-Caveat Lector-
New York Times-February 23, 2001
Clinton's Brother Sought Pardons for Some Friends
By DAVID JOHNSTON AND DON VAN NATTA Jr.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 � The furor over President Bill Clinton's
pardons intensified today as Congressional investigators focused
on Roger Clinton and his efforts to win pardons for friends and
associates from his brother, government officials said.
In discussions with his brother, Roger Clinton sought clemency
for about 10 people, although he was not paid for his efforts,
said Julia Payne, an aide to the former president. Ms. Payne
added that all of the requests were denied. Congressional
officials said they were investigating Roger Clinton's assertions
that he had pressed for the pardons without pay.
As Congressional investigators broadened their inquiry in
Washington, federal prosecutors in New York in the office of
United States Attorney Mary Jo White expanded their criminal
inquiry to determine whether efforts were made to buy pardons in
some cases, the officials said.
While the investigations rapidly accelerated beyond the initial
inquiry into Mr. Clinton's pardon of the fugitive commodities
trader Marc Rich, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton told reporters
today that she played no role in any of the dozens of pardons
that her husband granted. She expressed chagrin that her brother
Hugh Rodham accepted a large fee as a pardon lobbyist. [Excerpts,
Page A15.]
Mrs. Clinton's effort to quell the outcry came as President Bush
appeared, for the first time, to encourage Congressional
investigators even as he repeated his past statement that he
wanted to move beyond issues raised by his predecessor.
"I understand there's going to be some people on Capitol Hill
that are going to be asking questions," Mr. Bush said in a news
conference. "That's their right to do so. But I can assure you,
our White House is moving forward. And to the extent the Justice
Department looks into this matter, it will be done in a non-
political way."
In another development, Clinton aides said today that Mrs.
Clinton's Senate campaign treasurer helped obtain last-minute
pardons for two convicted felons from President Clinton. The
treasurer, William Cunningham III, a New York lawyer, is the law
partner of Harold Ickes, an adviser to the Clintons.
In an interview today, Mr. Ickes said a friend, whom he declined
to identify, came to him in January and asked him to help obtain
pardons for James Manning and Robert Fain, who were convicted on
tax evasion charges in 1982. Mr. Ickes said he told the friend
that he was not practicing law, and referred him to Mr.
Cunningham, a former assistant United States attorney.
Mr. Cunningham, who is with the Mineola firm of Meyer, Suozzi,
English & Klein, drew up the paperwork and on Jan. 16 sent it to
the pardon office at the Department of Justice. Mr. Ickes's
partner at the Washington firm of Ickes & Enright, Janice
Enright, sent the pardon applications to the White House, Mr.
Ickes said.
Mr. Ickes said that he had no discussions with President Clinton
or Mrs. Clinton about the pardons, and that he received no money.
He said Mr. Cunningham charged the men on an hourly basis,
receiving a total of about $4,000.
Roger Clinton's lobbying became known one day after Hugh Rodham,
President Clinton's brother-in-law, agreed to return a fee of
$400,000 that he was paid to help two men who received a
presidential pardon and a grant of clemency on Jan. 20, Mr.
Clinton's last day in office.
Former White House aides said tonight that Roger Clinton had
given the president a list of pardon candidates in 1998 and
another list in December or January, when he made a personal
appeal to his brother. None of those people received pardons.
"Roger Clinton did present a list," Ms. Payne said of the most
recent request. "I don't know how many names. Less than 10. Most
were friends and acquaintances. All his pardons were denied."
The pardons, along with expensive gifts that the Clintons took
with them as they left office, have clouded Mrs. Clinton's effort
to establish herself as the new Democratic senator from New York.
Even so, she swept into a Senate office building and coolly
responded to reporters' questions.
"I was just heartbroken and shocked by it," she said of the
payment to her brother. "And, you know, immediately said it was a
terrible misjudgment and the money had to be returned."
Mrs. Clinton suggested that had she known in advance of her
brother's lobbying effort, she would have tried to stop it.
Congressional investigators have asked Mr. Rodham to explain his
role in the successful effort to obtain pardons for Carlos
Vignali, a convicted drug dealer, and Almon Glenn Braswell, an
herbal supplement marketer convicted of fraud and perjury.
Prosecutors for Ms. White, the United States attorney in New
York, are also investigating the pardons.
Mr. Rodham's lawyer, Nancy Luque, has said her client did nothing
wrong.
Today, Sheriff Lee Baca of Los Angeles County issued a statement
saying that Mr. Rodham telephoned him in January during the
effort to obtain a pardon for Mr. Vignali. Sheriff Baca said Mr.
Rodham told him that he would soon receive a call from an
unidentified "staff assistant."
When the staff assistant called, the sheriff said he was asked
his opinion of Mr. Vignali's father, Carlos Vignali Sr., and
whether the pardon should be granted. He said he replied that he
was not familiar with the facts of the case.
In a letter sent to Roger Clinton today, investigators on the
House Government Reform Committee asked whether he had been paid
by anyone seeking a pardon or commutation from his brother.
Specifically, investigators asked whether Roger Clinton played
any role in the pardons and commutations granted to four people.
They are Mr. Vignali, a California first- time offender convicted
in 1994 of conspiring to sell 800 pounds of cocaine; Mr.
Braswell, a Miami businessman who was convicted of mail fraud and
perjury in 1983; Philip Young, a Louisiana man convicted in 1992
of illegal transport of fish and wildlife; and Mitchell Couey
Wood, who was convicted of cocaine possession charges in 1986 in
Arkansas.
Congressional investigators said they had information that Roger
Clinton received $30,000 from Mr. Vignali and $15,000 from Mr.
Young. But the investigators cautioned that they had no hard
evidence of the payments. Mr. Young's lawyer, Gene O'Daniel, did
not return phone calls to his office today.
A Clinton aide who spoke with Roger Clinton today said that Mr.
Clinton said he did not know Philip Young, and that he did not
receive any money in exchange for supporting applications for
clemency. The pardon request for Mr. Young, the aide said, went
to the Justice Department and was then forwarded to the White
House.
Mr. Wood and Roger Clinton were the subjects in a federal cocaine
inquiry in Arkansas in the 1980's. In an interview with The Wall
Street Journal last month, Mr. Wood said that he had applied for
a pardon several years ago but had not "seen Roger in 15 years."
On Jan. 20, Roger Clinton, 44, himself received a pardon for a
1985 cocaine possession conviction for which he had served one
year in prison. Last week, Roger Clinton was arrested and charged
with drunken driving and disturbing the peace after an
altercation in Los Angeles.
In developments related to the initial investigation, documents
given to the House Government Reform Committee today confirmed
that Denise Rich, Mr. Rich's former wife, made three
contributions totaling $450,000 to the Clinton presidential
library. The records also show that Beth Dozoretz, the former
Democratic National Committee fund-raiser and friend of Ms. Rich,
pledged to raise $1 million for the library.
But the library foundation declined to comply with requests for a
number of other documents, including a a list of individuals who
donated or pledged more than $5,000.
David E. Kendall, a foundation lawyer, said the request violated
the First Amendment rights of the contributors and represented an
"intrusion" into the operation of a presidential library.
Representative Dan Burton, the Indiana Republican who chairs the
government reform committee, said Mr. Kendall's answer was
"unacceptable." The committee made plans to subpoena Skip
Rutherford, the president of the Clinton library.
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Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
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