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A decade before Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton admitted fudging the truth during the presidential campaign, federal prosecutors quietly assembled hundreds of pages of evidence suggesting she concealed information and misled a federal grand jury about her work for a failing Arkansas savings and loan at the heart of the Whitewater probe, according to once-secret documents that detail the internal debates over whether she should have faced criminal charges.
Ordinarily, such files containing grand jury evidence and prosecutors' deliberations are never made public. But the estate of Sam Dash, a lifelong Democrat who served as the ethics adviser to Whitewater Independent Counsel Kenneth W. Starr, donated his documents from the infamous 1990s investigation to the Library of Congress after his 2004 death, unwittingly injecting into the public domain much of the testimony and evidence gathered against Mrs. Clinton from former law partners, White House aides and other witnesses.
The documents, reviewed by The Washington Times, identify numerous instances in which prosecutors questioned Mrs. Clinton's honesty, an issue that continues to dog her on the campaign trail after she was forced to acknowledge earlier this year exaggerating a story about coming under sniper fire as first lady during a visit to Bosnia in 1996.
For instance, the papers say prosecutors thought Mrs. Clinton first concealed her legal representation of Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan Association — and the money she made doing it — during the 1992 presidential campaign when she and her husband, then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, came under fire in a questionable Arkansas real estate project known as Whitewater.
Beginning in March 1992 and continuing over the next several years, Mrs. Clinton steadfastly denied that she ever "earned a penny" in representing her Rose Law Firm clients, including the failing thrift's owners, James and Susan McDougal — the Clintons' partners in the Whitewater Development Corp. project.
But the newly discovered records, more than 1,100 pages in 30 separate documents, tell a different story.
A June 1998 draft indictment of Mrs. Clinton's Rose firm partner Webster L. Hubbell, who followed the Clintons to Washington in 1993 as associate attorney general, said Mrs. Clinton did legal work for Madison "continuously" from April 1985 to July 1986.
Putin steals Medvedev’s limelight
Vladimir Putin on Thursday stole the limelight from Dmitry Medvedev, his newly-inaugurated successor as Russian president, with a 45-minute speech at his parliamentary confirmation as prime minister that signalled he would keep a strong grip on power.
With Mr Medvedev watching from the sidelines, Mr Putin pledged to tackle inflation, cut oil taxes and modernise the economy. Analysts compared his performance to the state of the nation addresses he previously delivered as president.
Mr Putin announced during his last state of the nation speech last April that a new president would give the equivalent address this year. But Russian media reported on Thursday that Mr Medvedev would not make his first annual address to the people until the autumn.
The new president, sworn in on Wednesday, was left only to introduce Mr Putin with brief remarks noting he needed “no particular recommendations” and congratulate him after the parliament voted 392-56 to approve his candidacy. Only Communist deputies voted against.
Putin passes power to protégé, or does he?
International Herald Tribune
MOSCOW: Dmitri Medvedev, the Kremlin insider and unprepossessing lawyer who had never held elected office before, was sworn in as the Russian president Wednesday inside the Grand Kremlin Palace.
The ceremony, mixing czarist splendor with renewed Russian confidence, marked the passing of formal power from President Vladimir Putin to his young and untested protégé. But the events also served as a tribute to the enduring stature and popularity of Putin, who Medvedev nominated as prime minister within hours of taking office.
Putin, a former KGB leader who had presided over Russia's economic revival while consolidating power, rolling back civil liberties and leading a government beset with corruption, arrived at the ceremony alone and before Medvedev.
He stepped from a black limousine and briefly stood before the ceremonial Presidential Regiment, which was standing outside in the chill. "Greetings, comrades!" he said, and was met with a deep, rousing cheer.
U.S. military confirms ex-Gitmo detainee responsible for homicide bombing In Iraq
A former Guantanamo detainee from Kuwait carried out a recent homicide attack in northern Iraq, the U.S. military confirmed Wednesday.
A spokesman for U.S. military's Central Command told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Abdallah Salih al-Ajmi took part in an attack in Mosul.
U.S. Navy Cmdr. Scott Rye says authorities don't know the motive for the attack, which was reported last week by Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television. Iraqi security forces were apparently targeted.
The U.S. transferred al-Ajmi to Kuwaiti custody from Guantanamo in 2005. A Kuwaiti court later acquitted him of terrorism charges.
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