BILL AND HILLARYS PAYBACKS
The Washington, D.C., powerhouse law firm Williams & Connolly has stopped trying to
collect on an estimated $9 million of outstanding legal debt run up by Bill and Hillary
Clinton since 1994, the New York Post reported.
Williams & Connolly "long ago wrote off 80 percent of what President Bill Clinton
owed," Post gossip columnist Cindy Adams contended, adding, "The lawfirm has
already written off the majority of its $11 million outstanding." The Post said the
former first couple had paid just $2 million of the amount owed.
"Williams & Connolly loved its p.r. and what [the Clintons] did for p.r.
they got back in spades," Adams explained as justification for the lawfirm's
generosity.
The report, if accurate, raises question about what the Clintons did with the $7 million
they collected from their legal defense fund, which they established in 1994 to handle the
crushing legal debt they expected as a result of a myriad of scandal investigations.
In a July financial disclosure report mandated by Senate rules, Sen. Hillary Clinton put
the couple's outstanding legal debt at between $1.5 million and $6.5 million. But it's not
clear whether those figures reflected any Williams & Connolly write-offs.
In June, a report in the Washingtonian Online put the Clintons' outstanding legal tab to
Williams & Connolly at $3 million, but maintained they continued to make regular
payments.
The same report, however, claimed the former first couple had halted payments on a
million-dollar-plus legal tab still owed to Sexgate lawyer Bob Bennett because they were
unhappy with his work
The chairman of a Washington, D.C.-based legal group Judicial Watch that has sued the
White House and Vice President Dick Cheney complained that the Bush administration and the
Republican Party have apparently hired a private detective to investigate his personal
life. "We have reason to believe that this investigation is likely being
conducted by Williams & Connolly, the law firm of Vice President
Cheney," said Judicial Watch founder Larry Klayman, citing a "well placed,
high-level informant." Though a self-described conservative organization, Judicial
Watch has been at loggerheads with the Bush administration on a number of cases it began
during the Clinton years. Additionally, Justice Watch also sued Dick Cheney for his
activities at Halliburton, the firm he headed before becoming vice president.
In a letter addressed to President Bush, Klayman noted that Williams & Connolly also
represents the Clintons and recalled the law firm has in the past hired notorious private
investigator Terry Lenzer, who allegedly dug up dirt on Clinton opponents during the
1990s.
"Please be advised that we will be pursuing appropriate legal remedies, including but
not limited to privacy complaints," warned the Judicial Watch chairman. Klayman also
requested that Attorney General John Ashcroft launch a criminal probe into the matter. |
