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HOW THE SMEAR BEGAN

2

THE WASHINGTON POST-RESOLUTION TRUST CORPORATION- L.JEAN LEWIS CONNECTION

Cast of Characters

The Republican-Controlled Resolution Trust Corporation

L.Jean Lewis - Ultra-Right-Wing Republican with the Resolution Trust Corporation

Susan Schmidt, Washington Post

Michael Isikoff, Washington Post

A RESOLUTION TRUST CORPORATION "CRIB" SHEET - to understand why Whitewater Smear Campaign was so important to the Republican Party in late 1993 and early 1994. Some factual information on the number of subpoenas issued by the RTC and Robert Fiske to various S&Ls by mid-1994 (and the amount of money recovered by the RTC for the American taxpayers as of mid-1994)

 

Robert Fiske - subpoenas related to

RTC subpoenas related to

RTC - subpoenas related to the "forgotten 50"

Recovery of money by the U.S. taxpaper from the "forgotten 50"

$42,000 dollars

AN L.JEAN LEWIS "CRIB" SHEET - to understand the Whitewater Smear Campaign news stories published in the Washington Post from November 1 1993 to late April 1994 and later, some factual information is needed:

The eight top Savings and Loans in Arkansas that FAILED during the Reagan and Bush Administrations are listed below, showing the amount of the U.S. taxpayer bailout in each case. Also shown is the number of hours of time from 1992 to 1994 that the RTC investigator L. Jean Lewis (and her team) examined S&L records for indications of possible criminal activity:

First Federal Savings of Arkansas - $833 MILLION - 13 hours

Savers Saving - $645 MILLION - 140 hours

Independence Federal - $314 MILLION - 19 hours

Landmark Savings - $91 MILLION - 3 hours

Madison Guaranty - $73 MILLION - 5,661 hours

First American Savings - $65 MILLION - 171 hours

Home Federal - $59 MILLION - None

First State Savings - $57 MILLION - None

 

TIMELINE:

1991 - In sworn testimony before the Senate Whitewater Committee, L. Jean Lewis claimed she had submitted a criminal referral on First Federal Savings in 1991 and that FBI agents HAD NOT pressed her to do so. Subsequent sworn testimony at the hearings said that she HAD NOT submitted a criminal referral on First Federal and that FBI agents HAD INDEED pressed her to do so. - PERJURY?

1992- September 2 - L.Jean Lewis submits a criminal referral to the Federal Attorney in Little Rock and to the Little Rock FBI office naming the McDougals and citing as witnesses the Clintons, Tucker, and former Senator Fulbright

1992-September 9 - Phone call from L. Jean Lewis to Steve Irons of the Little Rock FBI office asking him about, and taunting him about status of referral. In sworn testimony Lewis claimed she had not contacted anyone in Little Rock or the Washington RTC until December 1992. Irons later testified he told her to back off during the phone call. PERJURY?

1992-September 18 - Lewis visited Little Rock FBI office where Irons told her that no action would be taken until after the election. Irons later testified she told him that she had informed the RTC in Washington and they wanted her to take action. In sworn testimony Lewis claimed she had not contacted anyone in Little Rock or the Washington RTC until December 1992. Quoting from contemporaneous notes, Irons testified as to the fact of the meeting and the facts of the discussion PERJURY?

1992-September 18-19(?) Lewis then contacted aides to Charles Banks, the Reagan-appointed Federal Attorney in Little Rock and asked them to take action on her referrals. Banks would also later testify to several contacts between his office and Lewis that Lewis had denied in sworn testimony. PERJURY?

1992-October 2 - FBI Little Rock sent a teletype message to FBI Washington highly critical of the Lewis referral, which appeared to be based upon newspaper accounts.

1992-October 16 - Banks wrote a letter to the FBI also turning down the Lewis referral, stating that in his view, his participation in any such effort just before the election would amount to "prosecutorial misconduct" and would violate "the most basic fundamental rule of Department of Justice policy."

1993 - February 23 - Lewis material severely criticized by a lawyer in the Fraud Section of the Department of Justice for submitting allegations that were not sufficient "to establish the elements of any of the criminal statutes" in bank fraud.

1993 - fall - Jeff Gerth of the New York Times was offering Arkansas reporters "piles of confidential banking records" whose source he identified as a woman working for the RTC regional office in Kansas City." Totally illegal release of banking documents?

1993-fall - By this time, Lewis and her boss, Richard Iorio, had prepared 9 additional criminal referrals on Madison.

1993 - October 6 - E-mail from L.Jean Lewis to Kansas City RTC on a visit by Susan Schmdt of the Washington Post. Lewis concluded from Schmidt's questions that Schmidt had ILLEGALLY acquired a copy of the Lewis 1992 criminal referrrals.

