-Caveat Lector- <http://www.newsmax.com/showinsidecover.shtml?a=2001/3/16/121156> For the story behind the story... Friday, March 16, 2001 1:08 p.m. EST Pardongate Flashback: Michael Chertoff Grills Dan Lasater The appointment of former U.S. attorney Michael Chertoff to head up the Bush Justice Department's criminal division could spell big trouble for the Clinton family, especially former first brother Roger, who's up to his eyeballs in swirling Pardongate allegations. Chertoff spent the better part of 1995 and 1996 as lead Republican counsel to the Senate Whitewater committee, where he investigated the Clintons' involvement in everything from a possible cover-up of Vincent Foster's mysterious death to Bill and Roger's connection to swaggering Little Rock bond dealer Danny Ray Lasater. Chertoff's May 1, 1996, grilling of Lasater is particularly pertinent right now, with the latest twist in the Pardongate probe focusing on Roger Clinton's dealings with Lasater's former business partner, fellow cocaine convict George E. "Butch" Locke. Excerpts from Lasater's testimony that day show that Chertoff already has a lot of background on Lasater and Locke, information that could be crucial to the pardons-for-cash probe currently being spearheaded by U.S Attorney for New York's Southern District Mary Jo White. CHERTOFF: You had a degree of involvement certainly in facilitating Roger Clinton's problem with drugs in the early '80s. Did you ever wonder if [then-Gov. Clinton] was going to take it out on you - was going to get angry at you for it? LASATER: Ah, ah, you know, I had a serious drug problem at the time. And I really wasn't making good judgment calls at that time or I wouldn't have been using cocaine in the first place. CHERTOFF: Well, that goes without saying. But you were capable of exercising enough judgment to be the principle in a bond-underwriting business, right? LASATER: Yes, sir. Chertoff soon began to read from the deposition of Arkansas State Trooper Barry Spivy, who guarded then-Gov. Clinton during the 1980s and sometimes served as his driver. CHERTOFF: (Quoting Spivy) "I probably took Bill down there by Dan's office to see Butch Locke, who had gotten into some legal problems and had to serve a little stint in the joint. Locke, Lasater - Butch Locke, Dan Lasater - and then Lasater bought them all out." Is that correct, by the way? Did Butch Locke go to jail? LASATER: Yes. CHERTOFF: So that part is correct. WHITEWATER COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN SEN. AL D'AMATO: Who is this fellow, Butch Locke? CHERTOFF: That was the partner with Collins, Locke and Lasater LASATER: Are you asking me that, Senator? D'AMATO: Yeah, OK. Yeah, I wanted to get a frame of reference. I don't know this fellow, Butch Locke. LASATER: He's a past state senator. He was also a partner in Collins, Locke and Lasater, and he was also indicted at the same time I was. Seconds later, Chertoff explored a trip Lasater took to South America where a business associate discussed a plan to assassinate a local official. CHERTOFF: You in fact did take this trip to Belize. LASATER: I did. CHERTOFF: And what was the reason for this trip? LASATER: There was a 12,000-acre cattle ranch that was shown to us by a man named Carver, I think it was, or Garver or something, out of Oklahoma ... CHERTOFF: You went down with a guy named Jim Alexander? LASATER: Yes. CHERTOFF: And he was walking around with a nightscope or something - one of these things you can use to see in the dark at night? LASATER: Right. CHERTOFF: I mean, that really happened, you're acknowledging that? LASATER: Well, that�s what I was told happened ... CHERTOFF: Did this fellow, Jim Alexander, also make some comment about taking the local land commissioner out and killing him or something like that? LASATER: Did what, now? CHERTOFF: Did this guy, Jim Alexander, who you flew down with, did he make some kind of a comment that it might be a good idea to take one of the local land commissioners out and get rid of him in some way? LASATER: There was a statement - something like that - made at dinner. CHERTOFF: Dinner with who? LASATER: We were with a group of local government people and my people. CHERTOFF: And what did Mr. Alexander say? LASATER: He said something to the effect that we just need to take him out. CHERTOFF: "Him" being some local official? LASATER: Right. CHERTOFF: And "take him out" you understood to mean kill him. LASATER: That was my interpretation. I got up and left the table immediately. CHERTOFF: Did Mr. Alexander fly back with you? LASATER: He did. While Roger Clinton didn't go on Lasater's trip to Belize, Chertoff discovered that the first brother was no stranger to Lasater's private jet. Chertoff questions Lasater here based again on the deposition of State Trooper Spivy. CHERTOFF: (Quoting Spivy) "I knew that [Bill Clinton] and Dan were friends, that they had visited socially. I had flown on his plane." Did troopers ever fly on your plane with Governor Clinton? LASATER: I don't know. I've never been on the plane with Governor Clinton, so I don't know who was on the plane with him. CHERTOFF: You've never been on the plane with Governor Clinton? LASATER: No. I've been on the plane with Roger Clinton but not Governor Clinton. Chertoff continued to read from Spivy's deposition, in which the former Clinton bodyguard described the governor and the convicted cocaine distributor as good friends. CHERTOFF: "I knew that Bill spent a lot of time at Dan's office and that Dan spent time at the mansion." Again, you dispute that? LASATER: I dispute that. CHERTOFF: "So I personally wouldn't log [Dan] in because it wasn't significant, it had no bearing on anything other than that it was a personal visit. .... He dropped in. I'm not saying that Bill didn't call him on his private line, or have maybe us call him and tell him to come by, where it would be just him by himself. And he would also come for public functions - not public, but official functions. And he would also come by himself, where it appeared to me that, the best I recall, where it would be just kind of drop-in things - or in and out." Is that true or false? LASATER: That's false. Another Lasater denial had to be withdrawn after Chertoff confronted the one-time Clinton crony with irrefutable evidence. CHERTOFF: On these issues of recommendations for particular appointments, did you have personal conversations where the governor used to call you up and check with you on recommendations? LASATER: No. CHERTOFF: Well, I'm going to put up for my last portion of this segment ... LASATER: (Interrupting) I don't recall, I don't recall that. CHERTOFF: Well I'll stimulate your memory. (Exhibit number) DKSN27450 please. It's a message pad from the governor's mansion. And it says, "Message for B.C. from Dan Lasater, number 376-0069." Was that your number at the time? LASATER: Yes. CHERTOFF: It says "Linda Trent's appointment to Arkansas Housing Development Agency. Please call Dan this A.M." And then we see ... in the governor's own hand a note, "He's for her." Now, do you remember the governor calling you to verify that you were for Linda Trent? LASATER: No, I don't recall that. CHERTOFF: Do you have reason to believe that when the governor wrote "He's for her" in response to this message having him call you back - do you have reason to doubt that he in fact called you back to ask you your opinion? LASATER: No, I don't dispute that. Undoubtedly, Michael Chertoff will be sharing his wealth of background information on Dan Lasater's connection to both Roger and Bill Clinton with lead Pardongate prober Mary Jo White. Both Dan Lasater and Butch Locke have told reporters they had hoped to get pardons when President Clinton pardoned his brother on Jan. 19. Neither did. ================================================================= Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT FROM THE DESK OF: *Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends ================================================================= <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! 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