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Politics : Piffer Thread on Political Rantings and Ravings -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MulhollandDrive who wrote (879)	2/22/2001 4:59:43 PM
From: Original Mad Dog	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 14610

The junior Senator from New York speaks......I guess it took a village to raise this family.... dailynews.yahoo.com Thursday February 22 3:03 PM ET 'Heartbroken' Sen. Clinton Raps Brother on Clemency Photos By Deborah Zabarenko WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A ``heartbroken'' Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (news - web sites) said on Thursday she was shocked that her brother Hugh Rodham got some $400,000 for urging clemency for two felons who were pardoned by her husband, former President Clinton (news - web sites). But the former first lady said she was unaware of the payments to Rodham, which have subsequently been returned. Indeed, she said she knew nothing about the payments until Monday evening, and still has not spoken to her brother. ``I was very disappointed and saddened by this whole matter,'' Clinton, a Democrat, told reporters at the U.S. Capitol. ``It came as a surprise to me and it was very disturbing.'' She added that she was ``heartbroken and shocked.'' Asked if she blamed political enemies for the controversies that have dogged her since being sworn in as New York's junior senator last month, she said no, but when asked specifically whom she did blame, Clinton replied, ``I think my brother made a terrible misjudgment.'' Former President Clinton on Wednesday disclosed that two felons to whom he granted clemency on his last day in office paid large legal fees to his brother-in-law. But he denied he had prior knowledge of the payments and has insisted the money be returned. In response to questions about the latest uproar over the presidential pardons, the former first lady said, ``I did not have any involvement in the pardons that were granted or not granted and I'm just very disappointed about my brother's involvement.'' The senator has consistently referred questions about the last-minute pardons to her husband's staff, and did so again on Thursday. Grist For Congressional Hearings One of the felons represented by Rodham, Glen Braswell, was among the 140 people who Clinton pardoned on his last day in the White House on Jan. 20. The other, Carlos Vignali, was among 36 people who had their sentences shortened. Braswell, described as a Miami businessman, was pardoned for a 1983 mail fraud conviction. He served three years behind bars. Vignali had his sentence commuted after serving six years of a 15-year sentence for his involvement in a Los Angeles-Minneapolis cocaine trafficking ring. One of two congressional committees already investigating the last minute pardons, particularly the one he gave to fugitive billionaire Marc Rich, have announced plans to examine the transactions. Clinton said she knew nothing of the Rich pardon, that her only role was one of forwarding materials given to her. ``I never knew about Marc Rich at all,'' she said. ``You know, people would hand me envelopes, I would just pass them. You know, I would not have any reason to look into them. I knew nothing about the Marc Rich pardon until after it happened.'' The former president's pardon of Rich has prompted public outrage and congressional hearings chaired by Rep. Dan Burton (news - bio - voting record) of Indiana, a Republican who has a history of antagonism against both Clintons. President Clinton's private attorney, David Kendall, on Thursday wrote to Burton, objecting to a request for information about everyone who had given more than $5,000 to the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation, based in Arkansas, which will hold Clinton's White House papers. Kendall said Rich's ex-wife Denise Rich had given a total of $450,000 to the foundation. On another matter, Hillary Rodham Clinton said she had no direct knowledge of actions reportedly taken by her Senate campaign treasurer, attorney William Cunningham III, on behalf of two others who received eleventh-hour clemency from her husband. But she drew a distinction between Cunningham's ``background and experience'' and her brother, who ``as a family member, should not have been involved in this situation.''