier liabilities. By 2008, the result of the repeal of Glass-Steagall was "too big to fail" behemoths like Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. The repeal of Glass-Steagall is considered one of the larger contributing factors to the Financial crisis of 2008.[204]
The repeal of Glass-Steagall also was recognition of other changes that had taken place, such as the Federal Reserves' revision of Regulation Y in 1997, making it easier for Bank Holding Companies with a satisfactory Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) rating to receive quicker approval for new acquisitions and engage in other activities. University of Texas-Dallas economist Stan Liebowitz noted, “Banks that got poor reviews were punished; some saw their merger plans frustrated; others faced direct legal challenges from the Justice Department.[205] Alice Rivlin, Clinton's Budget Director whom he later appointed to the Federal Reserve, said it would make the banking system "operate better as a result."[206]
When Citibank sought federal approval for a merger with Travelers Group, it was only OK'd by the Clinton administration after it promised to provide $115 billion for Community Reinvestment Act "anti-redling" loans. Promises made by other financial institutions added up to $600 billion between 1993 and 1998, according to a 2000 Treasury Department report.[207]
Franklin Raines, Vice Chairman of Fannie Mae, was appointed by Clinton as Director of the the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in 1996; in 1999, he returned to Fannie Mae as CEO. One of his first acts was to lower Fannie Mae's underwriting guidelines and begin purchasing subprime mortgages implementing Clinton's National Homeownership Strategy under the Community Reinvestment Act.[208] Raines was named (along with Bill Clinton) by Time magazine on it's list of 25 People to Blame for the Financial Crisis of 2008.[209]
Clinton hired Peter Orszag as Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy in 1997; as concern grew over Raines management of Fannie Mae, Raines hired Orszag to reassure investor's fears about the safety of Fannie Mae's purchase of subprime mortgages. Orszag made the fantastic claim that Fannie Mae's risk of insolvency was 1 in 500,000, and more likely 1 in 3 million. After Fannie Mae really did collapse, Barack Obama then made Orzsag his Budget Director.
When Raines took the appointment at Fannie Mae, Clinton replaced his services with Jack Lew, who worked in the Clinton White House throughout all eight years. Upon leaving the White House Lew secured a job at Citibank as Chief Operations Officer on Robert Rubins recommendation. Lew received $1 million in salary and a $950,000 bonus - after it failed and was bailed out in 2009.[210] From there Barack Obama re-hired him as Budget Director to replace Orszag, promoted him to Chief of Staff, and later Secretary of the Treasury.[211]
In July 1997, Enron CEO Ken Lay met with President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore in the Oval Office. Enron had begun a pattern of soft money donations to Democrats and the Clinton White House years earlier. Clinton, Lay, and Gore discussed approval of the Kyoto protocols on carbon emissions.[212] Clinton asked Lay for his views "in advance of a climate treaty to be negotiated at an international conference." Clinton agreed to support Lay's proposal for a carbon emissions trading exchange[213] which Enron hoped to profit from hugely, while American consumers would pay steep price increases for electricity and natural gas. Enron also asked for and received from Clinton's Export-Import Bank a $300 million loan to build a power plant in India; four days later Enron donated $100,000 to the Clinton-Gore campaign.
The Republican Senate rejected the Kyoto treaty by a 95-to-0 vote on August 15, 1997.
Long-Term Capital Management (LTCM) was a hedge fund headed for bankruptcy in 1998 when a bailout arranged at the highest levels of the Clinton Administration saved it and its partners from ruin. Two years later it shut down.
Robert Rubin, whom Bill Clinton appointed Secretary of the Treasury in 1993, previously worked at Goldman Sachs for 26 years. Goldman was a major investor in LTCM, as were many top executives at other leading investment banks and foreign banks. LTCM was a hedge fund that exploited emerging capital markets in foreign nations without any regard for the havoc that its speculations caused there.[214] LTCM controlled contracts involving $160 billion at its peak, and it placed large short-term bets on securities issued by foreign governments.
