Senate panel ignores 'Filegate,' 'Chinagate'

Bill and Hillary Clinton on their wedding day in 1975

The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee is interviewing Sen. Hillary Clinton for her appointment by President-elect Barack Obama as the next U.S. Secretary of State but apparently is making a determined effort to prevent any discussion of her "Chinagate" or "Filegate" scandals.

That's according to Larry Klayman, a top Washington watchdog who years ago founded the Judicial Watch organization to monitor government activities and pursue prosecution of illegal government behavior. Klayman battled the Clinton White House in numerous cases and to this day remains the attorney of record in at least one pending dispute that accuses Hillary Clinton of involvement in her husband's apparently illegal release of individuals' White House files protected by the Privacy Act.

Klayman later left Judicial Watch to stage a U.S. Senate run and now leads FreedomWatchUSA.org.

"The American people deserve to have full knowledge about Senator Clinton's role in these scandals before the committee votes to confirm her, and I am the most knowledgeable person to testify on these issues," Klayman wrote in a letter to committee leaders Sens. John Kerry and Richard Lugar.

However, Klayman received no response to his offer to explain the accusations against Sen. Clinton.

"We need to scream right now," Klayman told WND regarding her nomination for secretary of state. "She was the mastermind behind 'ChinaGate' and 'Filegate.'"

In the Chinagate scandal, documented on the Judicial Watch website, technology companies allegedly made donations of millions of dollars to various Democratic Party entities, including President Bill Clinton's 1996 re-election campaign, in return for permission to sell high-tech secrets to China.

Bernard Schwartz and his Loral Space & Communication Ltd. later allegedly "helped China to identify the cause of [a rocket failure], thereby advancing China's missile program and threatening U.S. national security."

"Filegate" developed President Clinton and Hillary Clinton were accused of violating the privacy rights of their perceived political enemies by wrongly accessing and misusing the FBI files of Reagan and first Bush administration staffers, among others.

"In an effort to discredit the women who charged President Clinton with sexual misconduct, personal files and papers were illegally obtained and released. The courts found, under the Privacy Act, that privacy of Linda Tripp and Kathleen Willey had been violated," a Judicial Watch report said, citing just a few of the more than 900 files involved.

Judicial Watch said Mrs. Clinton had been linked "directly to the center" of the controversy.

Klayman, concerned that such issues would be overlooked, submitted a request last week to Kerry and Lugar to testify about Hillary Clinton's candidacy as secretary of state.

"During the 1990s and thereafter, as chairman of Judicial Watch and later as chairman of Freedom Watch, I investigated and filed civil lawsuits against both Bill and Hillary Clinton," Klayman wrote. "In this regard, I am the only lawyer ever to have obtained a court ruling that former President Bill Clinton committed a crime when he illegally released the Privacy Act protected White House files of Kathleen Willey, a woman he was accused of sexually harassing in the Oval Office.

"The finding was made by the Honorable Royce C. Lamberth in a case styled Alexander vs. FBI et. al, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia," he wrote. "Importantly, this case, in which Hillary Clinton remains a principal defendant, is still pending to this day. It concerns the illegal obtaining and use of FBI files for political purposes."

Klayman wrote that he also was counsel of record in the case Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Commerce, in which Hillary Clinton "was implicated in orchestrating the illegal sale of seats on trade missions during the former Clinton administration."

However, Senate staff members refused to respond to his request. There also was no response to WND messages left with the Foreign Relations Committee seeking comment.

Klayman said the issues certainly are relevant, especially since as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton would have access to a wide range of classified material.

Klayman said his next step will be to file an ethics complaint against committee members for refusing to investigate the background of a nominee for one of the highest appointed positions in the nation.

WND previously has reported other instances of alleged unethical behavior by Hillary Clinton.

Hillary Clinton, with chief counsel John Doar (left), bringing impeachment charges against President Nixon before the House Judiciary Committee in 1974

The chief Republican counsel for the House Judiciary Committee during the preparation of impeachment articles against President Richard Nixon has verified allegations by Jerry Zeifman, the general counsel for the committee, about Hillary Clinton.

Franklin Polk backed up claims by Zeifman that Clinton was fired from the committee staff for unethical behavior.

Zeifman, a lifelong Democrat, also called Clinton a "liar" and "an unethical, dishonest lawyer." He reported her legal brief was so fraudulent and ridiculous, she would have been disbarred if she had submitted it to a judge.

Polk cited Clinton's brief arguing Nixon should not be granted legal counsel due to a lack of precedent. But Clinton deliberately ignored the then-recent case of Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, who was allowed to have a lawyer during the impeachment attempt against him in 1970.

Other accusations against Hillary Clinton include mysteriously turning a $1,000 in investment in cattle futures into a $100,000 profit and "losing" law-billing records subpoenaed in 1994 that suddenly appeared in 1996 in a room next to her office.

Then there was Travelgate, when the staff of the White House travel office was fired to make way for Clinton cronies.

In today's hearing, the main controversy under discussion is the apparent conflict of interest the donations from foreign interests to her husband's foundation would pose to her role as secretary of state.

The foundation reportedly has taken in at least $46 million from Saudi Arabia and other foreign governments, such as Kuwait, Brunei, Oman and Italy.

Kerry, the committee chairman, said he hopes to see Hillary Clinton's confirmation completed by Thursday.

The American voters, however, haven't forgotten. In the Deseret News in Utah, readers suggested the following questions for Hillary Clinton:

"What favors have you doled out to the who's who of rich international businessmen and leaders who contributed millions to former President Bill Clinton's foundation.
As senator, you voted for a use-of-force resolution for Iraq. But when the war went bad and no weapons of mass destruction were found, you claimed the vote never authorized President Bush to go to war. Please tell us how you are competent to serve as top diplomat when you do not understand the wording of important legislation?
Why did you direct employees to transfer the secret FBI background reports on staffs of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush and bring them to the White House.
Why did you fail to disclose $2 million in campaign contributions for your first Senate run relating to an extravagant Hollywood fundraiser?
What was your role in the smear campaign launched by your husband's aides against Gennifer Flowers, Kathleen Willey, Paula Jones and other Bill girlfriends?