Bill and Hillary Clinton left the White House three weeks ago, but the controversy that enveloped them soon afterward has only gained strength. Though the former president doesn’t have to worry about being politically damaged and Sen. Clinton is six years away from re-election, the taint of this episode will never be expunged.
There is genuine public outrage over the many gifts accepted by the Clintons on their way out the door, and the 140 pardons issued by the president at the final hour. The presents added up to $190,000 worth of silverware, furniture, art and the like.
Presidents have often accepted large gifts upon leaving office, but incoming senators normally don’t, since gifts are strictly regulated by Senate rules. And, it emerged, some of the items taken by the Clintons were given to the White House’s permanent collection, not the first family.
Caught in the act, the Clintons said they would pay for $86,000 in gifts received in 2000. They also promised to return $28,000 in gifts that were not intended for them.
The pardons, however, can’t be undone, and they look worse all the time. No fewer than 47 of them, it emerged, didn’t go through the normal Justice Department review. Fourteen of the recipients had filed petitions before, only to be denied. One pardon went to Almon Glenn Braswell, a businessman convicted in 1983 of mail fraud and perjury who was under active investigation for possible tax evasion and money laundering. Pardoning someone who is under suspicion of new crimes is unheard of.
But then, it’s unheard of for a president to pardon a fugitive who has never even faced charges in court–such as financiers Marc Rich and Pincus Green, who fled to Switzerland in 1983 after being indicted for tax fraud. They had the help of Rich’s ex-wife Denise, who pressed his case while donating more than a million dollars to Democratic party causes–as well as pledging a reported $1 million for Clinton’s presidential library.
At a House hearing Thursday, former Deputy Atty. Gen. Eric Holder Jr., who had known of the Rich request but done nothing to stop it, admitted that “some bells should have gone off.”
They’re ringing now, but too late to prevent a travesty–or to rescue the Clintons’ reputation.
