Bill Clinton

Bondi Announces New Epstein Investigation Days Before House Vote, Creating Cover for Redactions

| Importance: 8/10

On Friday, November 15, 2025, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced via X (formerly Twitter) that she had ordered a new federal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to Trump political opponents, assigning Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton to lead the probe. The announcement came just …

Pam Bondi Jay Clayton Donald Trump Thomas Massie Bill Clinton +3 more epstein cover-up doj-weaponization pam-bondi strategic-timing +3 more
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Trump Orders DOJ via Truth Social to Investigate Political Opponents Over Epstein Ties

| Importance: 9/10

On Friday, November 14, 2025, President Donald Trump used Truth Social to publicly order Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Department of Justice to investigate his political opponents in connection with Jeffrey Epstein, marking a brazen erosion of DOJ independence and raising profound …

Donald Trump Pamela Bondi Bill Clinton Larry Summers Reid Hoffman +2 more epstein doj abuse of power political persecution trump administration
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Jeffrey Epstein Associates Documents Released to Public

| Importance: 9/10

Federal court releases approximately 900 pages of previously sealed documents from the Giuffre v. Maxwell case, revealing names of dozens of Epstein associates and new details about his network. The release includes depositions, emails, and court filings, though many documents remain heavily …

Loretta Preska Virginia Giuffre Ghislaine Maxwell Bill Clinton Alan Dershowitz document-release transparency-victory public-disclosure institutional-accountability media-access
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Trump Stages Pre-Debate Event with Bill Clinton Accusers

| Importance: 8/10

On October 9, 2016, just 90 minutes before the second presidential debate in St. Louis, Donald Trump staged a surprise press conference with four women who have accused Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct or been connected to the Clintons’ legal history. The event, held at the Four Seasons Hotel …

Donald Trump Paula Jones Juanita Broaddrick Kathleen Willey Kathy Shelton +2 more trump-campaign clinton-campaign presidential-debate election-2016 deflection-strategy +2 more
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Clinton Pardon Scandal Reveals Payments to President's Brother and Brother-in-Law

| Importance: 8/10

New revelations emerge that Hugh Rodham, Hillary Clinton’s brother, received $400,000 in payments for successfully lobbying President Clinton to grant a pardon to Almon Glenn Braswell, a businessman under investigation for money laundering, and a commutation for convicted drug trafficker …

Bill Clinton Hillary Clinton Roger Clinton Hugh Rodham Almon Glenn Braswell +1 more presidential-pardons corruption influence-peddling accountability
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Clinton Pardons Fugitive Marc Rich Amid Corruption Allegations

| Importance: 9/10

Hours before leaving office, President Bill Clinton grants a controversial presidential pardon to Marc Rich, an international fugitive who fled to Switzerland in 1983 to avoid prosecution on 51 counts of tax fraud, racketeering, and illegal oil trading with Iran during the 1979-1980 hostage crisis. …

Bill Clinton Marc Rich Denise Rich Hillary Clinton presidential-pardons corruption campaign-finance political-influence accountability
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Clinton Roadless Rule Protects 58 Million Acres of National Forests from Logging

| Importance: 8/10

In one of his final acts as president, Bill Clinton implements the “Roadless Rule,” prohibiting road construction, timber harvest, and most commercial development on nearly 58 million acres of pristine national forest land—more than a quarter of the entire National Forest System. The …

Bill Clinton U.S. Forest Service Timber Industry Mining Industry environment public-lands deregulation natural-resources conservation +1 more
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Clinton Signs Commodity Futures Modernization Act, Cementing Derivatives Deregulation

| Importance: 10/10

President Bill Clinton signed the Commodity Futures Modernization Act (CFMA) into law on his last day before Christmas recess, completing the deregulation of the derivatives market that Brooksley Born had warned against two years earlier. The legislation, inserted into a 10,000-page authorization …

