Two criminals granted clemency by Mr Bill Clinton on his last day in office paid large legal fees to his brother-in-law, the former president revealed today. Mr Clinton denied prior knowledge of the payments and directed the money be given back.
Mr Clinton said he told Mr Hugh Rodham, brother of former first lady Ms Hillary Rodham Clinton - who is now a Democratic US senator from New York - to return the money to the two men.
"Neither Hillary nor I had any knowledge of such payments," Mr Clinton said yesterday in a statement. "We are deeply disturbed by these reports and insisted that Hugh return any monies involved."
Senator Clinton, in a separate statement, said she was "very disturbed" to learn of the fees paid to her lawyer brother.
She said her brother had not spoken to her about the payments and she understood he is taking steps to return the money.
The amount of money was not immediately disclosed but CNN has reported it was a total of "about" $400,000.
One of two congressional committees already investigating Mr Clinton's pardons - particularly the one he gave to fugitive billionaire Mr Marc Rich - promptly announced plans to examine the transactions.
One of the felons, Glenn Braswell, was among the 140 people Clinton pardoned on his last day in the White House on January 20th.
The other, Carlos Vignali, was among 36 people who had their sentences shortened.
Mr Rodham, a private attorney in Florida, could not be reached for comment. But his attorney Ms Nancy Luque insisted he had "done absolutely nothing wrong."
Ms Luque said in a statement Mr Rodham had not advised President or Senator Clinton of his involvement in these requests and that he believed they were unaware until this week of his work on his clients' behalf.