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| For Immediate Release | |
| Sep 25, 1998 | Contact: Press Office 202-646-5172 |
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Court asks for explanations from Leon Panetta, John Podesta Judge Royce Lamberth today ordered former White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta, Deputy Chief of Staff John Podesta, and former top Clinton Commerce Department officials to explain any role they may have had in covering up the sale of Commerce Department trade mission seats in exchange for campaign contributions to President Clinton’s political operations. The order came out of the Judicial Watch Chinagate civil lawsuit, in which testimony in federal court indicated that Panetta and Podesta ordered late-Commerce Secretary Ron Brown to defy the court’s orders and obstruct the Judicial Watch lawsuit until after the 1996 elections. This is the lawsuit which uncovered John Huang and the sale of taxpayer-financed Department of Commerce trade mission seats in exchange for political contributions to the DNC and Clinton-Gore campaign. Earlier this year, Nolanda Hill, confidante and business partner of late-Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, testified in a sworn affidavit and in open court that Brown told her that "The White House, through Leon Panetta and John Podesta, had instructed him to delay the [Judicial Watch] case by withholding the production of documents prior to the 1996 elections, and to devise a way not to comply with the court’s orders." This sworn testimony remains uncontested by The Clinton White House, Panetta, or Podesta. Judge Lamberth commented that this evidence cries out for explanation, "if one is to be offered." Judicial Watch will now file motions to show cause concerning Panetta and Podesta and the other Commerce officials who have apparently defied the court’s orders and obstructed justice in this case. "Maybe finally Mr. Panetta and Mr. Podesta will explain, under oath, their role in this scandal," said Larry Klayman, Judicial Watch Chairman and General Counsel. |
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