Carter: Rich Pardon Wrong

Feb. 21 -- Former President Jimmy Carter is the latest to join the chorus line of critics taking Bill Clinton to task for granting a pardon to fugitive financier Marc Rich.

"I think President Clinton made one of his most serious mistakes in the way he handled the pardon situation the last few hours he was in office," Carter said Tuesday evening during a speech at Georgia Southwestern State University. "A number of them were quite questionable, including about 40 not recommended by the Justice Department."

Carter said Clinton had erred by ignoring the standard pardon procedures in the case of Rich, a billionaire commodities trader who has been living in exile in Switzerland for nearly two decades. He was indicted on tax evasion and other charges in 1983.

"I never pardoned anyone whose pardon was not recommended to me after a complete investigation by the Justice Department," said Carter, the only living former Democratic president besides Clinton.

Carter stopped short of implying Clinton had violated the law by issuing the pardon, but, like other critics, suggested large donations given to the Democratic Party and the Clinton presidential library by Rich's former wife, Denise Rich, may have played a role in the decision.

"I don't think there is any doubt that some of the factors in his pardon were attributable to his large gifts," Carter added. "In my opinion that was disgraceful."

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Denise Rich has donated more than $1.5 million to the Democratic Party, Clinton's campaigns, Hillary Rodham Clinton's Senate campaign, and to the $200 million Clinton library being constructed in Little Rock, Ark.

Clinton Defends Action

In a Sunday New York Times op-ed piece, Clinton gave his most detailed defense of the decision yet, saying he acted "in the best interests of justice" by pardoning Rich.

"The suggestion that I granted the pardons because Mr. Rich's former wife, Denise, made political contributions and contributed to the Clinton library foundation is utterly false," Clinton also wrote. "There was absolutely no quid pro quo."