Bill Clinton Lawrence Summers Phil Gramm Alan Greenspan Wall Street derivatives dealers derivatives deregulation cfma financial-crisis credit-default-swaps +1 more
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Phil Gramm Inserts 262-Page CFMA into 11,000-Page Spending Bill Hours Before Christmas Recess

| Importance: 9/10

In the early evening of Friday, December 15, 2000, with Christmas recess only hours away and the presidential election still unresolved, the U.S. Senate rushes to pass an essential 11,000-page government reauthorization bill. Senator Phil Gramm of Texas inserts a complex 262-page amendment - the …

Phil Gramm U.S. Senate U.S. House of Representatives Bill Clinton Enron Corporation derivatives cfma legislative-corruption enron-loophole lame-duck +2 more
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Clinton Signs China PNTR Ending Annual Review, Enabling WTO Entry and Manufacturing Exodus

| Importance: 9/10

President Bill Clinton signs the U.S.-China Relations Act of 2000, granting China Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status and ending the annual congressional review process that had existed since 1980 under Jackson-Vanik provisions. The House passed the legislation on May 24, 2000 and the …

Bill Clinton U.S. Senate U.S. House of Representatives Chinese government Corporate Lobbies +1 more china trade-policy wto pntr globalization +3 more
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Halliburton Opens Tehran Office While Cheney Still CEO, Completing $40 Million Annual Iran Business Through Cayman Islands Subsidiary Designed to Circumvent U.S. Sanctions

| Importance: 9/10

In February 2000, Halliburton’s offshore subsidiary Halliburton Products and Services opened an office in Tehran, Iran, while Dick Cheney remained CEO of the parent company, completing a systematic sanctions evasion structure that generated approximately $40 million annually in oil field …

Dick Cheney Halliburton Halliburton Products and Services Bill Clinton sanctions-evasion conflicts-of-interest regulatory-arbitrage corporate-impunity foreign-influence
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Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act Repeals Glass-Steagall, Enables 2008 Crisis

| Importance: 10/10

President Bill Clinton signs the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (Financial Services Modernization Act) into law on November 12, 1999, repealing key provisions of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 that separated commercial banking from investment banking and insurance. The Senate passes the final bill 90-8 on …

Phil Gramm Jim Leach Thomas J. Bliley Jr. Bill Clinton Robert Rubin +4 more deregulation regulatory-capture neoliberalism banking-deregulation financial-crisis-precursor +3 more
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Lawrence Summers Becomes Treasury Secretary, Accelerates Derivatives Deregulation Campaign

| Importance: 8/10

The U.S. Senate confirms Lawrence Summers as the 71st Secretary of the Treasury, replacing Robert Rubin and continuing the aggressive deregulation agenda. Summers had spent the previous year as Deputy Secretary orchestrating opposition to derivatives regulation, including making an “irate …

Lawrence Summers Bill Clinton Robert Rubin U.S. Senate Wall Street derivatives dealers treasury derivatives deregulation revolving-door financial-crisis +2 more
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Senate Acquits President Clinton on Both Impeachment Articles

| Importance: 8/10

The U.S. Senate votes to acquit President Bill Clinton on both articles of impeachment following a five-week trial. On the perjury charge (Article I), the Senate votes 45-55, with 45 Democrats and 10 Republicans voting “not guilty.” On the obstruction of justice charge (Article II), the …

Bill Clinton U.S. Senate Senate Republicans Senate Democrats impeachment presidential-accountability constitutional-process senate-trial
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House of Representatives Impeaches President Clinton on Perjury and Obstruction Charges

| Importance: 9/10

The U.S. House of Representatives votes to impeach President Bill Clinton on two articles: perjury before a grand jury (Article I, passed 228-206) and obstruction of justice (Article II, passed 221-212). Clinton becomes the second American president to be impeached, the first being Andrew Johnson in …

