Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 55, No. 35, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 30, 2001 Page: 3 of 24
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IN OUR 55TH YEAR! — THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2001 TEXAS JEWISH POST
Features 3
Congressional Committee Turns Heat
On Rich Pardon. Asks Barak For Details
By Matthew E. Berger
ASHINGTON, - A
congressional com-
mittee is seeking
more information
from former Israeli Prime Min-
ister Ehud Barak about his par-
ticipation in the controversial
pardon of Marc Rich.
The House of Representa-
tives' Government Reform
Committee also released White
House transcripts of conversa-
tions between the former Is-
raeli leader and President Clin-
ton, which show that Barak
twice sought Rich's pardon in
the waning months of Clinton’s
presidency and that the presi-
dent remained undecided on
the day before the pardon was
announced.
A commodities trader, Rich
was pardoned by Clinton on
Jan. 20, during his last hours in
office. He had been indicted on
51 counts of lax evasion, rack-
eteering and violating trade
sanctions with Iran, but fled to
Switzerland in 1983 before
standing trial.
In a letter sent to Barak re-
cently, committee Chairman
Dan Burton (R-Ind.) sought
answers about the former
prime minister's involvement
in the Rich pardon, whom he
thought it would benefit and
why he and Clinton agreed that
they should “not say much"
about the pardon request.
Burton also sought informa-
tion about Denise Rich, a
prominent Democratic fund
raiser and Marc Rich's ex-wife.
Burton asked whether Barak
believed the pardon could be
financially important to Clin-
ton or the library he is building
in Arkansas.
Burton is investigating whether
the pardons were exchanged for
donations to the library or other
Democratic causes.
This is the second letter Bur-
ton has sent to Barak seeking
information. In March, Barak
sent a letter to the committee,
addressing his participation in
the Rich pardon in two para-
graphs.
Barak wrote that he was ap-
proached by the chairman of
Rich's foundation, Avner
Azoulay, a former Mossad
agent who has “contributed a
lot to the security of the State
of Israel."
“I raised the subject with
President Clinton several times
(probably three) in the course
of routine telephone conversa-
tions during the last two or
three months of his presidency
and made a personal recom-
Ehud Barak
mendation to him to consider
the case,” Barak wrote.
Transcripts of Clinton's con-
versations with Barak, ob-
tained by the committee, show
that Barak first raised Rich's
name to Clinton on Dec. II,
the same day Rich's pardon pe-
tition was submitted, Burton
claims.
Barak described Rich as a
man who was “making a lot of
philanthropic contributions to
Israeli institutions and activi-
ties like education.”
“He violated certain rules of
the game in the United States
and is living abroad,” Barak re-
portedly told Clinton. “I just
wanted to let you know that
here he is highly appreciated
for his support of so many phil-
anthropic institutions and
funds, and that if I can, I would
like to make my recommenda-
tion to consider his case.”
Clinton responded that he
was aware of the case because
he knew Denise Rich.
“If your ex-wife wants to
help you, that's good,” Clin-
ton said.
During the second conversa-
tion, Barak said he wanted to
mention two names, Rich and
another person, whose name
was redacted. In addition to
Rich, Barak was believed to
support the
pardon of
Jonathan Pol-
lard, a former
U.S. Navy in-
telligence offi-
cer who is
serving a life
sentence for
spying on the
United States
for Israel.
Clinton did
not pardon
Pollard despite
numerous pub-
lic requests by
American Jew-
ish leaders.
Clinton told
Barak he had
received a
“long memo”
about Rich,
but added.,
“it's best that
we not say
much about
that.”
“Ok, I understand,” Barak re-
sponded. “I'm not mentioning
it in any place.”
Barak said the pardon could
be important financially - it
was not clear to whom - and
Clinton described Rich's case
as “bizarre."
In their final conversation, on
the day before Rich's pardon
was announced, Clinton appar-
ently raised the issue with
Barak, and said he was having
difficulty moving the pardon
forward.
“Here's the only problem
with Rich: There's almost no
precedent in American histo-
ry,” Clinton said. “There's
nothing illegal about it, but
there’s no precedent.”
Clinton apparently was refer-
ring to the fact that Rich never
stood trial because he fled to
Switzerland.
“The question is not whether
he should get it or not but
whether he should get it with-
out coming back here,” Clinton
told Barak. “That's the dilem-
ma I'm working through. I’m
working on it.”
The next morning, as Wash-
ington began to inaugurate
George W. Bush, Rich's name
was on a long list of pardons,
which also included a Jewish
business associate of Rich,
Pincus Green.
Rich's pardon is believed to
have been aided by a well-cho-
reographed campaign to per-
suade Israeli and American
Jewish leaders to advocate on
his behalf, citing his charitable
largesse. Rich donated to nu-
merous hospitals and educa-
tional programs
in Israel and to
the Birthright
Israel program,
which sends
young American
Jews to Israel.
Several promi-
nent American
Jews wrote let-
ters on Rich’s
behalf, includ-
ing Abraham
Foxman, nation-
al director of the
Anti-Defama-
tion League;
Rabbi Irving
“Yitz” Green-
berg, chairman
of the United
States Holo-
caust Memorial
Council; and
Marlene Post,
North American
chairwoman of
Birthright Israel.
In Israel, then-
foreign Minis-
ter Shlomo
B e n - A m i ,
Jerusalem May-
or Ehud Olmert
and Itamar Ra-
binovich, presi-
dent of Tel Aviv
University and
a former ambas-
sador to the
United States,
all contributed
letters on Rich's
behalf.
A New York
federal prosecu-
tor is investigat-
ing the Clinton
pardons, and
whether any
laws were broken.
The transcripts are based on
verbatim notes taken by White
House aides. While the investi-
gation is ongoing, a govern-
ment reform committee spokes-
woman said no Israeli or Amer-
ican Jewish official has sought
for additional information.
Barak did not respond to a
request for comment from
JTA. A committee spokes-
woman said Barak has yet to
respond to its second request
for information.
Matthew E. Berger is a
TJP/JTA correspondent.
Names Arise
In New Probe
Rabbi Irving “Yitz” Greenberg
Abraham H. Foxman
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Wisch, J. A. & Wisch, Rene. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 55, No. 35, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 30, 2001, newspaper, August 30, 2001; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth754339/m1/3/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .