By Tammy L Casey and the Oracle Collective
"Exposed by our fruits -- not our roots."
Bill Clinton served as Governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again from 1983 to 1992 -- twelve of fourteen years. During that time, a political and financial apparatus formed around his office that touched every major scandal in Arkansas history. The components of the machine were distinct, but interlocking:
Every scandal in the Arkansas investigation touches this machine. The 40+ convictions from the Whitewater investigation alone confirm that criminal activity surrounded the Clintons at every level of their Arkansas operation. The Clintons were never charged.
The Rose Law Firm, founded in 1820, is the third oldest continuously operating law firm in the United States.[7] By the time the Clintons arrived in Arkansas, Rose was the most powerful legal institution in the state.
Hillary Rodham Clinton became the first female associate at Rose in 1977 and its first female partner in 1979 -- the same year her husband became governor. Two of her key colleagues at Rose would follow the Clintons to Washington: Vincent Foster became Deputy White House Counsel, and Webb Hubbell became Associate Attorney General -- the third-highest position at the Department of Justice.[7]
The core conflict of interest was structural: Rose Law Firm represented the State of Arkansas on regulatory matters while Hillary Clinton's husband was governor of Arkansas. Rose also represented Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan -- the institution owned by the Clintons' Whitewater business partner, Jim McDougal. Hillary Clinton performed legal work for Madison Guaranty while her husband's gubernatorial appointees regulated it.[1][7]
In January 1996, Hillary Clinton's Rose Law Firm billing records for Madison Guaranty appeared in the White House residence. These records had been subpoenaed two years earlier and were reported missing. Their sudden appearance -- in the personal living quarters of the White House -- was never satisfactorily explained. The billing records showed that Hillary had performed approximately sixty hours of legal work for Madison Guaranty.[1][7]
Rose also facilitated the entry of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) into American banking through its relationship with Stephens Inc. BCCI was later revealed to be the largest bank fraud in world history, involved in money laundering, bribery, and arms trafficking on a global scale.[7]
Stephens Inc, headquartered in Little Rock, was the largest investment bank outside of Wall Street.[11] The Stephens family -- led by Jackson T. Stephens and his brother Witt -- built a financial empire that dominated Arkansas banking, insurance, and investment for decades.
Jackson Stephens was a key fundraiser and financial backer of Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign. By 1994, Stephens Inc was one of the largest institutional shareholders in Tyson Foods, Wal-Mart, Alltel, and Worthen Banking Corporation -- the four most powerful companies in Arkansas.[11]
In 1977, Jackson Stephens brokered the arrival of BCCI (Bank of Credit and Commerce International) into United States banking. Stephens helped BCCI acquire Financial General Bankshares, which later became First American Bankshares -- the Washington, D.C. bank secretly controlled by BCCI. This transaction was facilitated through Rose Law Firm.[7][11]
Stephens Inc was the money behind the machine. Their financial reach extended into every sector of Arkansas business and politics. When Clinton ran for president, the Stephens network provided the fundraising infrastructure that launched a small-state governor onto the national stage.
In 1979, Bill and Hillary Clinton entered a real estate partnership with Jim and Susan McDougal to develop 230 acres of vacation property in Marion County, Arkansas. The venture was called the Whitewater Development Corporation. According to investigators, the Clintons invested no cash of their own.[1]
Jim McDougal also owned Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan, a federally insured institution that collapsed in 1989 at a cost to taxpayers of $73 million.[1]
The federal investigation that followed -- led by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr -- produced more than 40 criminal convictions:[1]
The Rose Law Firm billing records showing Hillary Clinton's work for Madison Guaranty disappeared for two years during the investigation and then appeared in the White House residence in January 1996.[1][7]
The Clintons were never charged. Forty of the people around them were convicted. The Clintons themselves emerged without indictment.
