The Whitewater investigation surrounding Bill and Hillary Clinton in the late 1990s was a case of "prosecutorial excess" that is now irrelevant in discussions of the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, her lawyer David Kendall says.
Kendall, writing in
The Washington Post on Monday, disputes the claim of Whitewater prosecutors in Sunday's Post that they came "close" to filing charges against the former first lady.
Sunday's article was published just days after the FBI recommended Clinton not be prosecuted for her use of a private email server for government business while secretary of state. Kendall makes no comment on the FBI's recommendation, but says of Whitewater, "the facts speak for themselves."
"As a matter of legal and factual analysis, from one who observed this investigation at every step: Never . . . a . . . close . . . call . . . at . . . all," Kendall writes.
"While independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr and his staff may have secretly hoped for and ruminated about the possibility of bringing a criminal case against Clinton, they never even presented an indictment to the many grand juries they used," Kendall writes.
"This was not for want of trying: The independent counsel investigation lasted eight years, generated more than 3,000 grand jury subpoenas, collected more than 10 million pages of documents and cost more than $70 million (unadjusted for inflation)."
The probe focused on the real estate investments of Bill and Hillary Clinton and two associates, Jim and Susan McDougal. The Clintons were cleared of any wrongdoing, although Susan McDougal served 18 months in prison for contempt of court for refusing to answer questions.
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