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July 20, 1997
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 The investigation is big news in Washington, but how's it playing around the country.  The Online Explainers take your question on the investigation.  The NewsHour's coverage of the Congressional Investigation.  The inside stories on the political fight behind the public investigation.  A closer look at the issues really under scrutiny by the Congress. |
 I listened directly to Fred Thompson on Sunday, July 13, on national TV as he answered the question, "Does everybody do it?" He was very definite in answering that everyone seeks LEGAL soft money, but that NO, everyone does not see ILLEGAL soft money. He attempted to make the point that the investigation is not about soft money but about illegal soft money. Somehow, this seems to be skipped over in the media. The investigation is about the possibility that money was obtained illegally from foreign sources.
I had been hired in the recent past as a director of fund-raising by a U.S. Senate campaign, a state-wide Attorney General campaign and a state-wide Supreme Court Justice campaign. I was always instructed by the candidates to thoroughly read the campaign fundraising laws and regulations. Everyone involved with the fundraising had to do the same. There is certainly no excuse for what Bill Clinton has done. There is no ignorance concerning the law.
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We were careful to screen every check that crossed the desk, whether a direct contribution or a contribution made from a fundraiser. There is no way that Bill Clinton was unaware of the illegal nature of the funds that were flowing in. I am a very partisan Republican, but the illegality of the funds raised by the Clinton White House would be wrong were I a Democrat or a Republican.