HUGE CORRUPT FUNDRAISER MAY HAUNT CLINTON YET

ART MOORE, WORLDNET DAILY - Bill Clinton, according to the complaint, promised to promote Paul's Internet entertainment company, Stan Lee Media, in exchange for stock, cash options and massive contributions to his wife's 2000 Senate campaign. Paul contends he was directed by the Clintons and Democratic Party leaders to produce, pay for and then join them in lying about footing the bill for a Hollywood gala and fundraiser.

The Clintons' legal counsel has denied the former president made any deal with Paul. But Paul attorney Colette Wilson told WND there are witnesses who say it was common knowledge at Stan Lee Media that Bill Clinton was preparing to be a rainmaker for the company after he left office.

Paul claims former Vice President Al Gore, former Democratic Party chairman Ed Rendell and Clinton presidential campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe also are among the people who can confirm Paul engaged in the deal.

[Campaign finance director David] Rosen was acquitted in 2005 for filing false campaign reports that later were charged by the FEC to treasurer Andrew Grossman, who accepted responsibility in a conciliation agreement that fined the campaign $35,000. Paul points out the Rosen trial established his contention that he personally gave more than $1.2 million to Clinton's campaign and that his contributions intentionally were hidden from the public and the Federal Election Commission.

Rosen, accused of concealing Paul's in-kind contribution of more than $1 million, was acquitted, but Paul contends the Clinton staffer was a scapegoat.

WALL STREET JOURNAL, 2007 - As Sen. Hillary Clinton grapples with the burgeoning scandal surrounding disgraced fund-raiser Norman Hsu, she can't quite shake a fund-raising controversy from her 2000 Senate campaign. Mrs. Clinton's entanglement with a thrice-convicted felon named Peter Paul is proof of how long campaign-finance problems can haunt a public official. Mr. Paul became a problem for Mrs. Clinton when his criminal past became public shortly after he helped organize and finance a gala Hollywood fund-raiser for her in August 2000.


AND THERE'S MORE. . . .

WE'VE reported much of this before, as well as concerning a video that shows Hillary Clinton acting as though she knew exactly what Peter Paul was up to.

But there's another curious aspect to the story: why didn't Bush appointed prosecutors press the caser harder?

Here you have a huge potential case against the then leading Democratic candidate and the Bush Justice Department goes after a minor figure, blows the case and the partly admitted offense is settled for a puny amount.

The two most logical explanations for such behavior in politics is a deal or blackmail. Whether either was involved in this case, we don't know but the pattern is curious to say the least.

The chief of the Public Integrity Section of the Justice Department was a man named Noel Hillman. Here are some interesting facts about him:

DAILY PUNDIT - Mr. Hillman was Chief of the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section and prosecutor of the Berger case. . . Hillman was the architect of Berger's plea deal, and chose to focus his extensive remarks to the public and the judge on aspects not directly related to possible criminal charges. As red herrings, Hillman emphasized instead his own claim that Berger never intended to deny the 911 Commission access to key government documents, and that the documents Berger destroyed weren't originals.

Now comes word that a Republican Committee on Oversight and Government Reform investigation disputes even this irrelevancy. As ranking Committee member Tom Davis (R-VA) summed it up: "My staff's investigation reveals that President Clinton's former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger compromised national security much more than originally disclosed. The public statements of the former chief of the public integrity section, Noel Hillman, were incomplete and misleading. . . The Justice Department's assertion that Mr. Berger's statements are credible after being caught is misplaced. One wouldn't rely on the fox to be truthful after being nabbed in the hen house. But the Justice Department apparently did."

Hillman is former Chief' because president Bush selected him for a federal judgeship in New Jersey. If Noel Hillman was fated to sit on the federal bench, Jersey seems the right jurisdiction for someone having his ability to combine discretionary legal thinking with a flair for enthusiastic communication.

MARTIN GARBUS, HUFFINGTON POST, JAN 29, 2006 - President George W. Bush has not made many moves more unethical than offering Noel L. Hillman, the Abramoff prosecutor, a federal judgeship. Hillman has apparently been talking with Bush's representatives since last year, and on last Thursday, he publicly announced he was accepting the appointment. . . At the same time that Mr. Hillman was conducting a grand jury and submitting evidence aimed at Bush's allies and perhaps Bush himself, he was meeting with Bush, who was, in effect, offering him a bribe.

Mr. Hillman, Bush is saying, leave the job, let me put someone else in your stead, someone I want. Forget, says Mr. Bush, that you have been in charge of the investigation for two years, that you have been involved on a day-to-day basis, and that your leaving seriously impedes the investigation.

All this had been kept quiet until Thursday, January 26, 2006. Neither the Bush administration nor Mr. Hillman thought it appropriate to let anyone know what was going on until the deal was done. . .

MARTIN GARBUS, HUFFINGTON POST, JAN 31 2006 - We now know there was a political deal between the Bush Administration and New Jersey Democrats to get rid of the Abramoff prosecutor, Noel Hillman, by offering him a federal judgeship in New Jersey. It's a deal that had been in the making for over a year.

It came about this way. The Democrats wanted Magistrate Federal Judge Susan Wingenton to be a federal judge. The Bush Administration said no. We also know that in 2002 Bush got rid of a prosecutor. U.S. Attorney Black, who was about to indict Abramoff in Guam. That indictment also related to Abramoff's purchasing of influence. It's the modus operandi of this administration. Bush got rid of him, put in his own man, and the Abramoff prosecution ended.

This year the Bush Administration agreed to give the Democrats who they wanted in exchange for the Democrats agreeing to remove the Abramoff prosecutor. Wingenton got her appointment; the Democrats agreed to the removal of Noel Hillman, and he accepted a judgeship.

The approval of the two Democratic Senators from New Jersey was necessary for Hillman's appointment. Corzine gave that quiet approval just before he became governor. . . Both Corzine and Lautenberg knew they were removing Hillman. Why?


SO LET'S REVIEW THE BIDDING

We have the same guy, Noel Hillman, handling the Abramoff, Berger and Clinton cases, one involving GOP wrongdoing, two involving leading Democrats in the Clinton machine. In all three cases, reasonable questions can be raised about the energy with which the prosecutions were pressed, especially if you wish to add in the rumor of a reported involvement of top presidential aide Karl Rove in the Abramoff affair - something which could have easily inspired Bush's intervention with Hillman.

For a long time we have assumed that the GOP's reluctance to go after Hillary Clinton was time related, that is to say the Republicans wanted her to win the nomination, at which point they would open up the Justice Department and other files on her and the slaughter would begin. Now we have to wonder whether we were wrong: was there a bargain of convenience or an agreement made under uncomfortable pressure? If there was, than the absurdly light treatment of Sandy Berger and the hands off approach to Clinton suddenly makes sense. The sub rosa partnership with the Bushes, that began when Bill Clinton provided cover for the Contra operation in Mena and continued as GOP congressmembers and Ken Starr covered up aspects of the Arkansas saga with bipartisan implications, has simply gone into the second generation.