SON OF A SON OF A SAILOR :

Counsel approached Justice aide for advice to get Clinton to plead (Frank J. Murray, 7/28/02, THE WASHINGTON TIMES)

Former independent counsel Robert Ray has acknowledged asking President Clinton's own Justice Department for guidance at a critical juncture of his investigation in the hope of nudging Mr. Clinton into a plea bargain deal while still president. [...]

"A maximum amount of pressure was applied to make sure that it happened before he left," Mr. Ray said. "This was part of that." He broke his silence about why an independent counsel would take the unprecedented step of posing two crucial strategic questions to Attorney General Janet Reno's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC).

Mr. Ray's questions led to formal opinions prepared by Assistant Attorney General Randolph D. Moss, who ruled:

*On Aug. 8, 2000, that it would not be double jeopardy for a grand jury to indict an ex-president acquitted by the Senate after impeachment, a circumstance that applied to Mr. Clinton.

*On Oct. 16, 2000, three weeks before the presidential election, that the law creating the office of independent counsel did not nullify the constitutional barriers to indicting a president still in office and that a sitting president, therefore, could not be indicted. [...]

"[Deputy Attorney General] Eric Holder picked up the phone and informed the White House," Mr. Ray told The Washington Times, an assertion that Mr. Holder contradicted in a separate interview.

it will surprise no one but partisan Democrats to learn that Bill Clinton's plea bargain was produced by a threat of prosecution. Posted by Orrin Judd at July 28, 2002 1:36 PM