VIDEOTAPE RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT CLINTON'S CLAIMS

FRED LUCUS, CNS NEWS - A Hollywood mogul and former associate of former President Bill Clinton and Sen. Hillary Clinton has obtained what he calls a "smoking gun tape" which he said proves that the New York senator and leading Democratic presidential candidate violated campaign finance laws. Clinton friend-turned-nemesis Peter Paul plans to use the video both as evidence in a lawsuit against the former first couple and in a forthcoming documentary concerning his dealings with the Clintons during the former first lady's first Senate campaign in 2000.

The U.S. attorney's office for the Eastern District of New York gave copies of 90 tapes to Paul on April 11. The office had taken possession of the tapes six years ago during an investigation of a securities case against Paul in 2001. One of those tapes appears to show comic book icon Stan Lee, Paul's business partner, talking to Hillary Clinton in a teleconference in 2000. Paul said the conversation was about a big fundraising gala Paul sponsored for the Clintons.

Paul put up $1.9 million for the function. At the time, the maximum individual contribution to a political candidate was $2,000. A portion of the videotape seen by Cybercast News Service captures the closing words of a lengthy conversation in which Paul was present. The voice of Hillary Clinton is heard telling Lee that Paul and her chief campaign aide "talk all the time, so she'll be the person to convey whatever I need."

She is then heard adding, "I wanted to call and personally thank all of you ... [and] tell you how much this means to me. It's going to mean a lot to the president too."

Paul was the majority partner with Lee in a multi-million dollar Internet venture in 2000 before the company collapsed. Paul contends in a lawsuit that President Clinton had agreed to work as a rainmaker for the company after he left the White House in exchange for the massive star-studded fundraising event in Hollywood which Paul produced.

The newly released tape could be significant, because the Federal Elections Commission already ruled that Sen. Clinton's 2000 campaign committee underreported cash it received at the fundraising event Paul sponsored. The FEC slapped the campaign committee with a $35,000 fine.