Civic Economics - Page A1
March 25, 1997
Fedeal Grand Jury Focus:
By Staff Investigative Journalists
Harold Ickes 501(c)3 SchemeWASHINGTON DESK - The Daily Republican learned Wednesday that a federal grand jury in Washington D.C. investigating political fund raising in the Clinton White House is focussing on former Deputy Chief of Staff Harold Ickes.
This week's key witness was R. Warren Meddoff, a Florida businessman, met with reporters on Wednesday and said the federal grand jury target is closing in on Ickes key role in White House fund raising schemes.
During a Clinton-Gore Campaign fund-raiser in Florida, Meddoff says he passed a note to president Bill Clinton saying an associate wanted to donate $5 million to the Clinton's political campaign.
A few days later Ickes faxed a memo from the White House to Meddoff, with specific instructions on what to do with that $5 million. Ickes asked Meddoff to divide up the donation into a number of smaller contributions. Five hundred thousand dollars would have gone to the DNC.
To cover-up the rest of the $5 million the remainder of the donation would have gone to tax-exempt groups, like $250,000 to Vote Now in Miami.
The White House claims it has done nothing illegal. But, there is a congressional committee, and a federal grand jury, now investigating whether Ickes' conduct rises to the seriousness of a criminal violation and if it does, who else participated in the criminal conspiracy [to divert a political donation into a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization violated federal election law].
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