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C-SPAN Washington Journal Interview with Larry Klayman Peter: What is Judicial Watch? Klayman: JW is a non-profit watchdog. What we do is we investigation and we prosecute Government corruption and abuse. Our goal is to keep politicians, Government officials, lawyers and judges honest. Peter: Why was Judicial Watch formed? Was there a specific incident that brought that about? Klayman: It was the culmination of my history. I have seen a lot of dishonesty in the legal profession among judges and lawyers, my own kind. I would see how the rich and powerful got a special break and the little guy went to jail. That’s why I started Judicial Watch, because our motto is, "No one is above the law," and we mean it. Peter: And what kind of cases do you pursue? Klayman: All kinds of cases. We’re actually set up as an educational institution, so what we do is try to educate the American public on the need for honest and ethical government. As John Adams, our second American president said, "Without ethics and morality, you won’t have liberty." So we want to keep that alive in America and what we do is we just don’t talk, we take action. We file lawsuits against politicians, against judges, against lawyers, primarily because the Government can’t police itself, the American people have to do it. We consider ourselves a populist group that represents the American people, not the elite in Washington D.C. Peter: Well, I will give your organization credit. You send out more press releases than any other organization in Washington and that says a lot. I’ve got five here that I got on Thursday and Friday of last week, and we want to start with this one. This is a case that you¹re working on regarding Senator Torricelli. Klayman: Well, there¹s a good case in point. You’ve got Senator Robert Torricelli who admittedly has taken bribes, getting off with a slap on the wrist. Judicial Watch is looking into that and JW is preparing complaints against the members of the ethics committee of the Senate for failing to do its job because what they did is, they protected one of their own. This is a whitewash, it’s a cover up, and this is what we see frequently in Washington D.C. We see it by the Democrats, we see it by the Republicans, we see it by others. The difficulty is that it¹s all one giant club here. The American people deserve to be represented. Peter: There’s an article on the front page of the New York Times about Joshua Haster, Linda Daschle and Chester T. Lott, Jr., sons and wives of leaders in the Congress and their lobbying connections. Do you have a position on that? Klayman: Well, let¹s take one example here. Linda Daschle [wife of Democratic Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle]. We now have all these worthless machines at airports that are supposed to be screening our baggage during this period of high risk, following 9-11. We purchased those worthless machines with Senate approval, thanks to the lobbying efforts of Linda Daschle. This has set us back not just in terms of money, but also in terms of getting prepared. We are looking into that and we have legal proceedings underway. It’s a Washington tradition to use your spouse or to use your relative or to use your friend as a straw man to do business, and this is a serious problem. Peter: You said you have over 80 lawsuits currently pending against the Clintons? Klayman: Against the Clintons or their Administration. They continue on. The reason we have to be so active, Peter, and the reason we have grown is that we have virtually a monopoly on the market. No one else will take any action seriously to clean up government corruption. Peter: Larry Klayman is Founder and Chairman of Judicial Watch. Thanks for joining us this Sunday. Klayman: You¹re welcome. My pleasure.
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