Friday, March 7, 2008

Library withheld papers on Clinton pardons

By The Associated Press

LITTLE ROCK (AP) - More than a thousand pages covering pardons granted by former president Bill Clinton during his final days in office have been withheld from the public.

Archivists at the Clinton Presidential Library decided to keep the papers out of a larger batch recently released because they covered confidential discussions with advisers.

Included in the more than 2800 documents that have been made public, letters in support of fugitive financier Marc Rich and his partner, both of whom were pardoned by Clinton.

The delays by the library in releasing documents have led to sharp criticism of Clinton and former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.

A spokeswoman for the National Archives, which runs the library, now says they may have misinterpreted a 2002 letter from the former president in which he left instructions on which pardon documents should be made public.

The library is expected to release 10,000 pages of Hillary Clinton's schedules as first lady later this month.

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