Whatever it is

Bill Clinton was let down by his brother-in-law

You need to marry not an orphan, but your only daughter—probably, this is precisely the life observation that Bill Clinton came to the other day. Hillary's brother, Florida lawyer Hugh Rodham, who once persuaded the former president to pardon two criminals (on the eve of his resignation, Bill Clinton, according to American tradition, could pardon anyone), did not do this for free - he received $400 thousand for his services. Clinton and his wife immediately stated that they knew nothing about this and demanded that Hugh return the money, which was done.

Nevertheless, the scandal turned out to be loud. The first of those pardoned, businessman Glen Broswell, who sells medicinal herbs, was convicted in 1983 of fraud in the sale of anti-baldness products and served three years. Clinton claims that he expunged his criminal record because Broswell had not been involved in any illegal activity for “almost 20 years.” However, as it turns out, not everything is so simple: Broswell was suspected of tax evasion, and after paying Hugh Rodham 200 thousand, he received a presidential amnesty. Another “lucky” one, Carlos Vignali, spent the last six years behind bars for trafficking cocaine. He would have remained there probably for another nine years of his sentence if he had not hired Mr. Rodham to seek a commutation of the sentence: again, for 200 thousand, he put in a good word for the client. Bill Clinton says that he released Vignali from prison only under the pressure of a large number of appeals from a variety of respected people - which in fact took place.

Whatever excuses Clinton now comes up with, it will change little: the list of people he pardoned on his last day in the Oval Office is already causing a third scandal. At first, the public had doubts about the decision to drop the criminal prosecution of accused racketeering and money laundering Marc Rich - it turned out that his wife donated huge sums to Hillary's Senate election campaign and the construction of Bill's presidential library. Then Clinton's brother Roger, whose criminal record was cleared by the ex-president, was recently detained for drunk driving. And now two more scandalous figures have appeared on the list. And this is not the end: the Government Reform Committee of the House of Representatives is carefully recording all the facts and should soon summon the ex-president for questioning.

Evgeny ANTONOV