JW: Uncovers New Photos from Clinton Presidential Library Linking Hillary Clinton to Pardons

[Ichingcarpenter]

(Washington, DC) –Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that its researchers obtained 34 photos from the Clinton Presidential Library of Hillary Rodham Clinton, then-President Bill Clinton and Grand Rabbi David Twersky at a White House meeting during which the Grand Rabbi and other community leaders allegedly lobbied the Clintons to commute the jail sentences of four Hasidic men convicted of stealing $30 million in government education aid. The meeting took place in December 2000, just after the New York based Hasidim sect delivered 1,400 votes to Hillary Clinton’s Senate 2000 campaign and only 12 to her opponent Rick Lazio.

This was the second meeting between Hillary Clinton and representatives of the Hasidic men. Prior to the election, in August 2000, Hillary Clinton visited New Square, the Hasidic community just outside of New York City.

According to the New York Times when the Clinton pardons were announced: “The four were among roughly a dozen New Yorkers prosecuted by the United States attorney's office in Manhattan who received either pardons or reduced sentences from Mr. Clinton…The New York decisions stirred a backlash from prosecutors involved in the cases because in several instances their views were overruled or barely solicited.” In the last days of his presidency, Bill Clinton granted 140 pardons and commuted 36 sentences (a scandal that became known as Pardongate), many of them to convicted felons who had paid large fees to Clinton associates, including Hillary Clinton’s brothers. The pardons and commuted sentences were subjects of a criminal investigation that failed to produce charges.

“A picture is worth a thousand words. These new photos undermine Hillary Clinton’s claim that she played no role in the commuted sentences granted these criminals. If that is true, then why attend a White House meeting evidently set up to discuss the pardons?

http://www.judicialwatch.org/6441.shtml

[Hawkeye-X]

1. I don't normally defend Clinton on this one - but I will on this one. JW is terrible

and quite right-wing. If I remember correctly, it is Scaife-funded, and I'm not impressed with their crap. I believe they were all over Clinton and Monica after Drudge broke the news.

Hawkeye-X

[dansolo]

But it is an indication that Hillary isn't really "vetted"

The Right Wing has a lot more crap to hurl at Hillary, as well as their old favorites.

[maddezmom]

2. agreed, and I don't normally trust wiki for everything but it'll give you the big picture

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judicial_Watch

[Ichingcarpenter]

5. New York Times :The fact is she said she wasn't involved but she was there

I'm just playing it back.

From the NY times; cBy CLIFFORD J. LEVY
Published: January 24, 2001

Both Clintons Met Supporters Of 4 Hasidim Given Leniency
President Clinton commuted the prison sentences of four Hasidic men from New York last week after he and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, met at the White House with supporters of the men, whose religious sect overwhelmingly backed Mrs. Clinton in her victorious Senate campaign, officials said yesterday.

Mrs. Clinton and her aides acknowledged that the supporters, who included the grand rabbi of the Hasidic men's sect, made pleas for leniency during the meeting in late December. But Mrs. Clinton said she never urged her husband to help the men, who were convicted of stealing millions of dollars in government education aid.

''I did not play any role whatsoever,'' she said yesterday in Washington. ''I had no opinion about it.''

The four were among roughly a dozen New Yorkers prosecuted by the United States attorney's office in Manhattan who received either pardons or reduced sentences from Mr. Clinton in an announcement made on Saturday.

The New York decisions stirred a backlash from prosecutors involved in the cases because in several instances their views were overruled or barely solicited. It is customary for the White House to survey the prosecutors while a president considers issuing pardons or commuting sentences.

A spokesman for Mrs. Clinton, Howard Wolfson, said she was at the White House meeting with the Hasidic men's supporters because they were from the Rockland County village of New Square, the sect's home, and were to be her constituents after she became a senator in January.

Mrs. Clinton visited New Square, which is 30 miles north of New York City and has 7,000 Hasidic residents, during the campaign last year, as did Vice President Al Gore. Hasidic sects in New York are often courted during elections because they are presumed by many politicians to vote in blocs.

Rabbi Mayer Schiller, a spokesman for the sect, said yesterday that most residents of the village had voted for Mrs. Clinton. ''They established a rapport with her,'' Rabbi Schiller said.

He said politics had nothing to do with the leniency the president granted. >>>snip

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE1D71E3CF937A15752C0A9679C8B63

[Maddy McCall]

3. Fuck rightwing Judicial Watch.

Good god, is this how low we'll stoop on DU these days?

[Ichingcarpenter]

7. New York times n/t

[BeyondGeography]

16. It's like relying on the Conservative Party of Canada to carry your water in the Ohio primary

by golly.

Giustra is your friend.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/us/politics/31donor.html?sq=clinton%20kazakhstan&st=nyt&adxnnl=1&scp=2&adxnnlx=1204589370-0T2Bz3qFaIUgXaR7NiRixw

[rug]

4. About Us

"Judicial Watch, Inc., a conservative, non-partisan educational foundation, promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law."

Oooh, they're in favor of transparency in government.

[rinsd]

9. Yes you remember all their lawsuits against the Bush administration....

Whoops

[Recursion]

14. They've had several

* JUDICIAL WATCH v. SECRET SERVICE - JW lawsuit to obtain logs of visits by convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff to the White House.

* JUDICIAL WATCH v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE - JW lawsuit to open to the public meetings of the North American Competitiveness Council, an entity created under the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP.)

* JUDICIAL WATCH v. DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY - JW lawsuit to obtain documents regarding a multi-billion dollar no-bid contract awarded to the oil services company Kellogg, Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton, to restart Iraq’s oil production.

* JUDICIAL WATCH v. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE - JW lawsuit to obtain records regarding the Terrorist Surveillance Program.

* JUDICIAL WATCH v. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY -JW lawsuit to obtain records regarding the decision to allow Saudi nationals to leave the United States immediately following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

* JUDICIAL WATCH v. FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION - JW lawsuit to obtain previously unseen video footage of Flight 77 striking the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

* VINCENT v. FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION - JW lawsuit on behalf of a retired Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for violation of the agent’s First Amendment rights by refusing to grant permission to publish information about the FBI’s counter-terrorism efforts.

* WRIGHT v. FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION - JW lawsuit on behalf of a Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for violation of the agent’s First Amendment rights by refusing to grant permission to publish a book manuscript and other materials containing information about the FBI’s counter-terrorism efforts.

They also submitted an amicus curiae brief against letting Libby off.

"Oops" indeed.

[rinsd]

6. Jesus Christ! Judicial Watch?

:puke:

[Ichingcarpenter]

8. New york times n/t

[rinsd]

11. You didn;t post the Times.

You posted Judicial Watch.

There's still time for you to edit the OP.

That is if you weren't relying on Judicial Watch's bullshit....which it would appear you are.

[Hawkeye-X]

10. I'm an Obamaniac..

and I don't trust JW one BIT. see the first post of this thread. They've shit upon a lot of people, and Larry Klayman is an idiot.

[rinsd]

12. You are right.

I have edited my post to express my disgust with the source while not being a generalizing asshole myself.

[xchrom]

13. posting something from judicialwatch says way more about the OP

than about the clintons.

[Dogmudgeon]

15. A photo of Hillary with some Rabbis?

THAT is JW's evidence?

Now I KNOW I've spent too much time here.

--p!