I wonder if Hillary is worried sick about this ?
Judicial Watch Helps Break Clinton Stonewall
One of the top stories coming out of Washington this week was the revelation that Bill Clinton’s Presidential Library has been steadfastly withholding tens of thousands of pages of presidential records that should have long-since been released to the public. As Politico put it in a story exposing the stonewalling:
A trove of Clinton White House records long processed for release remains hidden from public view at the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock — even though the legal basis initially used to withhold them expired more than a year ago. The papers contain confidential advice given to or sought by President Bill Clinton, including communications with then-first lady Hillary Clinton and records about people considered for appointments to federal office.
Fox News added:
“Some have speculated that the documents may contain new scandals that could prove problematic for a potential 2016 presidential run by Hillary Clinton.”
But, of course, none of that comes as news to regular readers of the Weekly Update, who will recall that, since as far back as 2006, Judicial Watch has been spearheading the battle to force the Clintons to stop stonewalling and produce the Presidential Library documents. With relentless perseverance, we have been successful. And the battle continues unabated.
On Wednesday, February 26, on the heels of the Politico article, we filed yet another Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the Clinton Presidential Library to try to get to the bottom of what the Clintons are covering up. This time, we are seeking an additional 33,000 pages of records still being withheld by the Clinton Library (some of which should have been released to us last year in separate litigation). Specifically, the new Judicial Watch FOIA request asks for:
Any and all records contained in former President Clinton’s presidential archives that are currently being withheld as described in the enclosed Politico article. Judicial Watch believes that 33,000 pages of records exist that are responsive to this FOIA request ….
In my experience with the Washington culture of corruption, politicians don’t skirt the law and cover their tracks unless they have something very damaging they are trying to hide. And with Hillary Clinton now positioning herself for another presidential run in 2016, that information could be very damaging indeed.
Significantly, just as this edition of the Weekly Update was going to press – and on the heels of the Judicial Watch FOIA request – the Clinton Library announced that it will release some 4,000 or 5,000 pages of the previously withheld records today (Friday afternoon, February 28).
Do you think that the press attention and our FOIA and lawsuits have anything to do with the belated release?
As those familiar with the Washington political practices know, Friday afternoons are when political pros dump the information they hope will be lost over the coming weekend. That practice was perfected, by the way, during the Clinton administration.
All of those games, of course, are typical of the Clinton way of dribbling out the slow release of information they hope will never see the light of day. They are past masters of the cover-up. And that’s why Judicial Watch has been so relentless in trying to break down the stonewall that protect their record of corruption from being fully disclosed.
You may recall that we filed our first FOIA request with the Clinton Library more than eight years ago. And even then, it was not until October, 2013, after seven years of litigation, that we finally obtained more than 57,000 pages of previously withheld documents – documents that the Clinton’s had jealously guarded from public scrutiny. They revealed formerly undisclosed information about the National Taskforce on Health Care Reform, a “cabinet-level” taskforce chaired by Hillary Clinton during the first term of the Bill Clinton presidency.
According to Clinton Presidential Library records, “The cabinet-level Task Force, chaired by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, was given primary responsibility for providing advice and making recommendations to the President regarding the national health care reform package.” A small category of Health Care Task Force-related documents had previously been released by the Clinton Presidential Library, but the records of the Health Care Task Force itself had not been disclosed. And they told a story of Hillary Clinton’s infamous control of the attempted government health care takeover.
Several years ago, Judicial Watch released a smaller batch of records obtained from the Clinton Presidential Library related to the National Taskforce on Health Care Reform. Those documents revealed:
•A June 18, 1993 internal Memorandum containing the startling admission from a staff member: “… I have trouble coming up with a precedent in our peacetime history for such broad and centralized control over a sector of the economy… “
•A “Confidential” May 26, 1993 Memorandum from Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) to Hillary Clinton entitled, “Health Care Reform Communications,” criticizing the Task Force as a “secret cabal of Washington policy ‘wonks’” that has engaged in “choking off information” from the public regarding health care reform.
•A February 5, 1993 Draft Memorandum noting the development of an “interest group data base” detailing which organizations “support(ed) us in the election” and tracking personal information about organization leaders, such as their home phone numbers, addresses, “biographies, analysis of credibility in the media, and known relationships with Congress people.”
Isn’t it amazing how history repeats itself! I suspect that you will find some Obamacare records that are almost exact duplicates of the other failed socialist healthcare effort.
So now, nearly a decade after Judicial Watch first sounded the alarm about the Clinton Library’s shroud of secrecy and began breaking down the stonewalls, the nation’s media has caught up with the story. (And we were the group that forced the Clinton Library to disgorge Hillary’s schedules as First Lady and her phone logs.)
With our FOIA request earlier this week, we have now put some teeth in the quest to get to the truth. You can see the result of our efforts yourself at the Clinton Library website now (the new documents should be posted.)
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