Dick
Morris 'Bags' Hillary
NewsMax 10/04/02 Carl Limbacher
The nation's most-celebrated elected politician, who also just happens to
be the Democratic Party's second-most-popular 2004 presidential candidate,
was just nabbed in a lie - and almost all of the press is pretending not to
notice.
Almost all, that is, except Dick Morris, the former White House political guru who claimed vindication in his New York Post column on Friday for his February 2001 allegation that Hillary Clinton accepted four designer handbags worth $10,000 while first lady without making the legally required public disclosure.
Sen. Clinton, of course, denied Morris' charge, saying she only accepted two Judith Leiber bags, one of which she took before becoming first lady. And contrary to Morris' assertion, the second bag was indeed reported on the required disclosure form, Hillary maintained.
Mrs. Clinton feigned outrage, called the Morris story "false" and blasted him for "not bothering" to check his facts.
"It's really regrettable that the people writing and publishing the story didn't call to get the facts, because there would have been no story," she complained. "I guess that's why they didn't call and it is a very unfortunate commentary on the way these things are handled."
But that was before news of the Clintons' secret million-dollar treasure trove of unreported White House gifts surfaced last Thursday.
And according to details unearthed by Rep. Doug Ose, R-Calif., who conducted the investigation into the former first couple's White House stash, it was Mrs. Clinton, not Morris, who disregarded the facts.
The record shows the former first lady accepted and failed to report:
* a "small beaded Leiber handbag" worth $3,555 on 11/7/96;
* a "metal Leiber purse with comb, mirror & coin purse" worth $3,000 on 7/2/96;
* a "beaded handbag" worth $1,200 on 7/5/94;
* a "black satin" handbag, worth $925, on 1/11/94.
Sen. Clinton's office has yet to comment on the Ose report, beyond dismissing it as old news. As for an apology from Hillary, Morris warns, "Don't hold your breath."
More
HenchPAC News