* Original Area: Legal
* Original From: Lester Garrett (1:232/16)
* Original To : All (1:285/27)

** PLEASE NOTE: THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE IS A CROSS-POST **

* The original was written by Matt Giwer in the DEBATE Echo *
* It was dated 13 Jan 94 and addressed to All *
* The original Subject was: "Trooper Affidavit a Farce" *
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*********** Original To: ALL
* SILICON * was By: MATT GIWER
* DUPE * posted: On: MERCOPUS
*********** Conf: 0036 - Controversy-F
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********** Original From: THOMAS YOHA
* STOLEN * To: ALL
* STUFF * Date/Number: 01/12/94 - 0142160
********** On: MERCOPUS - 0025 - Politics-F
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As seen in The Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, January 11, 1994;

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Trooper Affidavit Is a Farce

Robert Bartley's Jan 6 editorial-page article "On Arkansas Sex,
Not Inhaling and Whitewater," justifying continued press coverage
of the current scandals involving Bill and Hillary Clinton,
answers the critics of press coverage, including your own Albert
Hunt, clearly and forthrightly.

However, Mr. Bartley commits one error of fact that, had the
truth been know to him, would have further bolstered his
position. In his column, Mr. Bartley refers to "an affidavit
from Trooper Danny Ferguson saying, `President Clinton never
offered or indicated a willingness to offer any trooper a job in
exchange for silence or help in shaping their stories.'"

In fact, Trooper Danny Ferguson did not sign an affidavit, and
made no such statement under oath. I am enclosing a photostatic
copy of the actual affidavit in question, as it was published in
the Arkansas Democrat--Gazette of December 30. As you may see,
the affidavit was not signed by Trooper Ferguson, but was signed
by Robert Batton, who stated he was signing "on behalf of" his
client. In a newspaper article accompanying the depiction of the
affidavit, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette report revealed that
Betsy Wright had attempted to obtain such an affidavit directly
from Mr. Ferguson, but was only able to obtain an affidavit
signed by his attorney. The report further revealed that Bruce
Lindsey, lawyer and White House aide to President Clinton,
solicited and obtained the assistance of Little Rock lawyer
Stephen Engstrom, in preparing the enclosed affidavit.

That is, the facts surrounding the affidavit are as follows:
Betsey Wright, Clinton's longtime henchman and fixer, came to
Little Rock lawyer Stephen Engstrom, at the request of Bill
Clinton, in an attempt to persuade Trooper Ferguson to recant his
earlier claims made to the Los Angeles Times that he had been
offered a job as a United States Marshal or with the Federal
Emergency Management Agency, in exchange for his silence about
Mr. Clinton's criminal abuse of power while governor of Arkansas.
Trooper Ferguson refused to recant his story under oath, which
could have subjected him to criminal penalties if the statement
under oath proved to be false. Thereupon, the fixer and the two
lawyers hit upon the idea of having Mr. Ferguson's lawyer execute
an affidavit, under oath, which, as you may see, only states that
Mr. Ferguson told the lawyer the contents of the affidavit.
Therefore, neither Mr. Ferguson nor his lawyer has stated under
oath that "President Clinton never offered or indicated a
willingness to offer any trooper a job in exchange for silence or
help in shaping their stories." No one has sworn to this

Mr. Bartley could also have noted that the statement I have just
quoted is not, as a matter of logic, one that anyone can swear
to, other than President Clinton himself. Neither Trooper
Ferguson, lawyer Batton, Stephen Engstrom nor Betsey Wright could
possibly swear that President Clinton never offered a job to any
trooper.

Bill Clinton, acting through Wright, Engstrom and Batton, has
engaged in trickery and deception in the matter of the affidavit
of Danny Ferguson. Bill Clinton is not know as Slick Willie for
nothing.

The "affidavit" is a farce, and was evidently executed for the
sole purpose of deceiving the public and the press. Your readers
might want to know why this was done.

Timothy F. Watson SR
Attorney

Newport, Arkansas
-!-

A F F I D A V I T

My name is Robert Batton. I am a lawyer who maintains a
private law practice and I also serve the city of Jacksonville,
Arkansas, part-time as Municipal Judge.

I represent Danny Ferguson an Arkansas state trooper who was
assigned to the security detail for President Clinton when the
President was Governor of Arkansas.

My Client does not wish to converse with any member of the
media and, therefore, has authorized me to say on his behalf that
President Clinton never offered or indicated a willingness to
offer any trooper a job in exchange for silence or help in
shaping their stories.

In a phone conversation in early September Danny Ferguson
inquired whether in the President received a memo from Roger Perry
requesting a position on one of the President's Councils on Drugs.
The President was unaware of any such request. The President said
he would try to track down Perry's request and asked Danny
Ferguson to get in touch with Roger Perry to see what his
memorandum said and to get back in touch with the President. No
further discussions took place.

Neither my client nor I will make any further statement.

/s/

Robert Batton