The real Clinton story: 2000

Forgotten or ignored stories of the Clinton's, their friends and the state that made them

According to John Harris' book on Clinton, Tipper Gore was so disgusted in 2000 with Bill and Hillary that she stayed cloistered in a holding room instead of going to a New York reception with major Democratic fund-raisers where the Clintons would be. "No, I'm not doing it," she snapped to an aide. "I'm not going out there with that man."

President Clinton declares "National Character Counts Week," issuing a proclamation that reads in part: "The character of our citizens has enriched every aspect of our national life and has set an example of civic responsibility for people around the world."

Juanita Broaddrick, who accused Bill Clinton of having raped her, is being audited by the Internal Revenue Service. Among others involved with the president who have been audited: Elizabeth Ward Gracen; Billy Dale (fired in travel office affair); Fox News critic Bill O'Reilly; Kent Masterson Brown (brought lawsuit compelling Hillary's health care task force to reveal its members); and Paula Jones. Also: National Review, American Spectator, Christian Coalition, Citizens for a Sound Economy,Freedom Alliance, Heritage Foundation, National Rifle Association, Western Journalism Center, National Center for Public Policy Research, Fortress America and Citizens Against Government Waste.

A former Justice Department prosecutor testifies to Congress that he recommended an investigation into President Clinton's connection to a top Democratic fund-raiser involved in the sale of missile-related expertise to China. Attorney General Janet Reno rejected the proposal and one of Reno's top executives, Lee Radek, head of the department's public integrity section, called the recommendation "silly."

The Association of Trial Lawyers invites Clinton to speak. So does the American Association of Newspaper Editors

Former White House counsel Charles Ruff uses variants of "I don't know, I don't remember, I don't' recall or I have no specific recollection..." 12 times within the first 30 minutes of questioning before a congressional committee investigating missing White House e-mails. This technique may have been foreshadowed in a 1997 interview Bob Woodward had with Ruff. Ruff told Woodward how Watergate may all look different to future congressional investigators, and if called to testify someday at such an inquiry, Ruff said he knows just what to do. "I'd say, 'Gee, I just don't remember what happened back then', and they won't be able to indict me for perjury and that, maybe, that's the principal thing that I've learned in four years....I just intend to rely on that failure of memory."

In FBI interviews, Vice President Al Gore changes his answers when confronted with documents in a fund-raising investigation, and suggests he may have missed a key discussion during a meeting because he drank too much iced tea. In one FBI interview, Gore says 23 times that he is unable to recall aspects of the Nov. 21, 1995 meeting and other fund-raising issues brought up by the FBI.

Arthur A. Coia, the former president of a labor union who has raised millions of dollars for Bill Clinton, Al Gore and the Democratic Party, pleads guilty to defrauding taxpayers in Rhode Island of nearly $100,000 in taxes that were due on three Ferrari sports cars worth more than $1.7 million. Coia gets two years probation and a $10,000 fine.

Independent Counsel Robert Ray's final report on the White House travel office case finds first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton's testimony in the matter was "factually false," but concluded there were no grounds to prosecute her. The special prosecutor determined the first lady did play a role in the 1993 dismissal of the travel office's staff, contrary to her testimony in the matter. But Ray said he would not prosecute Clinton for those false statements because "the evidence was insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt" that she knew her statements were false or understood that they may have prompted the firings. . . The final report concludes that "despite that falsity, no prosecution of Mrs. Clinton is warranted."

Special prosecutor Ray says there is insufficient evidence to bring criminal charges against the Clintons. Ray criticizes the White House for what he called "substantial resistance" to providing "relevant evidence" to his investigators. "The White House asserted unfounded privileges that were later rejected in court," Ray said. "White House officials also conducted inadequate searches for documents and failed to make timely production of documents, including relevant e-mails."