 Hillary Clinton greets Peter Paul with a kiss upon arrival at 2000 Hollywood gala |
A federal judge who stated in court Sen. Hillary Clinton had nothing to do with the planning and preparation for a scandal-plagued Hollywood fundraiser, received by hand-delivery yesterday a transcript of a videotape that allegedly captures the New York Democrat committing felonies related to the event.
The transcript, along with a letter demanding a hearing, was hand-delivered to Federal Judge A. Howard Matz by Douglas Cogan, a regular contributor to FreeRepublic.com who has followed the case closely and helped produce a documentary.
As WND reported, the tape – held by the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York from 2001 to 2007 – documents a July 2000 phone call that purportedly shows Clinton taking an active role in the production of the fundraiser.
Business mogul Peter Franklin Paul, who has filed a $17 million fraud lawsuit against Sen. Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, contends the senator’s participation in soliciting performers and planning for the August 2000 Hollywood fundraiser would make his more than $1.2 million in contributions to the event a direct donation to her Senate campaign rather than to a joint fundraising committee. That would violate federal statutes that limit “hard money” contributions to a candidate to $2,000 per person. Knowingly accepting or soliciting $25,000 or more in a calendar year is a felony carrying a prison sentence of up to five years.
Matz, who was appointed by President Clinton, presided over the 2005 trial of Sen. Clinton’s campaign finance director David Rosen who was acquitted of filing false financial reports of the fundraiser.
At the outset, Matz declared, “This isn’t a trial about Senator Clinton.”
The senator, he said, “has no stake in this trial as a party or a principal” and is “not in the loop in any direct way, and that’s something the jury will be told.”
The letter demands Matz hold a hearing to determine if the Department of Justice was in contempt of court when it failed to release the video it held from 2001 to April 11 of this year.
Paul claims the withholding of the information from various investigators of the fundraiser – the Justice Department, the Rosen grand jury, the Federal Election Commission and the Senate Ethics Committee – led to Sen. Clinton’s exoneration.
Paul’s legal representation, the U.S. Justice Foundation, has submitted the videotape to the California Court of Appeal, which heard oral arguments Sept. 7 for an appeal of Sen. Clinton’s dismissal from the fraud case in which her husband already is a defendant.
Along with ruling whether the New York Democrat should also be a defendant in the case, the court has been asked to decide whether she committed a felony by soliciting campaign contributions of more than $1.2 million.
As WND has reported, Paul claims the former president destroyed his entertainment company – Stan Lee Media – to get out of a $17 million deal in which Clinton promised to promote the firm in exchange for stock, cash options and massive contributions to his wife’s 2000 campaign. Paul contends he was directed by the Clintons and Democratic Party leaders to foot the bill for the Hollywood gala and fundraiser.
Clinton was dismissed from Paul’s fraud suit April 7, 2006, by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Aurelio Munoz on the basis of the state’s anti-SLAPP law, which, under the First Amendment, protects politicians from frivolous lawsuits during their election campaigns. Paul’s legal team argues Sen. Clinton violated the federal code and, therefore, according to the law, would not be covered by the anti-SLAPP statute.
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