When the bailout was arranged, LTCM's personal investors received $405 million at the taxpayers expense, which was $155 million more than another private offer, plus a guarantee that an additional $3.65 billion would remain in LTCM for three years. This sweetheart deal enabled the discredited management to remain in place indefinitely and recoup hundreds of millions of dollars. Details of the deal were kept secret.
Rubin resigned from the administration in 1999 to head up another one of the nation's largest banks, Citigroup. Under Rubin's leadership Citigroup got $45 billion of TARP bailout funds, $301 billion of loan guarantees, and an additional $13.4 billion subsidy under the government’s "too-big-to-fail" policy. After driving Citigroup into financial collapse, Rubin was paid $115 million to leave the company.[215]
President Clinton brought Rahm Emanuel into the White House in 1993 as part of his original staff, first serving as Assistant to the President for Political Affairs, and then Senior Adviser to the President for Policy and Strategy. 1998 Clinton appointed Emanuel to the Board of the government-sponsored enterprise Freddie Mac.[216][217] While on the board during the Clinton administration, Freddie Mac misreported its net income by 30.5 percent, and again in 2001 by 23.9 percent and in 2002 by 42.9 percent, defrauding investors according to the SEC. Freddie Mac's failure is regarded as one of the precipitating events of the Financial Crisis of 2008.
Emanuel later is reported to have sold up to $250,000 of Freddie Mac stock in an insider trading deal only days before the stock dropped by 10 percent — and weeks before it was publicly revealed that the entity was under criminal investigation for inflating earnings.[218] In 2009 Emanuel became President Obama's Chief of Staff.
Critics of Clinton argued that he lacked a knowledge of world affairs. In his 1992 speech at the Democrat National Convention, he devoted one minute to foreign policy issues in an oration that lasted an hour.[219] Clinton entered office after the U.S. won the Cold War, and the U.S. was the only superpower. There were no major foreign crisis during his presidency. His foreign policy was based on five principles: 1) strong alliances with Europe and Asia, 2) positive relations with former adversaries, 3) a global perspective on local conflicts, 4) the adaptation of national security priorities to incorporate technological advances, and 5) effective economic integration.[220]
Butfoy (2006) argues that in the 1990s the "revolution in military affairs" (RMA), which produced "smart" weapons like cruise missiles, came of age. This apparently transformed how America viewed the relationship between force and international relations. It looked as though technology was framing foreign policy. In particular, smart weapons enabled Clinton to combine risk minimization with an expanded security agenda. However, we should be wary of ascribing technological determinism to the conflicts of the 1990s dominated by Washington's flexing of its strategic superiority, such as its bombing of Belgrade. As shown by comparison with US strategy after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Washington's stance in the 1990s was shaped by linkages between technology and specific political circumstances. As these circumstances changed, so did the RMA's place in US efforts to shape world order.
During his first term as president, Clinton deceived the public into believing that Serbia was committing genocide in Bosnia.[221][222][223] During his second term, Bill Clinton launched the Kosovo War after he falsely accused Serbia of genocide,[224][225] as the Clinton State Department claimed that 100,000 Kosovo Albanians were killed or missing, when the causalities was actually 11,000,[226] and later 3,000.[225] Previously, the Clinton State Department once admitted that the Kosovo Liberation Army is a terrorist organization.[227][228]
The first Clinton administgration essentially paid North Korea to build its nuclear weapon provided it would not interfere with Bill Clinton's efforts to win re-election.[229] The Clinton's effectively submitted to blackmail from North Korea.[230]
From 1985 to 1992, North Korea "bought time" for its nuclear weapons program by entering into a series of agreements under which it promised to "de-weaponize" its reactors and halt further production of plutonium. The Clinton administraion forged a deal with Kim Il-sung during Clinton's first term known as the Agreed Framework signed on 21 October 1994 that North Korea would supposedly halt its nuclear program.[231]
In addition to the oil supplied under the 1994 Agreed Framework, North Korea depended on the United States and other countries for free, unconditional food aid while making no committment reform of its Stalinist agricultural system.[232]
Once Clinton won re-election however, North Korea had violated most of the terms of the non-proliferation agreements and withdrew from the rest. By 2000 the money the Clonton administration paid to North Korea amounted to over $61 million. After the Clinton's left office in 2001, and Bush administration no longer paying the blackmail money in the form of food aid and humanitarian assistanc, North Korea tested it's nuclear bomb it had built with aid paid by the Clinton administration.
