Pardoned Financier’s Ex-Wife
Pledged Money for Clinton Library
The Congressional committee investigating former President Bill Clinton’s pardon of Marc Rich was told February 8 that the fugitive financier’s former wife had pledged “an enormous sum of money” to the Clinton Presidential Library Fund.
Although Denise Rich refused to testify, citing her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, one of her lawyers disclosed the donation to the House Committee on Government Reform, the New York Times reported February 9. A Democratic fundraiser told the Times that Ms. Rich had pledged nearly $1 million in four installments over the last two years.
New York Post political columnist Deborah Orin reported February 8 that Democrats were growing concerned over possible links between gifts to the Clinton library and the controversial pardons, pointing out that the library had recently raised its fundraising goal from $125 million to $200 million, has received as much as $5 million per donor, and refuses to release its donor list.
Meanwhile, the Arkansas Supreme Court heard arguments February 9 in a lawsuit seeking to block Little Rock’s $16.5-million purchase of land for the Clinton library site with bond money it will repay through park user fees.
Posted February 12, 2001.
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