Just how
close did Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton come to
being indicted for her role in the Whitewater real estate scandal?
The federal government seems to have the answer – and may be ready to go to court to keep the information from ever becoming public.
Judicial Watch, an organization that promotes transparent government, last week filed a federal lawsuit against the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to demand the release of draft indictments against Clinton that were written nearly 20 years ago.
According to a media release from Judicial Watch, on March 9, 2015 the organization submitted a Freedom of Information Act request seeking all draft indictments of Clinton in the files of Hickman Ewing, Jr.
Ewing served as Deputy Independent Counsel from September 1994 – January 2001 and was deeply involved in a federal investigation of Whitewater. He also testified that he wrote a draft indictment of Clinton in 1996.
According to Judicial Watch, the National Archives confirmed that draft indictments of Clinton exist but refused to release the records, apparently in an attempt to protect Clinton’s privacy. The records located by the National Archives are reportedly entitled “Hilary Rodham Clinton/Webster L. Hubbell Draft Indictment.”
Webster Hubbell is a Clinton confidante who served as chief justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court while Bill Clinton was governor.
“Judicial Watch has confirmed the existence of draft indictments of Hillary Clinton for her lies and obstruction in the Whitewater bank fraud investigation,” stated Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton. “The Obama administration is refusing to release these records out of concern for Hillary Clinton’s privacy. Hillary Clinton’s privacy cannot be allowed to trump the public’s interest in knowing more about whether she obstructed justice and lied to a federal grand jury.”
Judicial Watch believes the records include draft indictments, written between 1996 and 1998. The draft indictments reportedly arose out of the Office of Independent Counsel investigation into Clinton’s involvement in an allegedly fraudulent transaction, Castle Grande, involving the assets of Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan.
Clinton was alleged to have drafted an option agreement that concealed from federal bank examiners a fraudulent $300,000 cross-loan to the Castle Grande project. Clinton’s grand jury testimony – and her alleged concealment of her role in this fraudulent transaction, including the hiding of her Rose Law Firm billing records concerning her legal work for Madison – reportedly became the subject of an obstruction of justice and perjury investigation.
In March 1999, Ewing testified that three years prior he had drafted and circulated but abandoned an indictment of Mrs. Clinton.
Ewing said he “had problems” with some of her statements to investigators in April 1995 and drafted an indictment shortly after September 1996. The indictment was ultimately not pursued by federal investigators.
The Whitewater investigation was triggered by a series of failed real estate investments the Clintons made in the Whitewater Development Corporation during the 1970s and 1980s.
H/T The Horn
The federal government seems to have the answer – and may be ready to go to court to keep the information from ever becoming public.
Judicial Watch, an organization that promotes transparent government, last week filed a federal lawsuit against the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to demand the release of draft indictments against Clinton that were written nearly 20 years ago.
According to a media release from Judicial Watch, on March 9, 2015 the organization submitted a Freedom of Information Act request seeking all draft indictments of Clinton in the files of Hickman Ewing, Jr.
Ewing served as Deputy Independent Counsel from September 1994 – January 2001 and was deeply involved in a federal investigation of Whitewater. He also testified that he wrote a draft indictment of Clinton in 1996.
According to Judicial Watch, the National Archives confirmed that draft indictments of Clinton exist but refused to release the records, apparently in an attempt to protect Clinton’s privacy. The records located by the National Archives are reportedly entitled “Hilary Rodham Clinton/Webster L. Hubbell Draft Indictment.”
Webster Hubbell is a Clinton confidante who served as chief justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court while Bill Clinton was governor.
“Judicial Watch has confirmed the existence of draft indictments of Hillary Clinton for her lies and obstruction in the Whitewater bank fraud investigation,” stated Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton. “The Obama administration is refusing to release these records out of concern for Hillary Clinton’s privacy. Hillary Clinton’s privacy cannot be allowed to trump the public’s interest in knowing more about whether she obstructed justice and lied to a federal grand jury.”
Judicial Watch believes the records include draft indictments, written between 1996 and 1998. The draft indictments reportedly arose out of the Office of Independent Counsel investigation into Clinton’s involvement in an allegedly fraudulent transaction, Castle Grande, involving the assets of Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan.
Clinton was alleged to have drafted an option agreement that concealed from federal bank examiners a fraudulent $300,000 cross-loan to the Castle Grande project. Clinton’s grand jury testimony – and her alleged concealment of her role in this fraudulent transaction, including the hiding of her Rose Law Firm billing records concerning her legal work for Madison – reportedly became the subject of an obstruction of justice and perjury investigation.
In March 1999, Ewing testified that three years prior he had drafted and circulated but abandoned an indictment of Mrs. Clinton.
Ewing said he “had problems” with some of her statements to investigators in April 1995 and drafted an indictment shortly after September 1996. The indictment was ultimately not pursued by federal investigators.
The Whitewater investigation was triggered by a series of failed real estate investments the Clintons made in the Whitewater Development Corporation during the 1970s and 1980s.
H/T The Horn
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