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Morning News

Clinton Pardons: U.S. Attorney Investigating Commutations of 4 Hasidic Men

Aired February 23, 2001 - 10:48 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Our Jeanne Meserve has been working on this other late-breaking story we've got this morning.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: That's right, the Clinton pardon controversy.

She joins us now from Washington with the latest on that -- Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, Leon, the AP reporting this morning that the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan has broadened its probe of the pardons to include the pardon of four Hasidic men.

Eileen O'Connor's been looking into all of this for us.

First, explain the case of these four men.

EILEEN O'CONNOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, these four men are from a Hasidic Jew -- Jewish community called New Square in Rockland County, New York. And basically, it's a very political community. But they lobby candidates from both sides of the political spectrum for community projects that they are interested in.

And in this case, these men were convicted of swindling millions of dollars from a government program. And immediately, the leaders of that community went and lobbied, first via Rudolph Giuliani, and then Senator Chuck Schumer from New York, who is the senior senator from New York.

And we do know that Hillary Clinton visited the community in August. But according to published accounts, and agreed by both sides, neither they nor she talked about the pardon issue. But they were invited later to the White House after her election. They did vote in a bloc, this community, for Hillary Rodham Clinton, after her candidate visit.

But again, they do all say that the pardon issue was not raised during her election campaign. But because they voted in a bloc for her and eventually those commutation of sentences were in fact granted, that's why the questions have been raised. Was there a quid pro quo votes this time for a pardon?

MESERVE: Would it be any surprise if the U.S. attorney gathered this in and looked at these pardons as well?

O'CONNOR: No. And I spoke to the U.S. attorney's office. But they're basically saying, No comment. And they are not denying it, either. But they are saying, No comment.

So, it is not unusual for them to broaden their investigation, or include in their investigation this kind of an issue.

MESERVE: Yesterday, the big topic of discussion: Hugh Rodham. Today, another Clinton member: Roger Clinton. Bring us up to speed on his involvement with the pardons.

O'CONNOR: Well, Roger Clinton's involvement stems from the fact that, he, according to the spokesman for the Clinton -- for Mr. Clinton, the former president, they do say that he brought a list to the president at the time. And it was about five or six people were included on that list.

But they say he did not receive any money in exchange for helping those people's clemency applications. He handed the list to the president. The president, then, handed it off to the White House counsel's office.

And by the way, Jeanne, none of those people did in fact succeed in their clemency applications.

But Republican Dan Burton from Indiana, who chairs the House Government Reform Committee, has sent a letter to Roger Clinton, and has asked him about five other names that he said -- and asked if he helped aid in their clemency applications and if he was paid to do so.

Three of those people, according to the spokesperson for Mr. Clinton, he did not know Roger Clinton, did not know. Another one, he hasn't seen for 15 years. Another one, an old friend. But his clemency application was denied. And they denied that he took any money for helping these people.

MESERVE: So many threats to the story.

Another one: the Marc Rich pardon. The U.S. attorney has subpoenaed some records in that. Talk to us about that.

O'CONNOR: Well, basically, the U.S. attorney, in addition to the congressional committee, has subpoenaed documents. The donors lists from the Presidential Library Foundation, the U.S. attorney also subpoenaing that.

But it's a grand jury subpoena, it could be harder to fight than a congressional subpoena, when it comes to the entire donor list.

MESERVE: Eileen O'Connor, thanks. I know that you will be spending the rest of day looking into this and coming back to us with more.

Now, back to Atlanta.

HARRIS: All right, thanks, Jeanne.

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