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- "We always get our man."
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- That's the slogan of the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police. Let's hope it's so. Because this is the one law enforcement
agency in the world conducting a criminal investigation into a scandal
that could lead them right to the president of the United States.
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- Let's call it "Bloodgate."
It's a scandal that threatens to connect the dots between some other "gates"
-- including Whitewater and Vincent Foster.
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- To recap what we've already covered,
in the early 1980s, HMA, a company headed by Leonard K. Dunn, won a contract
to provide medical services to Arkansas state prison inmates. As part of
the $3 million deal, HMA was also allowed to collect blood from the prisoners
and sell it.
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- That tainted blood, Canadian officials
believe, was later responsible for a nationwide outbreak of AIDS and other
diseases. HMA admitted to selling some contaminated blood -- unknowingly.
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- But there seems to be more to this story
-- much more. Michael Galster, who worked in the prison system during the
time the blood was collected, has written a novel called "Blood Trail"
that suggests then-Gov. Bill Clinton knew about the shady blood deal. Now,
emboldened by the imminent House impeachment inquiry, the author has cast
aside his pseudonym and is promising to provide the evidence linking Clinton
to a health scandal that has killed hundreds, if not thousands.
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- It only takes a little probing to see
the political connections at play. Dunn was one of Clinton's key political
supporters who was awarded not only with a contract for his company, but
an appointment to a state business council as well. He also turns out to
be the guy who wound up with the assets of Madison Guaranty Savings &
Loan following the Whitewater scandal. Small world, huh? Don't be surprised,
it gets even smaller.
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- Syndicated columnist Maggie Gallagher
last week reported that the late White House deputy counsel Vincent Foster
may have been connected with the blood scandal.
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- "Once upon a time -- in fact a day
or two after Vince Foster died -- a man called the White House counsel's
office," she wrote. "'This was not a line that kooks typically
rang us up on,' my source told me. Lunatics call the main office number.
This guy called one of Vince's assistants directly.
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- "The man said he had some information
that might be important. Something had upset Vince Foster greatly just
days before he died. Something about 'tainted blood' that both Vince Foster
and President Clinton knew about, this man said.
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- "'I'm telling you this now because
Vince Foster was very distressed about this only days before his death,'
the mysterious caller said. 'I'm not saying this caused his suicide. I'm
only saying it might have contributed to his distress and I thought someone
should know.'
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- "The White House counsel's office
didn't pay much attention. 'Probably a kook,' they agreed around the office.
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- "Except that when his name was typed
into the computer log of phone calls for Vince, something strange happened.
The computer flashed 'password required' or some such phrase, indicating
a special code was needed to open that file. 'Aw, probably just a computer
glitch,' Bernie Nussbaum, then chief White House counsel, said at the time.
And so the matter, as far as I know, was dropped."
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- That account coincides perfectly with
Galster's "Blood Trail." His book describes a fictional confrontation
between the president and his chief counsel over the blood scandal. The
counsel expresses regrets about their involvement in a scandal that killed
"over a thousand people."
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- "This could be the biggest scandal
ever associated with the American presidency," he says.
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- "Shut up," the president says.
"Our discussion is over and you are out of here."
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- Did Clinton have knowledge of this contaminated
blood sale? Was he involved, as Galster suggests, in making the deal? Was
it gross negligence? Or was it worse? Did he try to cover it up? Did he
actually benefit financially from the spreading of AIDS?
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- This could, indeed, turn out to be the
biggest scandal ever to hit the U.S. presidency -- if indeed Galster's
got the goods. This one, if proven true, will make Clinton wish he had
resigned over the Monica Lewinsky affair.
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- Remember where you read it first, folks.
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