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Sen. Clinton Aide Helped in
Pardons
By John Solomon
Associated Press Writer
Thursday, Feb. 22, 2001; 11:51 a.m. EST
WASHINGTON –– In addition to her brother's efforts to
secure clemency for clients, Hillary Rodham Clinton's
Senate campaign treasurer helped obtain last-minute
pardons for two convicted felons from former President
Clinton, lawyers told The Associated Press on
Thursday.
The treasurer, New York attorney William Cunningham
III, is the law partner of longtime Clinton adviser
Harold Ickes and said Ickes referred the two Arkansas
men, both Republicans, to him about a week before
Clinton left office.
"Harold does not do this kind of work, and we are
partners so Harold contacted me and asked if I would
speak with them," Cunningham told AP in an interview.
"I told them I would be happy to review the paperwork
and submit the applications."
Cunningham said his and Ickes' firm was paid just
$4,000 for the work of preparing and sending the
applications to the Justice Department. He said neither
contacted the White House nor discussed the pardons
with Hillary Clinton or the former president.
Cunningham said he did not believe his role as Mrs.
Clinton's treasurer during her Senate campaign in New
York last year had any effect on the ex-president's
decision.
"My connection is really with Senator Clinton, and not
the president," Cunningham said. "These applications
really cried out on the merits that these are the folks who
should be pardoned, and the fact that their request was
assembled by me really operates independently," he
said.
Ickes said he did not talk to either Clinton about the two
men – Robert Clinton Fain and James Lowell Manning –
who were convicted in the 1980s on tax charges.
"He (Cunningham) acted as a lawyer. He never
consulted her (Hillary) in any way shape or form, nor
did I," said Ickes, who served as deputy White House
chief of staff to the former president and later as a key
adviser to Mrs. Clinton's campaign.
The revelation comes one day after Mrs. Clinton's
brother returned nearly $400,000 he collected for
helping secure a pardon and a prison commutation for
two other clients.
At the request of the Clintons, Hugh Rodham refunded
the payments Wednesday. A congressional investigative
committee immediately demanded documents and
answers.
The Clintons said they were unaware of the
arrangements with Rodham and were "deeply disturbed"
by what had happened.
Rodham contacted Clinton's closest adviser in the White
House, Bruce Lindsey, at least once in connection with
one of the cases, which involved a major political
contributor's son convicted on drug charges, legal
sources said.
Rodham "acceded to his family's request that he return
legal fees earned in connection with pardon requests,"
his attorney Nancy Luque said.
"Their request, presumably made because of the
appearance of impropriety, is one he cannot ignore,"
Luque said. "There was, however, no impropriety in
these matters."
Legal sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said
Rodham, who is a lawyer, was paid for months of work
on the prison commutation request of Carlos Vignali and
received a "success fee" for helping win the pardon of
Almon Glenn Braswell.
The money included $200,000 after the Braswell pardon
was granted and the rest paid over a period time as
Rodham worked on the Vignali commutation, the
sources said. They declined to provide an exact amount
but said it totaled just below $400,000. The money was
returned to Braswell and Vignali's family, the sources
said.
"Yesterday I became aware of press inquires that Hugh
Rodham received a contingency fee in connection with a
pardon application for Glenn Braswell and a fee for
work on Carlos Vignali's commutation application," the
former president said in a statement. "Neither Hillary
nor I had any knowledge of such payments. We are
deeply disturbed by these reports and have insisted that
Hugh return any monies received."
Mrs. Clinton added, "I was very disturbed to learn that
my brother ... received fees in connection with two
clemency applications. Hugh did not speak with me
about these applications."
A source close to the former president, speaking on
condition of anonymity, said Lindsey had been contacted
by Rodham and was aware of Rodham's involvement
with the Vignali request. The source said Lindsey did
not know about the presidential relative's involvement
in the Braswell matter.
The source said Clinton didn't know Rodham was
working on behalf of the two pardon applicants and the
decisions on both men were made on the merits of their
situations.
The Braswell pardon has generated controversy because
after it was granted on Jan. 20 it was disclosed that the
businessman was under investigation on new
allegations.
Braswell didn't apply for his pardon through the Justice
Department, but Vignali did seek his commutation
through the department in August 1998.
The 140 pardons and 36 commutations Clinton granted
just hours before President Bush took office have
generated criticism from Republicans and Democrats
alike and prompted congressional probe and a U.S.
attorney's criminal investigation.
Until now, however, critics have mainly focused on the
clemency Clinton granted to fugitive financier Marc
Rich, who was indicted in 1983 on charges of tax
evasion and making illegal oil deals with Iran.
Investigators want to know whether donations by Rich's
former wife contributed to the pardon.
Clinton has denied any wrongdoing, saying all the
clemency decisions were made on the merits.
New information was to be released Thursday about the
hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations by Rich's
ex-wife, Denise, to Clinton's presidential library
project. The Clinton foundation in Little Rock, Ark.,
was to release the information in response to a
congressional subpoena, a person familiar with the
matter said. However, Clinton's personal attorney,
David Kendall, also was expected to release a letter
explaining why some documents covered by the
subpoena were not being provided.
Todd Jones, the former U.S. attorney who prosecuted
Vignali, said Thursday he was "quite shocked" to see
Vignali on a list of prisoners granted clemency by
Clinton. "This was a straight-up drug dealer, a source of
cocaine, proven at trail, convicted by a jury and
sentenced to a fair sentence," Jones said.
Jones, who is black, added during an appearance on
ABC's "Good Morning America" that "the fact that Hugh
Rodham may have had some impact on whether or not
this was granted ... further erodes any confidence that
the public, particularly communities of color, may have
that federal drug laws are enforced fairly and that
people who are primarily responsible for providing
dope on the streets do get prison time and serve prison
time."
Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., a longtime critic of Clinton
and chairman of the House committee investigating the
pardons, called the revelations of the payments to
Rodham "deeply troubling" and vowed an investigation.
"This makes it look like there is one system of justice
for those with money and influence, and one system of
justice for everyone else," Burton said.
Burton sent letters Wednesday night demanding answers
and records from the key players, including Rodham and
Vignali's family.
