-Caveat Lector-
NYTimes
February 10, 2001
Documents Show a Complex Campaign to Win a Pardon
By ALISON LEIGH COWAN
WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 — Lawyers and advisers to the financier Marc
Rich joined his former wife in choreographing a complex legal and
political campaign to win a last-minute pardon from President
Bill Clinton, whose own legal advisers opposed the pardon, newly
released documents and interviews show.
The effort, which drew in operatives in Israel and Switzerland as
well as a Washington team that included a former finance chairman
of the Democratic National Committee, culminated in Mr.
Clinton's granting a pardon that has raised questions of improper
influence. The Rich pardon was the subject of a confrontational
Congressional hearing on Thursday, with more hearings planned.
A spokesman for the House Committee on Government Reform said
today that the panel would issue subpoenas next week for the bank
records of Denise Rich and the list of donors to the Clinton
library after Ms. Rich's lawyer disclosed that Ms. Rich had
contributed to the library.
"In every investigation of this sort where money is involved or
contributions are involved," the spokesman, Mark Corallo, said,
"the only way to establish any kind of causal relationship is to
look at bank records."
Ms. Rich, who refused to testify at the hearing and cited her
Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, played a larger
role in the effort than previously known, the documents show,
although much of it was done at the urging of her former
husband's lawyers. Besides writing at least one letter to Mr.
Clinton in support of her ex-husband's pardon, and following up
with a phone call, Ms. Rich also buttonholed Mr. Clinton about
the pardon at a White House party on Dec. 20 after wresting him
away from Barbra Streisand, a witness said.
Ms. Rich and her friend Beth Dozoretz, the former finance
chairman of the Democratic National Committee and a close friend
and big financial supporter of both Bill and Hillary Rodham
Clinton, then monitored pardon developments together from Ms.
Rich's home in Aspen, Colo.
According to e-mail messages released on Thursday by the House
committee, Ms. Dozoretz spoke to Mr. Clinton on Jan. 10 about
the pardon on the telephone and told Ms. Rich while they were in
Colorado that Mr. Clinton "wants to do it."
One hitch, she reported, was that he had to do "all possible to
turn around" the White House counsels who were opposed.
Ms. Rich's lawyer has also told the government committee that
she gave an "enormous sum of money" to the Clinton library. A
Democratic fund-raiser today amended an earlier statement to say
that she pledged $450,000 in three transactions between July 1998
and May 2000.
The stacks of time-stamped e-mail messages yield a rare glimpse
into a process with little oversight. Presidential pardons are
irrevocable and can be awarded without explanation.
The e-mail messages show that Mr. Rich's allies were taking no
chances. In trying to persuade Mr. Clinton to proceed over the
objections of influential aides, they armed him with testimonials
from public figures and worked up until the last minute to come
up with more connections to make the point, sometimes with
hilarious fervor.
In one e-mail message, dated Dec. 30, Mr. Rich's United States
lawyers ask whether Leah Rabin, the widow of the former Israeli
prime minister, might be approachable. Avner Azulay, Mr.
Rich's point man in Israel, responded: "Not a bad idea. The
problem is how do we contact her? She died last November."
In another flurry, Robert Fink, Mr. Rich's longtime lawyer in
New York, reported on Jan. 2 that he heard that the pardon
request was being taken seriously inside the White House but
lacked someone inside eager to push it. "We need a rabbi among
the people in the counsel's office," the e- mail message reads.
Mr. Azulay, having spent the previous six weeks compiling a book
of letters from Israeli and American Jewish leaders, took the
request literally and responded: "I don't understand the comment
about the rabbi. Our book is full of rabbis. Could you get more
specific?"
Much of the strategy was reflected in a Nov. 19 memorandum from
Mr. Fink to the other members of the team: Jack Quinn, the
Washington insider whom Mr. Rich hired nearly two years ago;
Kitty Behan, another of Mr. Rich's lawyers in Washington;
Gershon Kekst, a public relations executive in New York; and Mr.
Azulay, the former intelligence operative who runs Mr. Rich's
foundation in Israel.
The memorandum calls for finding someone "of high moral
authority" to press the case, a person who turns out to be Elie
Wiesel, and discusses the "need for secrecy." It also contains
reminders to consider "maximizing use of D.R.," an apparent
reference to Ms. Rich, and "How to deal with P.G.," a reference
to Pincus Green, Mr. Rich's longtime partner who was also
pardoned.
By Dec. 27, however, the strategists were considering severing
Mr. Green from the petition if it would give Mr. Clinton more of
an ability to approve Mr. Rich's pardon as an "individual
humanitarian act" rather than a disposition of the pair's prickly
legal problems. But two of the lawyers concluded that the
suggestion had come too late. "Delinking now would be hard,"
they write.
Mr. Rich's lawyers seemed particularly concerned that Mr.
Clinton's lawyers in the White House would block the pardon. So
far, Beth Nolan and Bruce Lindsey have not publicly explained
their positions, but both are likely to be witnesses called by
Mr. Burton's committee.
On Dec. 25, between notations that Mr. Wiesel and Shimon Peres
had both weighed in with the White House in mid-December, Mr.
Quinn told his co-counsels that "the greatest danger lies with
the lawyers. I have worked them hard and I am hopeful that E.
Holder will be helpful to us," a reference to Eric H. Holder
Jr., the deputy attorney general in the Justice Department. Mr.
Holder was the only official in the department who seemed to have
any knowledge of the pardon, and yet he failed to consult the
prosecutors in New York who had brought the case against Mr.
Rich and Mr. Green 17 years ago.
The day before the pardon was signed, a top White House official
called Arthur Levitt, the departing chairman of the Securities
and Exchange Commission, to ask about Mr. Green, Mr. Levitt
recalled today. Mr. Levitt, who would not specify the caller,
said Mr. Green's name did not register until he was reminded
that Mr. Green was Mr. Rich's partner. Mr. Levitt, in turn,
consulted his enforcement staff and reported back that the cases
against the two men were out of his jurisdiction.
"I volunteered that I felt this was wrong, and he opined that it
was wrong and someone who was a fugitive should not be pardoned,"
Mr. Levitt said. Thinking that the official's obvious skepticism
on the matter meant it would not advance, he said regretfully
that he did not call his counterparts at the other agencies. "I
felt if he was against it, it wouldn't happen."
=================================================================
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! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
