The continued probe into Mr Bill Clinton's pardon of fugitive Marc Rich - both the Congressional inquiry and the criminal investigation by the US federal prosecutor in New York - is having a political impact all over the US.
Why? Because the news yesterday that federal prosecutor Ms Mary Jo White would open a criminal inquiry into the Rich pardon, trying to determine whether an exchange of money was involved, opens up the entire can of worms for Mr Clinton and for other Democrats.
It will allow the federal lawyers to investigate all Mr Clinton's pardons and try to determine whether certain patterns of political contributions existed.
This spells trouble in several areas, especially in Los Angeles in the case of convicted drug dealer Carlos Vignalli. In 1994, Vignalli was sentenced to 15 years in prison for drug dealing. He served six of them.
In January, Mr Clinton pardoned Vignalli under the notion that the US's mandatory sentencing drug laws were severe.
The problem is that Vignalli was no small-time dealer. He lived in a huge house in Malibu. He bought the former home of actor Sylvester Stallone for $7 million (£5.98 million). Police say he was a cocaine kingpin who moved hundreds of pounds of cocaine from Los Angeles to Minnesota.
His father, Mr Horacio Vignalli, was a major political contributor, giving thousands of dollars to California politicians, and also to the Catholic Church in Los Angeles.
Two of the leading recipients of those funds - Mr Antonio Villaragigosa and Congressman Xavier Becerra - are leading contenders in the upcoming Los Angeles race for mayor. Cardinal Roger Mahoney was one of those who wrote a letter to Mr Clinton urging the pardon for the drug dealer.
Many people, over talk radio and on call-in television shows, have asked in recent days about the ruckus over the Rich pardon. A recent poll shows that 72 per cent of Americans disagreed with Mr Clinton's decision.
But since the pardon cannot be overturned, why continue an investigation? Some have suggested this is another example of the Republican Party's pure emotional hatred of Mr Clinton.
While it is true the republicans loathe Mr Clinton, there is a more practical aspect to what is happening here. The Republicans smell blood, to put it simply. They smell a pattern of political corruption that could likely spread well beyond Mr Clinton and Mr Rich.
The key to this case will not be Congressional hearings: it lies in the actions of Ms White, who has opened the criminal probe. She is no Kenneth Starr. She is a Democrat and a Clinton appointee. But she is furious at something she believes may have been illegal.
She believes illegal money laundering may have been involved here. If she succeeds in opening up the personal bank records of Ms Denise Rich, the ex-wife of the fugitive financier, a woman who gave at least $1.5 million to Democratic causes over the years . . . well, let us put it this way: Democrats all over the US will have reason to tremble.
