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HenchPAC NewsOutgoing President Bill Clinton and Independent Counsel Robert Ray are close to finalizing a last-minute deal in which Clinton would admit to wrongdoing in the Monica Lewinsky affair in exchange for Ray shutting down the 7-year investigation of the Clinton White House, two well-informed sources said this morning.
The deal could be announced as early as this afternoon, but the officials were unclear about the exact timing as Washington is already in the midst of a 36-hour, non-stop celebration of the inauguration of George W. Bush.
The exact terms of the bargain are not fully known yet, two officials told TIME.com, but it appears that Clinton could acknowledge that he lied under oath in exchange for Ray bringing the controversial probe to a close. Ray is the third in a long line of independent counsels charged with investigating the Whitewater land deal, various misadventures of the Clinton White House and, beginning in 1997, the president's relationship with Lewinsky.
The advantages for both sides became apparent only in the last two weeks of Clinton's term. Ray, who had empanelled a new grand jury as late as last August, came to realize he would be unlikely to find a jury that would convict a former president of obstruction of justice or perjury in the matter of an extramarital affair. In Clinton's case, he preferred to leave office without the threat of further investigation or prosecution hanging over his head.
HENCH adds: The "deal" includes a five year SUSPENSION of his ARKANSAS law license, which I guess wraps up his disbarment as well. It's just a matter of memory-fading time until he's "recalled"as "One of our greatest Presidents" and is appointed to the Supreme Court.....BLLLLLGH! By the way, what's Klink doing on his last full day of his Presidency? The same thing he did on day one, doing everything he can to stay out of the slammer. The "work of the American people" my @$$!
Bill Clinton, who assumed the presidency eight years ago promising "the most ethical administration in American history," departs today after negotiating extraordinary agreements with the independent counsel and the Arkansas Supreme Court that effectively end any possibility of his official disbarment or criminal indictment for his arguably felonious conduct in the sex-and-lies scandals involving Paula Jones and Monica Lewinsky.
After denying for three years that he had lied in a sworn deposition in front of a federal judge, Mr. Clinton finally admitted in his consent order released yesterday afternoon that his "responses to questions about Ms. Lewinsky were false." Mr. Clinton also finally admitted, in the face of overwhelming evidence, that he "knowingly violated" the discovery orders of the federal judge while testifying about his sordid affair with Miss Lewinsky, a White House intern young enough to be his daughter. In return for Mr. Clinton's belated admission that he had, in effect, committed perjury in the presence of a federal judge, Independent Counsel Robert Ray agreed to drop any plans to indict Mr. Clinton for criminal perjury after he leaves office.
As recently as December, in an interview with "60 Minutes II," the scandal-plagued president asserted, "I don't believe that I should be charged" with perjury and obstruction of justice, defiantly proclaiming, "If that's what they want, I'll be happy to stand and fight." Well, as the moment to "stand and fight" fast approached, knowing that his negotiating power would be much diminished as a private citizen, Mr. Clinton chose to cut a deal before exposing himself to felony charges. All of a sudden, "stand[ing] and fight[ing]" lost their appeal, once Mr. Clinton finally realized he would not have the powers of the president to corruptly exploit for his personal benefit as he had done throughout his presidency.
Mr. Clinton also cut a deal with Arkansas legal authorities before he could be officially disbarred. The operative word is "officially." According to the terms of the agreement with Arkansas legal officials, in exchange for the dismissal of the disbarment lawsuit, the disgraced president said in his statement the he "accepted a five-year suspension" of his Arkansas law license and agreed to pay a $25,000 fine. He also finally admitted that he had committed "a violation of one of the Arkansas model rules of professional conduct because of testimony in my Paula Jones case deposition."
Even in his consent order, Mr. Clinton cannot resist playing fast and loose with the meaning of words. Under the rules of the Arkansas bar association, the maximum period for a law-license suspension is two years. The five-year "suspension" Mr. Clinton "accepted" actually represents the minimum time period the American Bar Association (ABA) has established for disbarment. According to ABA guidelines, "[N]o application [for readmission] should be considered for five years from the effective date of disbarment." In effect, Mr. Clinton's acceptance of a five-year suspension is tantamount to disbarment.
Not surprisingly, Clintonian doublespeak did not confine itself to the disbarment issue. Fittingly on his final day in office, the disgraced president deployed his doubletalk against the issue of perjury. In the very same statement in which he admits to having "knowingly" given "false" responses while under oath, Mr. Clinton brazenly repeats a denial that he now - finally - acknowledges to have been false all along. "I have also paid court and counsel fees and restitution and been held in civil contempt for my deposition testimony regarding Ms. Lewinsky," Mr. Clinton declared, brazenly adding "even though I disagreed with the findings in the judge's order."
This is truly beyond the pale. Indeed, the whole purpose of his consent order was to acknowledge that he had in fact lied under oath, for which U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright in 1999 had found him in contempt and fined him $90,000. Just as Mr. Clinton was the first elected president ever to be impeached, he was also the first sitting president ever to be found in contempt of court.
No matter how hard he tries, no amount of Clintonian parsing can detract from the fact that Mr. Clinton is now a self-admitted perjurer. Even the grant of immunity, which he received in return, cannot hide that fact.
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