Warren Stephens raises $50,000 overnight so Clinton can buy TV time in his struggling re-election bid.
Sharlene Wilson tells a US grand jury investigating drugs in Arkansas that she provided cocaine to Clinton during his first term and that once the governor was so high he fell into a garbage can. The federal drug investigation is shut down within days of her testimony. Wilson flees, terrified of the state prosecuting attorney -- her former lover, and Clinton ally, Dan Harmon. She will be eventually arrested by Harmon himself and sent up for 31 years on a minor drug charge.
The case against Terry Reed goes to court. Terry Reed had been asked to take part in Operation Donation, under which planes and boats needed by the Contras "disappear," allowing owners to claim insurance. Reed has been a Contra operative and CIA asset working with Felix Rodriguez, the Contra link to the CIA and then-Vice President Bush's office. Reed later claimed he refused, but that his plane was removed while he was away. Terry Reed's plane was returned but, according to his account, he is asked not to report it because it might have to be "borrowed" again. Reed later says that he had become aware that the Contra operation also involved drug running and had gotten cold feet. He also believed that large sums of drug money were being laundered by leading Arkansas financiers. He went to Felix Rodriguez and told him he was quitting. Reed was subsequently charged with mail fraud for having allegedly claimed insurance on a plane that was in fact hidden in a hanger in Little Rock. The head of Clinton's Swiss Guard, Capt. Buddy Young, will claim to have been walking around the North Little Rock Airport when "by an act of God" a gust of wind blew open the hangar door and revealed the Piper Turbo Arrow.
The case against Terry Reed is thrown out of court by the federal judge who said, "It's my opinion no jury could find by reasonable doubt that the defendant was guilty. There are too many holes in the chain of proof for the government to prove mail fraud." Clinton's security chief, Captain Buddy Young, is described by the judge as having a "reckless disregard for the truth." Young, who will play a major role in keeping state troopers quiet about Clinton, will end up in a $92,000-a-year job with FEMA, a federal agency established to handle major disasters.
Reed will file a civil action against Buddy Young. Ambrose Evans-Pritchard will report that one witness, Arkansas state trooper Larry Patterson, testified that there were "large quantities of drugs being flown into Mena airport, large quantities of money, large quantities of guns." Patterson says the matter was repeatedly discussed in front of Clinton by his bodyguards. Patterson said the governor had "very little comment to make; he was just listening to what was being said." Reed's case will unravel when the judge rules that no evidence regarding Mena, the CIA, Dan Lasater, the Arkansas Development Finance Agency or the Clintons will be permitted.
Drug distributor Dan Lasater is pardoned by Governor Clinton after serving just six months in jail and four in a halfway house on minor charges. One law enforcement official will describe the investigation into Lasater's operations as "either a high dive or extremely unprofessional. Take your pick." The alleged reason for the pardon: so Lasater can get a hunting license. Lasater returns to his 7,400 acre ranch in Saline County.
Jean Duffey, the head of a newly created drug task force, starts investigating between the train deaths and drugs. She is told by her prosecuting attorney boss, "You are not to use the drug task force to investigate public officials." Duffey will later tell the Wall Street Journal, "We had witnesses telling us about low-flying aircraft and informants testifying about drug pick-ups."
Jim McDougal is acquitted of bank fraud.
Gov. Clinton is elected to a second four-year term. He promises to serve the full term and not run for president.
Clinton talks to Gennifer Flowers on the phone. The call is recorded. An excerpt
[Flowers asks him if he is going to run for president]: I want to but I don't want to be blown out of the water with this. I don't see how they can hurt me so far. If they don't have pictures of me and . . . if no one says anything. Or even if someone says something, they don't have much.
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