Plain as the News on Your Face: Clinton Lies and Obstruction That TV News Has Ignored
Table of Contents:
- Plain as the News on Your Face: Clinton Lies and Obstruction That TV News Has Ignored
- Introduction
- 1. Hush Money for Friendly Witnesses
- 2. Destruction or Hiding of Documents.
- 3. Violating the Privacy Rights of Adversaries.
- 4. Failing to Comply with Subpoenas.
- 5. Keeping Meetings Secret by Filing False Statements.
2. Destruction or Hiding of Documents.
THE CHARGE: Obstruction of justice occurred in the destruction of or hiding of relevant documents in the Whitewater investigation. Rose Law Firm shreddings, late-appearing billing records in the White House residence, and White House lawyers' meeting notes like "Vacuum Rose Law Files" show important elements of the Whitewater story may never be known.
WHAT PRINT MEDIA REPORTED: On November 6, Associated Press reported the latest discovery of hidden documents came thanks to an Arkansas tornado. Hidden and possibly forgotten in the trunk of a tornado-damaged Mercury Marquis was a stash of Whitewater documents, including a check made out to Bill Clinton from Whitewater partner Jim McDougal. Former McDougal courier Henry Floyd just left the car with a trunk full of bank documents after a dispute with a repair shop, where it sat for nine years.
WHY IT WAS IMPORTANT: On November 10, 1997, NBC Nightly News
reporter Fred Francis explained: "Before junking [the car], mechanic
Johnny Lawhorn pried open the trunk and found a cashier's check for
$27,600 payable to Bill Clinton. Adding to the mystery, Bill Clinton
has testified that he never borrowed money from his Whitewater partner.
But the amount of the check corresponds exactly to the amount of a
Whitewater loan repayment. So why was it made out to Bill Clinton?
That's what the Whitewater grand jury wants to know." Was Clinton an
active partner in shady Whitewater deals? Francis added: "And although
Clinton's attorneys discredit the new documents, there are a trunk full
of bank records. Some of them relating to a time when Hillary Clinton
worked as a lawyer on another McDougal land deal, Castle Grande. Castle
Grande is a thousand acre tract that McDougal wanted to sell as trailer
home sites. The grand jury is now examining these documents to help
answer the question whether Mrs. Clinton has honestly portrayed her
role in the financing of that project."
HOW TV NETWORKS COVERED IT: ABC's World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, and CNN's The World Today never covered it. Only NBC reported a full story. (CNN covered the revelation on the afternoon show Inside Politics. CBS included a brief mention on their low-rated show Saturday Morning.)
