INSTA-PUNDIT

Fresh from Hardball when the news broke. I’d say a few things. First, this matters more than the Rich pardon because it directly links Hillary to the sleaze. Rodham is her brother. His $200K is directly due to his familial relationship. Even if Hillary knew nothing about her brother’s shenanigans (which I doubt), nothing could more clearly taint her than her own flesh and blood. And she’s the only Clinton with a real political career left. She thought she could wrest free and start over, but she can’t. At long last, the bad karma is hurting the only person so far to survive the Clinton curse. Second, the poorly but ever-so-carefully written press release from the ex-prez concedes nothing. Read it carefully, as you have to read everything out of Clinton’s mouth or pen. Here it is in full: “Yesterday I became aware of press inquires that Hugh Rodham received a contingency fee in connection with a pardon application for Glenn Braswell and a fee for work on Carlos Vignali’s commutation application. Neither Hillary nor I had any knowledge of such payments. We are deeply disturbed by these reports and have insisted that Hugh return any moneys received.” Here’s what he doesn’t say. He doesn’t say that yesterday was the first time he found out about Rodham’s lobbying. He merely says that ‘yesterday, I became aware of press inquiries” about Rodham’s lobbying. Nor does Clinton say he was ever completely ignorant of Rodham’s lobbying for the crack cocaine mogul and herbal entrepreneur – or of Rodham’s being reimbursed for his work. He only denies knowledge of “such payments” – meaning the $200K success fee for Vignali and the contingency fee for Braswell. It’s perfectly possible that Clinton knew of Rodham’s work, granted the pardons as a favor, and is only embarrassed by the crass lump-sum payment from an overseas bank account that finally came to light. Prediction: Bruce Lindsey will be the one to take the fall on this. The National Enquirer is clearly becoming one of the best investigative sources in the country. And Hillary is now fighting for her political life.