In 1999, Bill Clinton said in a press conference with Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji that bringing China into the World Trade Organization (WTO) “on fair commercial terms” would “go far toward leveling the playing field for [U.S.] companies and [U.S.] workers in China’s markets” and “commit China to play by the rules of the international trading system.”[233]
The Arab terrorist group al-Qaeda conducted a World Trade Center bombing in 1993, simultaneous bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, and the attack on the USS Cole in 2000. Clinton bombed al-Qaeda bases in Afghanistan in response, but meanwhile 19 terrorists were plotting an even more ghastly attack on America which took place on September 11, 2001, eight months after Clinton left office.
Former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger was convicted of theft the National Archives for removing damaging evidence of the Clinton White House negligence in dealing with the threat from Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda prior to the 9/11 attacks.
Supporters of human rights faulted Clinton’s ideological transition from Wilsonian idealism to realism, especially regarding China and Bosnia. They gave high marks for his efforts at pushing peace negotiations in Haiti and the Middle East, the use of economic sanctions against North Korea, India, and Pakistan, and his efforts to get a chemical weapons convention. However, they give low marks in terms of human rights for inaction on the genocide in Rwanda and the Russian repression of secessionist Chechnya.
Marc Rich, who likewise was implicated in the BCCI scandal,[234] and his wife Penny, contributed $450,000 to Bill Clinton's campaigns and were granted last minute pardons for vtiolating U.S. tax laws. Former President Jimmy Carter publicly called it "disgraceful".[235] Eric Holder, who later served as Barack Obama's Attorney General, arranged the pardons.[236]
Henry Cisneros who initially oversaw the expanded sub-prime mortgage scheme, in 1995 was indicted on 18 counts of conspiracy, false statements and obstruction of justice. He was pardoned by Bill Clinton in January 2001.
Weather Underground terrorists Linda Evans and Susan Rosenberg also received pardons.[237]
On August 11, 1999, President Clinton offered clemency to members of the Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN) terrorist group.[238] On January 24, 1975 the FALN bombed Fraunces Tavern in Manhattan killing four people. Over a six-year period, the group claimed responsibility for more than 100 bombings that took six lives and injured some 130 people.[239] Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder was credited with with an "unconscionable" effort to circumvent the standard pardon process, not consulting with the U.S. Department of Justice's pardon attorney and keeping deliberations hidden from the district U.S. attorney and investigative agencies.
After leaving office, Clinton re-indulged the debauched lifestyle his loyal supporters always excused.
Clinton has spent much of time since leaving office fundraising for his wife's efforts to rehabilitate his reputation. The Clinton Foundation raised $3 billion dollars to donate to Democratic state parties and Superdelegates for her 2016 presidential bid.[240][241] He also grabbed a few headlines working for charitable causes such as support and fund-raising for the victims of AIDS and the Asian tsunami. In the case of the Indian Ocean tsunami, he teamed with former president George H.W. Bush to raise money for relief efforts.
Bill Clinton's wife, Hillary Clinton, was elected Senator to New York in 2000. She was reelected in 2006. Despite winning the popular vote in primaries for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008 Barack Obama outbid her in donations to Superdelegates.[242]
Between 2010 and 2014 while Hillary Clinton served as Secretary of State, Bill Clinton made $16.5 million for his role as honorary chancellor of Laureate Education, a for-profit college company.[243] The State Department funneled $55 million in grants during Hillary Clinton’s tenure to groups associated with Laureate’s founder. The International Youth Federation, an organization connected to Laureate chairman Douglas Becker, received USAID funding.[244] Becker is a major donor to the Clintons and the Clinton Foundation.[245][246]
In her first year as Secretary of State, Hillary is quoted as directly asking that Laureate be included in a high-profile policy dinner — just months before the lucrative contract was given to Bill Clinton. Hillary Clinton later references “Laureate Universities, started by Doug Becker who Bill likes a lot".[247]
Clinton was criticized by both liberals and conservatives for his actions in his wife's presidential campaign. Time called him "his wife's attack dog".[248] Although he had signed up most black leaders to support Hillary, the great majority of Black voters went for Obama. Clinton was accused of racism by implying that many voters chose Obama for reasons of race, rather than policy, saying that he succeeding in some regions for the same reason Jesse Jackson did. Sen. Ted Kennedy refused to support the Clintons after Bill Clinton's racist remarks.[135]
After Obama refused to give Hillary the Vice Presidential nomination, both Clintons fell into line and campaigned for Obama. Obama easily defeated Senator John McCain, and named Hillary Secretary of State.