Dan Lasater held $664 million in Arkansas state bond underwriting contracts while simultaneously distributing cocaine.[5][6]
Lasater threw lavish parties at his Little Rock mansion where cocaine was freely available -- including to teenagers. Roger Clinton, the governor's brother, was a regular at Lasater's parties and was himself convicted of cocaine distribution in 1985.[5]
Governor Clinton personally lobbied for a $30.2 million state bond deal that netted Lasater approximately $750,000 in fees. According to the Washington Post, Clinton intervened directly to ensure Lasater received the contract.[6]
Lasater was convicted of cocaine distribution in 1986. He served approximately six months in a minimum-security facility. In 1990, Governor Bill Clinton pardoned him.[5]
After the pardon, Lasater's former vice president, Patsy Thomasson, became the White House Director of the Office of Administration under President Clinton. Thomasson was reportedly one of the first people in Vincent Foster's office after his death in July 1993.[5]
For the full investigation: Dan Lasater: The Governor's Cocaine Dealer
Dr. Fahmy Malak served as Arkansas State Medical Examiner for twelve years during Clinton's governorship. During that time, he issued more than twenty challenged rulings that protected powerful interests and concealed evidence of violent crime.[4][14]
His most notorious ruling: declaring the deaths of Kevin Ives and Don Henry -- two teenagers found dead on railroad tracks in 1987 -- as "accidental" due to "marijuana intoxication." A second autopsy revealed that one boy had been stabbed in the back and the other's skull had been crushed with a blunt instrument before the train reached them.[14]
Malak also absolved Clinton's mother, Virginia Kelley, a nurse anesthetist, in the death of a patient -- a ruling contested by all three other physicians involved in the case.[4]
Despite mounting pressure from prosecutors, families, and medical professionals across Arkansas to remove Malak, Clinton kept him in office. When public outcry finally forced Malak's departure, Clinton arranged a $70,000-per-year state consulting position for him -- effectively giving him a raise on his way out the door. Malak left only when Clinton launched his presidential campaign.[4][14]
For the full investigation: Fahmy Malak: The Medical Examiner Who Buried the Truth
Clinton was governor of Arkansas during the entire period of alleged CIA cocaine trafficking operations through Mena Intermountain Municipal Airport in Polk County, Arkansas.[2]
Adler Berriman "Barry" Seal, a DEA informant and alleged CIA asset, reportedly flew between $3 billion and $5 billion worth of cocaine through Mena between 1981 and his assassination in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in February 1986. Mena was one of the primary points of entry for Colombian cocaine into the United States during the Iran-Contra era.[2]
The Arkansas State Police operated under the governor's authority. Clinton held the power to direct state law enforcement to investigate any criminal activity occurring within Arkansas borders.
In 1994, President Clinton stated: "Federal authorities didn't tell me anything about it."[2]
Of the approximately 2,000 FBI documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests related to the Boys on the Tracks case, not a single one mentions Mena. Despite multiple witnesses and investigators providing the FBI with information about the Mena connection, the word does not appear in the federal file.[2]
For the full investigation: Mena Airport: The Cocaine Highway
Clinton was governor for ten of the twelve years that Arkansas prison inmates were bled for plasma under a contract with Health Management Associates (HMA).[3][13]
HMA's operator, Leonard Dunn, was a Clinton political ally who served as finance chairman of Clinton's 1990 gubernatorial campaign. The company paid inmates approximately $7 per plasma extraction while selling the product on the international market for substantially more.[3][15]
The plasma was contaminated with HIV and Hepatitis C. HMA failed to screen donors or implement basic safety protocols. Inmates with known infections were bled alongside healthy donors. The contaminated blood was shipped to companies in Canada, Japan, England, and other countries.[3][13]
The consequences were catastrophic:
Arkansas has never apologized to the victims. Arkansas has never compensated the families. No Arkansas official was ever charged.[3][13][15]
For the full investigation: The Bleeding Room: The Arkansas Prison Blood Scandal
Kevin Ives and Don Henry were murdered on August 23, 1987 -- during Clinton's governorship. Their bodies were found on railroad tracks near Alexander, Arkansas. Dr. Fahmy Malak -- Clinton's medical examiner -- ruled the deaths accidental. A second autopsy proved they had been beaten and stabbed before being placed on the tracks.[9]
The prevailing theory, supported by multiple witnesses and investigators, is that the boys stumbled onto an active drug drop along the railroad tracks -- part of the distribution network connected to the Mena Airport cocaine pipeline.[2][9]
Dan Harmon, initially the attorney for the boys' parents, became the special prosecutor running the grand jury investigation. In 1997, Harmon was convicted of federal racketeering, conspiracy, and drug trafficking. The man running the investigation into a drug-related murder was himself a drug trafficker.[9]
Seven witnesses connected to the case died under violent or suspicious circumstances between 1988 and 1990. No one has ever been charged with the murders of Kevin Ives and Don Henry.[9]
For the full investigation: Boys on the Tracks: Two Boys, Seven Witnesses, Thirty-Nine Years of Silence
The people closest to the Clinton Machine either went to prison, received presidential pardons, or died.
