Bill Clinton is a Democratic politician who served as President of the United States from January 20, 1993 until January 20, 2001. He is the husband of former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the father of Chelsea Clinton.
In December 1998 he was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives on two charges of perjury and obstruction of justice, both relating to false testimony in a sexual misconduct lawsuit filed against him by former Arkansas state employee Paula Corbin Jones. The federal judge overseeing Jones’ case later held Clinton in contempt of court for “giving false, misleading and evasive answers that were designed to obstruct the judicial process.” In citing Clinton for contempt, the judge stated she believed this was the first instance of a sitting President being held in contempt by a federal court. 5 134
In a 1999 cover story for the right-of-center National Review, Norman Podhoretz argued Clinton had serially betrayed his allies on the left, writing “this scoundrel, this perjurer, this disgrace to the presidency” had “pushed and pulled his party into moving in a healthier direction than it had been heading in since its unconditional surrender to the Left nearly thirty years ago.” 5
“If he had been a man of any principles at all, a man with something inside him besides the lust for power … he would have been incapable of betraying the people and the ideas he was supposed to represent,” wrote Podhoretz. “If he had not been so great a liar, he would have been unable to get away not only with his own private sins but with the political insults he was administering to some of his core constituencies.” 5
Making a similar point in a 1999 edition of the Weekly Standard, another right-of-center publication, David Frum wrote, “Since 1994, Clinton has offered the Democratic party a devilish bargain: Accept and defend policies you hate (welfare reform, the Defense of Marriage Act), condone and excuse crimes (perjury, campaign finance abuses), and I’ll deliver you the executive branch of government.” 5
Crime Policy
In September 1994, Clinton signed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, legislation passed by a Democratic-controlled Congress more commonly known as the 1994 “Crime Bill.” At the time Clinton pronounced it the “toughest, largest, smartest federal attack on crime in the history of our country.” 5
While trying to muster support for the proposal, which would have required Americans and their employers to purchase of comprehensive health insurance policies, Hillary Clinton portrayed the health insurance industry as an enemy of reform to rally against. Speaking to a group of pediatricians in November 1993 she said, “It is time for you and for every American to stand up and say to the insurance industry: ‘Enough is enough—we want our health care system back.’”5
Clinton-Lewinsky Scandal
On December 19, 1998, President Clinton became the second President in U.S history to be impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives. On February 12, 1999, after holding a trial and deliberating on the two articles of impeachment, the U.S. Senate held votes as to whether the House’s charges warranted removing President Clinton from office. The two roll calls resulted in 45 and 50 “guilty” votes of the 100 Senators, failing to register the two-thirds majority required by the U.S. Constitution to remove a President on either count.
The articles of impeachment charged Clinton with perjury and obstruction of justice. The allegations ultimately arose from statements the President made while being deposed eleven months earlier by U.S. District Court Judge Susan Webber Wright in a sexual misconduct lawsuit filed against Clinton by former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones. In April 1999 these statements led Judge Wright to cite the President for contempt of court for giving “false, misleading and evasive answers that were designed to obstruct the judicial process.” As such, Clinton became the first sitting U.S. President to be found in contempt by a federal court. 43
Currie testified that at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday night, January 17, 1998, Clinton called her less than three hours after he had concluded his deposition to the Jones lawyers and asked Currie to meet with him in the White House the next day, a Sunday afternoon. Currie told the grand jury that it was “rare for [President Clinton] to ask me to come in on Sunday.” 48
I’d like to ask you to help me secure a position in NY beginning 1 December. I would be very grateful, and I am hoping this is a solution for both of us. I want you to know that it has always been and remains more important to me to have you in my life than to come back. . . . Please don’t let me down. 48
According to the testimony of Lewinsky and the other individuals involved, the effort to help her find work grew to include several close associates of President Clinton, such as Vernon Jordan, White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles, Deputy Chief of Staff John Podesta, Clinton’s personal secretary Betty Currie, and United Nations Ambassador Bill Richardson. 49
Lewinsky accepted the Revlon job and in response Vernon Jordan sent word back to President Clinton: “Mission accomplished.” 5
In January 2008, Hitchens noted that what he wrote in that book (in a chapter he titled “Is there a rapist in the Oval Office?”) had “never been challenged by anybody in the fabled Clinton “rapid response” team.” 61
