Barrett charges Clinton team

with Cisneros-probe cover-up

David M. Barrett, the independent counsel charged with investigating wrongdoings of Bill Clinton Cabinet Secretary Henry Cisneros, released his final report today, saying the ex-president's administration successfully prevented him from getting to the truth.

Said Barrett in a press release: "This has been a long and difficult investigation. It is my hope that people will read the entire report and draw their own conclusions. An accurate title for the report could be, 'WHAT WE WERE PREVENTED FROM INVESTIGATING.'"

Continued the independent counsel: "After a thorough reading of the report it would not be unreasonable to conclude, as I have, that there was a cover-up at high levels of our government, and it appears to have been substantial and coordinated. The question is why? And that question regrettably will go unanswered. Unlike some other cover ups, this one succeeded."

Cisneros was forced to admit in 1999 that he had made secret payments to a mistress. Barrett went on to investigate tax-fraud charges stemming from those payments, an investigation that took 11 years and cost $23 million.

Former Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Peggy Richardson, a close friend of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., has been linked to the efforts to squelch the probe. But Richardson's role was one of the things cut from Barrett's report, which went through 26 drafts, at the behest of Democratic law firm Williams & Connolly.

The law firm represents Cisneros, Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton.

The investigation began in 1995 with Barrett examining events surrounding Cisneros's nomination. During his FBI background check, Cisneros lied about adulterous relations, his payments to a mistress, the extent of his income and his IRS tax filings.

Cisneros, a former San Antonio mayor, eventually pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of lying to the FBI. He paid a $10,000 fine and was pardoned by Clinton on his final day in office.

As WorldNetDaily reported, there was a concerted and successful effort in Congress to redact the most damning evidence presented in Barrett's report before it was released.

Fox News noted that in the final report, at least one portion of Section Five was "redacted pursuant to court order," as were four appendices.

In addition, at least 146 motions have been filed by lawyers connected to the individuals cited in the 474-page report, delaying its release.

Rhonda Meadows, Cisneros' attorney, defended her client today:

"Mr. Cisneros moved on with his life [after his conviction]. The independent counsel spent another six years and millions of public dollars investigating others without bringing any charges against anyone. The final report makes allegations that the independent counsel chose not to have decided in the court system by a jury because those allegations are baseless and would have been rejected by any objective fact finder with access to all of the facts."

Barrett fingers both the Clinton Department of Justice and the IRS in his executive summary:

"The evidence available to the [independent counsel] strongly suggested that officials in both [the Department of Justice] and the Internal Revenue Service had undermined the attorney general's exercise of discretion by actively working to block any investigation or prosecution of Cisneros for tax offenses, regardless of the merits. At worst, these activities could have represented criminal obstruction of justice."

States the report: "Beginning in the summer of 1997, the OIC [Office of Independent Counsel] developed, to the extent it could, evidence concerning efforts by officials of DOJ and the IRS to contain and limit the investigation of Cisneros' actions."

"In the end, enough high-ranking officials with enough power were able to blunt any effort to bring about a full and independent examination of Cisneros' possible tax offenses in the face of what seemed to many to be obvious grounds for such an inquiry."

The mainstream media has provided little coverage of the battle of the Barrett report, as evidenced in WND's annual list of the year's most underreported stories. The editors and readers of WorldNetDaily placed the cover-up surrounding the report at No. 3 of the most "spiked" news stories.

Previous stories:

Special prosecutor: Clinton killed case against Cisneros

Report implicating Clinton: Will it be hidden for good?

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