Clinton gets off lightly. (The Last Word).(Bill Clinton)(Brief Article)

On March 6th, the Office of the Independent Counsel appointed to investigate Bill Clinton's involvement in the failed Whitewater enterprise filed a 237-page report barely mentioning either that real estate debacle or the Madison Savings and Loan bank that failed in its wake. Instead, the report focused almost entirely on the president's various attempts to cover up his scandalous conduct with Monica Lewinsky.

The report, filed by current Independent Counsel Robert W. Ray, states that "sufficient evidence existed to prosecute President Clinton" for perjury and obstruction of justice. The former president committed those crimes in 1998 while seeking to block or alter testimony from others and then lying before a federal judge. There is no doubt that Mr. Clinton is guilty of these crimes, the very charges for which the House impeached him. And there is no doubt that the Senate disgraced itself by refusing to convict and remove him from office.

Bill Clinton remained president after the Senate's disgraceful performance, but he still faced possible prosecution for lying under oath and obstructing justice once he was out of office. This won't happen, however, as Ray allowed the outgoing president to cut a deal on January 19, 2001, one day before the Clinton term ended. Major features of this arrangement included Clinton's acknowledgement of guilt and his surrender of a license to practice law for five years. Ray claimed that Clinton had already paid a sufficient penalty for his transgressions.

This report and the mere slap on the wrist given Mr. Clinton said nothing about far more serious charges of bribery and possible treason for which Mr. Clinton should have been impeached. But the independent counsel had no authority to investigate Clinton's actions in these areas. Before it could consider doing so, Attorney General Janet Reno had to request a three-judge federal panel in Washington to expand the counsel's jurisdiction. Reno steadfastly refused to take such action.

House Judiciary Chairman Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) formally asked the attorney general to expand the independent counsel's authority in May of 1997. Hyde's request cited evidence that China had sent contributions to the Clinton-Gore 1996 reelection campaign and received favors in return. According to Hyde, those favors included waivers allowing sales of missile and bomber equipment and dozens of supercomputers. The Hyde letter said the Defense Department had protested those waivers, especially the one dealing with the computers that "may have given the People's Republic of China more supercomputer capacity than the entire Defense Department."

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