Rich pardon must be investigated

Former President Bill Clinton left office in January. But his name has remained in headlines as investigations into his last-minute pardon of Marc Rich have begun.\nThese investigations must continue until the public can be certain just what happened that convinced Clinton to pardon Rich. \nRich is a white-collar criminal who fled the country to live in Switzerland after being indicted on evading $48 million in taxes in 1986. \n His ex-wife Denise contributed more than $450,000 to Clinton's presidential library, an act Clinton claims had nothing to do with his decision to grant Rich a pardon. \n This excuse seems flimsy at best. But the real question is whether anything illegal happened. Clinton certainly had the power to pardon whomever he chose, and no matter what any of these investigations finds, the pardon will stand. \n Did Clinton accept money in return for a pardon? If he did this, it was bribery. \n But if this money was a way to get access to Clinton to ask for the pardon, it would not be bribery.\n The possibilities are almost endless. Who is to say this was not simply a favor to Rich's lawyer, Jack Quinn, who is a former White House counsel? Pardons are often given for reasons of personal or political alliance.\nThe lines are fuzzy, and bribery is a hard crime to prove. But the investigation must continue, so the American people can move on with certainty about the state of the Clinton administration, down to its last few actions.\nClinton has agreed not to use his executive powers to block the testimony of several of his closest presidential aides, who had private conversations with him about the Rich pardon. His cooperation is essential in this investigation, so that he, and the rest of the public, can avoid another Clinton scandal, complete with lying at the beginning and explanations later.\nThe question of bribery can only be answered by further investigation into the situation in which the pardon occurred. These investigations must continue.