"The Clintons have done nothing improper."  At least, according to a Memorandum written for the Vice President in 1993 concerning Whitewater.  This memo was recently released as part of Samuel Dash's papers.  Dash, who served as co-chief counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee, also served as Kenneth Starr's ethics advisor during the Clinton Whitewater investigation.  Dash resigned from the position of ethics advisor in 1998 to protest Starr's advocating President Clinton's impeachment.  Dash died in May 2004, and his papers were donated to the Library of Congress.  Our researchers went to the Library of Congress' Manuscript Division to review the documents, which became publicly available this spring.

The documents showcase Dash's long involvement with the Clinton Administration, and include a 1992 memo advising then Governor Clinton on using the Watergate Reform Bill as a campaign issue.  Dash wrote, "this is an excellent campaign issue for Governor Clinton.  He will be championing the good government issue the public respected so much in Watergate and reminding the people of the coverup and obstructions of justice of three Republican Presidents - Nixon, Reagon (sic) and Bush," and concludes, "If this legislation is killed, our country will be thrust back to the days . . . when the people will have no confidence that serious criminal conduct by high executive branch officials will be effectively and objectively investigated and prosecuted."  These seem ironic statements coming from a man who a few years later disapproved of the Lewinsky Scandal's investigation and Clinton's impeachment trial.

Among the documents there were also several letters concerning the Lewinsky investigation and Clinton's reluctance to testify before the Grand Jury, even though he publicly pledged to "cooperate fully with the investigation" in January 1998.  Below are excerpts from letters sent by Chief Prosecutor Robert Bittman to Clinton's private attorney.

Although the President has declined the invitation to testify before the grand jury tomorrow, the grand jury's investigation continues apace . . . The grand jury would like to complete this investigation, as the president stated, "sooner rather than later . . . [and] as quickly as we can.'  Kindly advise me . . . as to whether the President accepts the invitation to testify. ---February 4, 1998

 

We, on behalf of the grand jury, extend a second invitation to the President to testify before the grand jury about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky . . . Let me make our request specific and clear: the grand jury deserves to know whether the President will respond, favorably, to the invitation . . . If I do not hear from you . . . we will assume that the President will not voluntarily provide testimony before the grand jury. ---February 9, 1998

 

. . . We assume that the President has declined our invitation to testify . . . In regard to the various explanations you have been kind enough to advance for declining our four invitations, I note that (1) the state visit of Prime Minister Blair has passed; (2) the "situation in Iraq" has, thankfully, eased; and (3) you have now had some six weeks to "prepare" the President . . . since this matter arose, the President has - with all respect - found time to play golf, attend basketball games and political fundraisers, and enjoy a ski vacation. ---March 2, 1998

Other topics of interest included records of testimony from the Office of the Inspector General concerning Hillary Clinton's work for Madison Guaranty and the Rose Law Firm.  Hillary worked as a billing clerk, and there were a number of issues regarding huge increases in billing and"unaccounted" hours in the statements.  The testimony reads, "We have been unable to recunstruct the basis (if one exists) for Mrs. Clinton's $1,818.75 increase in her IDC billings . . . It is possible that Mrs. Clinton increased the amount of the invoice without doing any additional work."  The testimony also includes speculations that this was not the first time Mrs. Clinton's billing practices were called into question.

The Dash papers provide an interesting and thorough look back into the Clinton Administration and its multiple scandals, from Whitewater to Monica Lewinsky.  Judicial Watch has obtained copies of the documents discussed above, and the entire Sam Dash collection is available to the public at the Library of Congress' Manuscript Division.

-Tegan Millspaw

Sam Dash Documents