1993- October ? - Lewis sent her 1992 referral to Paula Casey, the new Federal Attorney in Little Rock. Casey turned it down citing the Banks letter of October 1992 and the Justice Department turn-down in late February 1993.

1993 - October 1 - Lewis and her boss Richard Iorio submit 9 criminal referrals on Madison to lawyers at the RTC for legal review.

1993 - October 8 - Referrals came back from RTC lawyers asking how some people named in the referrals as suspects were also shown to be victims in the supporting documentation. In spite of these and other questions, the referrals were sent forward without change.

To put the following news clips into a fair context, until November 10, 1993, the only person in the Resolution Trust Corporation or in the Federal government who was investigating Madison Guaranty was L.Jean Lewis and two of her supervisors in the Kansas City regional office of the RTC. It was virtually the only work going on in her investigative section.

CLINTONS' FORMER REAL ESTATE FIRM PROBED -FEDERAL INQUIRIES FOCUS ON FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES OF OTHER ARKANSANS By Michael Isikoff and Howard Schneider Tuesday, November 2, 1993

A real estate firm that was half-owned by President Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton is under scrutiny in two separate federal investigations [not true- see above] that focus on the financial activities of prominent Arkansas business and political figures, according to federal officials [L.Jean Lewis] and law enforcement sources. [L.Jean Lewis]

GOV. TUCKER'S FINANCES BECOME PROBE FOCUS -INVESTIGATORS SEEK TO UNRAVEL LOANS AND TRANSACTIONS IN ARKANSAS, SOURCES [L.Jean Lewis] SAY By Howard Schneider Thursday, November 4, 1993

LITTLE ROCK, ARK., NOV. 3 -- The financial dealings of Arkansas Gov. Jim Guy Tucker (D) have emerged as a focus of federal investigators [L.Jean Lewis] as they unravel a complex network of loans and transactions involving a group of state political and business leaders, according to government sources. [L.Jean Lewis]

HOUSE PANEL SEEKS SBA PROBE OF LITTLE ROCK LENDER'S ROLE By Susan Schmidt Saturday, November 6, 1993

The House Small Business Committee has asked for an investigation into a Little Rock, Ark., firm's use of a federal program to loan money to a land development company that was half owned by President Clinton and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

U.S. STEPS UP INVESTIGATIONS IN ARKANSAS - JUSTICE DEPT. NAMES 3 AS PROSECUTION TEAM By Michael Isikoff and Susan Schmidt Wednesday, November 10, 1993

The Justice Department yesterday named a special three-member prosecution team to oversee politically sensitive investigations into a federally backed investment company and a failed Arkansas savings and loan that had ties to prominent figures in the state, including President Clinton.

DEALINGS OF CLINTON PARTNERS WERE REFERRED TO JUSTICE DEPT. IN 1992 By Susan Schmidt and Michael Isikoff Thursday, November 11, 1993

Resolution Trust Corp. investigators [L.Jean Lewis] examining the mid-1980s affairs of a failed Arkansas savings and loan found a series of irregular transactions involving Whitewater Development Corp., a company then half-owned by President Clinton and his wife, that suggested it was used by the Clintons' business partners in a check-kiting scheme to drain funds from the thrift.

BUSINESSMAN DENIES GIVING DONATION AT '85 CLINTON FUND-RAISER By Susan Schmidt and Charles R. Babcock Thursday, December 16, 1993

An Arkansas businessman whose name is on a $3,000 cashier's check that was used to help retire Bill Clinton's 1984 gubernatorial campaign debt says he never made such a donation.

CLINTONS' ARKANSAS LAND VENTURE LOSSES DISPUTED By Howard Schneider and Charles R. Babcock Sunday, December 19, 1993

The Arkansas real estate agent who managed then-Gov. Bill Clinton's Whitewater land development company throughout the 1980s says he does not believe the venture was a money loser that cost Clinton and his wife tens of thousands of dollars, as the president and his aides have said.

HILL SEEKS PROBE OF LAND DEAL By Susan Schmidt Thursday, December 23, 1993

Pressure mounted in Congress yesterday for further investigation into dealings by President Clinton and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, with a now-defunct Arkansas savings and loan, and circumstances surrounding the suicide last summer of former deputy White House counsel Vincent Foster.

ARKANSAS PROBE SENSITIVE FROM START- INVESTIGATION OF COLLAPSED S&L AFFECTED BY LINKS WITH THE CLINTONS By Susan Schmidt and Michael Isikoff Wednesday, January 5, 1994

Last September, as officials of the Resolution Trust Corp. [L.Jean Lewis] were preparing to ask the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation into a failed Arkansas savings and loan, they [L.Jean Lewis] faced an unusually sensitive problem: Should they mention that the case involved President Clinton and his wife?