| Name | Role | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Vincent Foster | Deputy White House Counsel, Rose Law Firm partner | Found dead in Fort Marcy Park, Virginia, on July 20, 1993, from a gunshot wound. Five separate investigations ruled his death a suicide.[7] |
| Webb Hubbell | Rose Law Firm partner, #3 at DOJ (Associate Attorney General) | Convicted of wire fraud and tax fraud for more than 400 fraudulent billing entries at Rose Law Firm. Resigned from DOJ. Served 18 months in federal prison.[7] |
| Jim McDougal | Whitewater partner, owner of Madison Guaranty | Convicted on 18 felony counts. Cooperated with prosecutors. Died in federal prison on March 8, 1998, at age 57.[1] |
| Susan McDougal | Whitewater partner | Convicted on 4 felony counts. Jailed 18 months for refusing to testify about Clinton. Pardoned by Clinton, January 2001.[7] |
| Roger Clinton | Governor's brother | Convicted of cocaine distribution in 1985. Regular at Dan Lasater's cocaine parties. Pardoned by his brother in the final hours of the Clinton presidency, January 2001.[5] |
| Dan Lasater | State bond dealer, cocaine distributor | Convicted of cocaine distribution in 1986. Served approximately six months. Pardoned by Governor Clinton, 1990.[5] |
| Mark Middleton | Clinton aide who facilitated Jeffrey Epstein's White House visits | According to White House visitor logs, Middleton facilitated at least 17 of Epstein's visits to the Clinton White House. Found dead on May 7, 2022, at Heifer Ranch in Perryville, Arkansas -- with both an extension cord around his neck and a shotgun wound to the chest. Ruled suicide.[8][9] |
The pattern is consistent: those who could testify either died, went to prison, or received pardons that eliminated their obligation to cooperate with prosecutors. The Clintons were never charged.
In his memoir My Life, Bill Clinton wrote:
"From the day I met him until the day I flew home from the White House to speak at his funeral, Hilary Jones was my man in Newton County."[12]
Clinton thought he had a man in Newton County. Newton County had a man in the Governor's mansion.
Hilary Jones (one L, male) was a cattle rancher from Pruitt, a small community along the Buffalo National River in the heart of the Ozarks. He first worked with Clinton during the 1974 congressional campaign, flying the young candidate around the district to meet voters. Clinton lost that race -- but he remembered the pilot from Newton County.[10][11]
In 1979, Clinton's first year as governor, he appointed Jones to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission -- one of his very first appointments. Jones used that seat to do what he had always wanted to do: bring the elk home.[10][11]
From 1981 to 1985, Jones spearheaded the elk restoration program, importing 112 elk from Colorado to reestablish a herd in the Buffalo River region. The effort succeeded. The herd today is officially designated the "Hilary Jones Elk Herd." The Hilary Jones Wildlife Museum in Jasper and the Ponca Elk Education Center preserve his conservation legacy.[10][11]
Jones was invited as an overnight guest in the Lincoln Bedroom at the White House. On July 18, 1997, the President of the United States flew home from Washington to deliver the eulogy at Hilary Jones's funeral in Jasper, Arkansas.[12]
Jones's son-in-law, Randy Laverty, served in the Arkansas House (1995-2001, District 23) and the Arkansas Senate (2003-2013, District 2), representing Newton County and the surrounding Ozark region. His legislative record tells the same story as Jones's conservation work -- a Newton County agenda, not a Clinton agenda:[16]
Laverty was term-limited in 2012. His successor was Republican Jim Hendren -- nephew of Governor Asa Hutchinson.[16]
Today the Hilary Jones Elk Herd numbers in the hundreds, grazing the meadows along the Buffalo National River. Every autumn, the Buffalo River Elk Festival celebrates what Jones fought to restore -- the return of a native species to the Ozarks.
Clinton used Jones for votes. Jones used Clinton for elk. The votes are forgotten. The elk are still here.
The contrast tells you everything about the difference between the machine and the people it claims to serve. The machine produced cocaine pardons, contaminated blood, and 40 convictions. Jones produced 112 elk, a wildlife museum, and a conservation legacy that outlasted them all.
Every scandal in the Arkansas investigation touches the Clinton Machine. The connections are not speculative. They are documented, prosecuted, and convicted:
40+ convicted. Jim McDougal: 18 felonies, died in prison. Susan McDougal: 4 felonies, jailed for refusing to testify, pardoned. Jim Guy Tucker: conspiracy and mail fraud. Webb Hubbell: wire fraud and tax fraud. Dan Lasater: cocaine distribution, pardoned. Roger Clinton: cocaine distribution, pardoned. Dan Harmon: racketeering, conspiracy, drug trafficking.
The machine produced convictions by the dozen. It produced pardons for the loyal. It produced death for the inconvenient. What it never produced was a single charge against Bill or Hillary Clinton.
The Clintons were never charged.
Forty people around them went down. The machine worked exactly as designed: it absorbed the consequences so they didn't have to.