While Hillary Clinton stumbled on the campaign trail for president in 2016, Clinton surrogates and apologists breathlessly awaited the release of Bill, her "not-so-secret weapon";[249] as Bill's performance on the trail faltered rumors abounded that Mr. Clinton was suffering from the early stages of syphlitic dementia.[250][251]
As Clinton spoke at the Democratic National Convention in support of Joe Biden, allegations by Jane Doe 15 in a lawsuit for damages against the estate of Jeffrey Epstein became public. The suit alleged that “Epstein conveyed to Jane Doe 15 how powerful he was and how helpful he could be in assisting Jane Doe 15 with her future goals, such as paying for college...He made a point of mentioning that he was close with Bill Clinton....Using this overwhelming power he had over Jane Doe 15, Epstein subjected her to a vicious, prolonged sexual assault.” News of Epstein’s name dropping came shortly after photographs surfaced depicting Clinton with another alleged sex abuse victim. The victim accused Epstein of raping her several times, told the Daily Mail that the photos were taken in September 2002 after Clinton fell asleep on the Lolita Express on an alleged "humanitarian" trip to Africa. Clinton was 56 at the time of the photos and victim was 22.[252]
Documents unsealed in late July 2020 contain statements of Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre, who told an attorney that the former president visited Epstein’s private island.
Of the $1.6 million Clinton earned in salary[254] as President for 8 years, Clinton agreed to pay $850,000,[255] or more than 53% in a legal settlement with Paula Jones to satisfy claims for damages to her reputation.
Every President since William Howard Taft in 1910 has served as Honorary President of the Boy Scouts of America during his term in office. In 2000 it was reported the Boy Scouts national office revoked the title afforded to Bill Clinton after thousands of complaints. Numerous Eagle Scouts returned their certificates of achievement bearing Clinton's signature and requested a replacement without it.[256]
As with all modern Presidents, members of the Clinton Administration and Clinton's supporters were solicited to fund the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, Arkansas. This includes a Presidential Library operated by the National Archives and Records Administration, and is the third Presidential Library to comply with the Presidential Records Act of 1978.[257] Clinton has also been criticized for the library's lack of coverage regarding various scandals during his presidency, including the Whitewater scandal. The museum's main exhibit designer has said that "this is the way the president wanted to see his legacy defined."[257] The center contains a museum, the offices of the Clinton Foundation, and the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service. A museum store is located at the edge of the park in a shopping district.
Fund-raising for the center was led by Terry McAuliffe, a friend of Clinton's who later served as Governor of Virginia. On January 20, 2001, his last day in office, Clinton pardoned former financier Marc Rich, a fugitive who had been charged with multiple counts of racketeering, wire fraud, income tax evasion, and illegal oil trading. Rich's wife, Denise Eisenberg Rich, was reported to have made three donations totaling nearly $1,000,000 to Clinton's presidential library fund, as well as multiple other contributions to the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton's senate campaign. It was later found that she only made three payments totaling $450,000 to the fundraiser. The Senate Judiciary Committee investigated the pardon and issued subpoenas for Denise Rich's bank records because she refused to testify before the House Government Reform Committee, asserting her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
Although Clinton had decided to locate the library in Little Rock, Hillary Clinton later decided to run for the Senate from New York State and the couple established legal residency in New York and purchased a home in Chappaqua, New York, in September 1999. After leaving the White House, Bill Clinton established an office in Harlem, New York instead of Little Rock.
In October 2021 Clinton was hospitalized for 5 days with a syphilitic urinary tract infection that spread into his bloodstream.[258]
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