On September 20, 2000, independent counsel Robert Ray announced there was “insufficient evidence” to bring criminal charges against either of the Clintons in relation to the Whitewater land deal. Starr wrote in his book that his team had earlier reached a similar conclusion not to indict Hillary Clinton and again lamented the obstacles to doing so: “What would have happened if Vince Foster had been alive, if Webb Hubbell and Susan McDougal had been cooperative, we could only speculate.” The Wall Street Journal responded with an editorial declaring “the cover up worked.” 61 61
Less than two weeks after her August 1996 sentencing for participating in the $300,000 loan involving David Hale, McDougal was cited for contempt when she refused to answer questions about the President before a Whitewater grand jury. Less than three weeks later President Clinton told a PBS interviewer that he was considering giving pardons to Whitewater defendants. Susan McDougal maintained her silence for the remainder of the OIC’s investigation and received a presidential pardon from Clinton on his last day in office. 49
Hints of Hubbell’s willingness to protect the Clintons were indicated in recordings made of conversations between him and his wife, Suzy, while Hubbell was serving his prison sentence. According to a Washington Post account of the exchanges, Hubbell was considering a lawsuit against his former law firm that might “embarrass his former partners” and discussed it with his wife. Suzy, who was then still holding a job as a political appointee within the Clinton administration, warned her husband that she had received warnings about his loyalty from Marsha Scott, a White House aide and “longtime friend of President Clinton.” 66
“I’m hearing the squeeze play,” said Suzy, after stating it was her understanding that her job could be in jeopardy if Hubbell sued the firm and angered the White House. Replying to this concern, her husband said: “So I need to roll over one more time.” 66
Suzy also asked if a lawsuit exploring overbillings at the law firm could cause troubles for Hillary Clinton. Hubbell replied with a non-answer warning: “We’re on a recorded phone, Suzy.” 66
According to the Post, Hubbell also spoke directly with Marsha Scott that day—March 25, 1996—and asked her: “Have I ever been disloyal?” 66
“Oh, God, no,” said Scott. 66
“And I am not going to be here,” replied Hubbell. 66
According to the Wall Street Journal, March 25, 1996, was also the day David Hale was “sentenced to 28 months in prison for defrauding the federal government.” 2 As a cooperating witness for the OIC, Hale testified that Bill Clinton and Jim McDougal had pressured him to make a $300,000 loan to Susan McDougal, at least some of which was deposited into a Whitewater Development Corporation account. 63
The Washington Post account of Hubbell’s prison conversations with his wife also touches on media reports about payments he had received from the Lippo Group. “I’m not telling anybody what I did or what they paid me,” said Hubbell. 61
Other Controversies
Several controversies regarding the personal, political and business conduct of Bill and Hillary Clinton have emerged since his 1992 Presidential campaign.
Travelgate
In May 1993 White House aide David Watkins ordered the firing of the seven-person staff of the White House travel office. 69
Explaining the discrepancy between the Clinton and Watkins accounts, a Clinton lawyer declared it a “semantic quibble,” that his client had said that she did not have a “decision-making role” (as opposed to no role at all), and that the decision to fire the staff was made only by Watkins. 69
Citing eight conversations Hillary Clinton had with top White House staffers, the independent counsel issued this verdict on her veracity: “It is, in the independent counsel’s judgment beyond peradventure that as a matter of historical fact, Mrs. Clinton’s input into the process was a significant — if not the significant — factor influencing the pace of events in the travel office firings and the ultimate decision to fire the employees. Accordingly, the independent counsel concludes that Mr. Clinton’s sworn testimony that she had no input into Watkins’s decision or role in the travel office firings is factually inaccurate.” 69
In early November 2000, three weeks after the independent counsel issued this report, Hillary Clinton was elected to the United States Senate.
Execution of Ricky Ray Rector
In January 1992, in the run up to the New Hampshire Democratic Primary, a supermarket tabloid published an allegation from former Arkansas state employee Gennifer Flowers that she had been involved in an extra-marital affair with Clinton. Bill and Hillary Clinton made a joint appearance on CBS’s 60 Minutes, following the Super Bowl in February 1992, where he denied the affair took place. Flowers responded by revealing recordings of friendly phone calls between her and Clinton, seeming to validate that some type of very friendly relationship had existed. 5
Frady reported that Rector’s lawyer called every half hour on the day Clinton returned to Arkansas, hoping to speak to the governor, but was repeatedly denied access. Frady quoted the attorney’s pleas to Clinton’s staff: “Look, the Governor has said he was coming back to deal with the execution issue with Rector. I mean, who’s he gonna talk to, if not the defense attorneys?” 0){
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