Sorry, No Fireworks This Time

Back in the 1990s, a generation of ambitious congressional Republicans made their bones with inquisitions into the affairs of Bill and Hillary Clinton. But when Hillary shows up this week for her Senate confirmation hearing to become President-elect Obama's secretary of state, she can expect a much sunnier reception. She'll be earnestly examined on complex international issues, such as Gaza and Pakistan, but old skeletons are likely to remain in the closet. "I suspect it's going to be a lovefest," said David Bossie, a GOP investigator who led some of the tougher probes into the Clintons. Bossie added that no congressional Republicans have approached him for background information on Hillary.

Democrats now control the Senate, so the hearing will be led by the Foreign Relations Committee's new chair, Sen. John Kerry, who wanted for himself the job that Clinton has been offered. Both he and the committee's top Republican, Richard Lugar, are expected to treat Clinton with deference, although Kerry has hired journalistic gumshoe Douglas Frantz to be his chief investigator. While working for the Los Angeles Times in the 1990s, Frantz co-wrote a "Troopergate" story that helped launch the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Still, if Clinton does face pointed questions, they're likely to come from the committee's more conservative GOP members, such as South Carolina's Jim DeMint or Louisiana's David Vitter.

One lingering matter that's sure to come up: her husband's charitable foundation, which, under pressure from the Obama camp, recently disclosed all of its donors, including foreign governments such as Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Brunei, as well as potentially controversial private contributors. According to an agreement between President Clinton and the Obama transition team, some of the Clinton Foundation's key operations, including projects related to HIV/AIDS, climate change and Third World development, may continue to receive foreign-government money—and may also accept money from additional foreign governments—provided that the foundation receives clearance from the State Department. Government rules empower ethics officials to waive conflict-of-interest concerns in cases where, for instance, Hillary's continued participation on a specific issue "outweighs" such fears. News reports have also noted big donations from AIG, Lehman Brothers and William Lerach, a prominent trial lawyer who was jailed last year after pleading guilty to conspiracy charges. "Like dozens of charitable organizations that received contributions from the financial sector," spokesman Matt McKenna told NEWSWEEK, "the Clinton Foundation used those funds to continue its commitment to creating and promoting global change."

© 2009