Court denies Clintons legal-fee reimbursement

[DS]

A federal appeals court panel said yesterday that the federal government is not obligated to pay the legal fees of former President Bill Clinton and his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, for their defense in the seven-year, $70 million Whitewater investigation.
The three-judge panel, sitting as a "special division of the court" that oversaw the appointment of independent counsels, unanimously ruled that a petition by the Clintons for reimbursement of $3.5 million in attorneys fees and costs "is not well taken" and ordered that the request be denied.
In a 14-page ruling, the panel said the Clintons, who escaped criminal charges in the Whitewater probe after investigators found "insufficient evidence" to take the matter to trial, would have been the target of a federal investigation in the matter with or without the appointment of an independent counsel and, as a result, should pay the overwhelming majority of the legal costs.
"We harbor no doubt that in the absence of the independent counsel statute the allegations surrounding the Clintons, Madison Guaranty, and Whitewater would have been similarly investigated and prosecuted by the Department of Justice," said the panel, which ordered the government to pay only the $85,312 the Clintons' attorneys charged to review and respond to the independent counsel's final report.

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20030715-114924-9685r.htm

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/197/nation/US_to_pay_85_000_of_Whitewater_fees+.shtml

[meegbear]

1. I love this ...

"Madison Guaranty, and Whitewater would have been similarly investigated and prosecuted by the Department of Justice".

Can anyone name any other S&L that was investigated like this, or at all?

[papau]

2. We do not have right wing controlled Judges - they just act that way

And it is time for Dem's in the Senate to let the GOP lock down the GOP control of the courts - after all that would be democracy, won't it?

[peacetalksforall]

3. This denial is disgraceful....

The Clintons had already been cleared by the Federal Trust Corp before Scaife funded the political pit of citizen paid FBI employees, lawyer-elves, and a VAST team of right wing think tanks-news broadcasting corporations-Republican congressmen, and newspaper-magazine companies went after Clinton.

Normally, when the accused are cleared, their fees are paid...right? And this court is saying that they won't get the fees back because they found other people who were guilty? My God, can someone please explain what's gone wrong with this previously great country?

This is a warning to all immigrants - this country is phoney.

[Atlant]

4. Dupe...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=14992&mesg_id=14992&page=

[VolcanoJen]

5. Dupe... locking

Please continue discussion by posting in the earliest, original thread on this topic, which can be found here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=14992&mesg_id=14992&page=

Thanks!
VolcanoJen
DU Moderator