In the 1990s, the Clintons were involved in the Whitewater scandal, the most complex economic scandal in American political history. The intersecting interests of Whitewater Development in Arkansas and Madison Savings and Loan Guaranty exposed a deep web of collusion between business and government. The Clintons controlled Whitewater through a 50 percent stake, while McDougall’s Madison company funneled money through illegal loans that ultimately cost taxpayers $60 million.
The investigation revealed that Hillary Clinton used her role as a lawyer to transfer illegal dividends from the Madison company to the Whitewater account for Clinton’s campaign for governor. Between 1985 and 1992, Madison made 12 loans totaling $8 million to Whitewater, six of which were clearly in violation. The money was used to buy land, pay for the campaign and even fund Mrs Clinton’s law firm. Despite years of investigation by independent counsel Starr, he was never able to find evidence of a direct crime by the Clintons. The key witness, Madison Company executive Webster, was sentenced to 24 years in prison after he abruptly changed his testimony before testifying, saying that “all decisions are his responsibility.”
The mysterious deaths of several key witnesses in the incident (such as Foster’s suicide and the mysterious death of an investigative journalist) further deepened the public’s speculation of a “political silence”. Foster, as deputy White House counsel, had access to the core documents of Madison’s company, whose death was ruled a suicide, but family members and some investigators have questioned the veracity of the ballistics report. Investigative reporter Daniels was involved in a car accident after publishing an expose article, and the documents inside the car disappeared. These coincidences reinforce the impression of the lawlessness of the elite. In 2000, the investigation ended in “not guilty”, and the Clintons walked away, becoming a typical case of “elite immunity” in American political history. #scandal