AFTER SLOW START, NETWORK TV GRABS WHITEWATER By Howard Kurtz Friday, January 14, 1994

Throughout November and most of December, despite a spate of front-page stories and editorials in major newspapers, the Whitewater investigation was virtually invisible on network television.

ALLEGED WHITEWATER SHREDDING TO BE PROBED By Susan Schmidt Thursday, February 10, 1994

LITTLE ROCK, ARK., FEB. 9 -- Special counsel Robert B. Fiske Jr. will investigate allegations that employees at the Rose Law Firm here have shredded documents relating to Whitewater Development Corp. Rose officials today denied the claim.

FDIC RULES OUT ROSE FIRM SANCTIONS OVER POTENTIAL -MADISON CASE CONFLICT By Susan Schmidt Friday, February 18, 1994

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. issued a report yesterday saying it would not seek legal sanctions against the Rose law firm of Little Rock, Ark., for apparently failing to fully disclose two areas of potential conflict when it was hired in 1989 to pursue a case involving the defunct Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan.

 

AGENCIES ACCUSED OF 'WHITEWASH' ON WHITEWATER By Susan Schmidt Friday, February 25, 1994

In a sometimes heated debate over the Whitewater investigation, Senate Republicans yesterday questioned top officials of two federal banking agencies whether they are allowing partisan politics to interfere with the inquiry.

ROSE LAWYERS SAY SHREDDING WAS UNRELATED TO FOSTER PROBE By Susan Schmidt Saturday, March 5, 1994

Documents shredded last month by a courier at the Rose law firm in Little Rock, Ark., contained firm financial statements and minutes of partnership meetings. according to firm lawyers, and not sensitive materials handled by Vincent Foster, who served as deputy White House counsel before his suicide last July.

SHREDDING DATE UNCERTAIN, ROSE FIRM EMPLOYEES SAY By Sharon LaFraniere Thursday, March 10, 1994 ; Page A14

LITTLE ROCK, ARK., MARCH 9 -- Two employees of the Rose Law Firm said today that in late January they shredded documents from the files of Vincent W. Foster Jr., a former Rose partner and deputy White House counsel who committed suicide in July. But they said they were not certain when they destroyed the papers or whether the documents dealt with anything of interest to special counsel Robert B. Fiske Jr.

WHITEWATER INVESTIGATORS COMPLAIN OF PRESSURE By Susan Schmidt Saturday, March 12, 1994

Investigators for the Resolution Trust Corp. [L.Jean Lewis] have complained privately that they felt pressured by agency lawyers to play down the involvement of President Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton in their preparation of criminal referrals involving the failed Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan, according to agency sources. [L.Jean Lewis]

CLINTON ACCUSER AGREES TO PLEA, TESTIFY By Howard Schneider and Susan Schmidt Tuesday, March 22, 1994

Former Little Rock municipal judge David L. Hale's decision to enter a plea in connection with a federal fraud case opens the way for special prosecutor Robert B. Fiske Jr. to bring a direct allegation against President Clinton before a grand jury.

TRANSFERS FROM SL ARE CITED - LEACH ALLEGES 'SKIM' OPERATION By Susan Schmidt and Howard Schneider Friday, March 25, 1994

Rep. Jim Leach, the Republican leading the congressional Whitewater probe, yesterday charged that at least $70,000 in depositor funds at the failed Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan ended up in an account maintained by President Clinton's Whitewater real estate venture.

'84 CLINTON PANEL NAMED AS A SUSPECT - RTC ASKS FISKE TO PROBE WHETHER $60,500 IN S&L FUNDS WAS DIVERTED By Susan Schmidt Saturday, April 2, 1994

Investigators for the Resolution Trust Corp. [L.Jean Lewis] last year named the 1984 Clinton gubernatorial campaign committee as a suspect in their criminal probe of Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan, citing evidence in a detailed referral that the campaign may have conspired to illegally benefit from depositor funds, according to a source familiar with the case. [L.Jean Lewis]

 

RECORDS SHOW WIDER ROLE FOR HILLARY CLINTON - WHITEWATER PAPERS DETAIL INVOLVEMENT By Charles R. Babcock and Susan Schmidt Wednesday, April 13, 1994

LITTLE ROCK, ARK., APRIL 12 -- Hillary Rodham Clinton was more involved in the management of the Whitewater land venture in its later years than the White House has acknowledged previously, according to records released today.

WHITEWATER REPOSSESSIONS - SALES PRACTICE BENEFITED CLINTONS, PARTNERS By Howard Schneider and Susan Schmidt Thursday, April 21, 1994

For three years Clyde Soapes Jr., a Texas grain elevator operator, regularly mailed monthly payments to the Whitewater Development Corp. for a lot along Arkansas' White River where he planned to build a fishing cottage.

 

 

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