Since the 1990s, documents relating to the Clinton White House Whitewater scandal have been sealed and protected from public scrutiny. But a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request could finally bring the pages to light.
The government watchdog group Judicial Watch made the FOIA request over two years ago and subsequently filed a lawsuit months later, in October of 2015, to get its hands on the 238 pages of protected documents.
“The National Archives argues that the documents should be kept secret, citing grand jury secrecy and Clinton’s personal privacy,” Judicial watch said. However, the conservative group argued that since the Whitewater scandal is public information anyway, “There is no secrecy or privacy left to protect.”
McClatchy explains what the missing pages may uncover:
The documents in question are alleged drafts of indictments written by Hickman Ewing, the chief deputy of Kenneth Starr, the independent counsel appointed to investigate Bill and Hillary Clinton’s alleged involvement in fraudulent real estate dealings. Although others were sentenced for their role in the matter, neither Clinton was ever prosecuted.
Ewing told investigators he drafted the indictments in April 1995. According to Judicial Watch, the documents pertain to allegations that Hillary Clinton provided false information and withheld information from those investigating Whitewater.
From Judicial Watch’s statement:
Judicial Watch believes the records include an evolving set of draft indictments, written between 1996 and 1998. The draft indictments reportedly arose out of the Office of Independent Counsel investigation into Clinton’s involvement in an allegedly fraudulent transaction, Castle Grande, involving the assets of Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan. Clinton was alleged to have drafted an option agreement that concealed from federal bank examiners a fraudulent $300,000 cross-loan to the Castle Grande project. Mrs. Clinton’s grand jury testimony – and her alleged concealment of her role in this fraudulent transaction, including the hiding of her Rose Law Firm billing records concerning her legal work for Madison – reportedly became the subject of an obstruction of justice and perjury investigation.
Judicial watch reported last year that, “according to never-before-seen portions of an Office of Independent Counsel (OIC) memorandum,” Hillary Clinton additionally “may have been involved in a crime in 1986.” That begged a very important question to the watchdog group’s President Tom Fitton: “Why on Earth is President Trump’s Justice Department defending Hillary Clinton by keeping information about her well-known corruption secret? Who is running the store at the Justice Department? Tax dollars are wasted as the Deep State rolls along in its frantic efforts to protect Hillary Clinton. President Trump should demand to know why his agencies are defending Hillary Clinton.”