Bill Clinton House Republicans Kenneth Starr impeachment presidential-accountability constitutional-crisis perjury obstruction-of-justice
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Digital Millennium Copyright Act Section 512: Safe Harbor Provisions Create Dual System of Corporate Protection and Individual Vulnerability

| Importance: 9/10

President Clinton signs the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), with Section 512 creating ‘safe harbor’ liability protections for online service providers (OSPs) that comply with ’notice and takedown’ procedures. While presented as balancing copyright protection with …

Bill Clinton U.S. Copyright Office Google YouTube Recording Industry Association of America intellectual-property copyright dmca regulatory-capture censorship +2 more
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Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act: Disney Lobbying Creates 'Mickey Mouse Protection Act,' Extending Corporate Rent Extraction by 20 Years

| Importance: 9/10

President Bill Clinton signs the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA), extending copyright terms by 20 years—from life plus 50 years to life plus 70 years for individual authors, and from 75 to 95 years for corporate works. The legislation, derisively nicknamed the ‘Mickey Mouse …

Walt Disney Company Bill Clinton Time Warner Universal Viacom +2 more intellectual-property copyright regulatory-capture corporate-lobbying disney +2 more
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Federal Reserve Grants Citigroup Temporary Waiver for Glass-Steagall Violation

| Importance: 8/10

In September 1998, the Federal Reserve Board granted Citicorp a temporary waiver allowing its merger with Travelers Group, effectively circumventing the Glass-Steagall Act and Bank Holding Company Act. This strategic regulatory maneuver created Citigroup, the first ‘universal bank’ since …

Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan Citicorp Travelers Group Sandy Weill +4 more federal-reserve citigroup glass-steagall-violation regulatory-waiver systemic-corruption +3 more
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Monica Lewinsky Affair Becomes Public as Clinton Issues Denial

| Importance: 9/10

News breaks that President Bill Clinton engaged in an extramarital affair with Monica Lewinsky, a 22-year-old White House intern, during 1995-1997. The scandal emerges during a sexual harassment civil suit by Paula Jones, when evidence surfaces that Clinton had an inappropriate relationship with …

Bill Clinton Monica Lewinsky Kenneth Starr presidential-accountability impeachment scandal investigation perjury
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FDA Modernization Act Accelerates Drug Approvals and Expands Direct-to-Consumer Advertising Under Pharma Pressure

| Importance: 7/10

President Clinton signs the FDA Modernization Act (FDAMA), codifying accelerated drug approval pathways developed during the AIDS crisis while expanding provisions favorable to pharmaceutical manufacturers including streamlined advertising approval. The law accelerates the transformation of FDA from …

Bill Clinton Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America Food and Drug Administration (FDA) James Jeffords healthcare pharmaceutical-industry regulatory-capture fda drug-safety
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Clinton Signs IIRIRA Expanding Deportation, Retroactive Aggravated Felonies

| Importance: 8/10

President Bill Clinton signs the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA), dramatically expanding deportation authority and creating new categories of removable offenses. The law increases annual deportations from approximately 50,000 to over 200,000 by the early 2000s, …

Bill Clinton U.S. Congress Immigration and Naturalization Service immigration-policy mass-deportation retroactive-punishment due-process expedited-removal
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Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act Ends Welfare Entitlement

| Importance: 9/10

President Bill Clinton signs the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), fulfilling his 1992 campaign promise to “end welfare as we know it.” The legislation represents the most significant overhaul of the American welfare system since the New …

Bill Clinton Newt Gingrich Republican Congress welfare-reform poverty social-safety-net legislation inequality
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HIPAA Passes with Limited Portability Protections While Granting Healthcare Industry Control Over Patient Data

| Importance: 7/10

President Clinton signs the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), bipartisan legislation that ostensibly addresses insurance portability between jobs but creates a regulatory framework that permits extensive healthcare industry data sharing while blocking more comprehensive …

Bill Clinton Nancy Kassebaum Edward Kennedy Health Insurance Association of America American Hospital Association healthcare insurance-industry regulatory-capture data-privacy portability
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Chinese Military Intelligence Funnels Campaign Donations Through Johnny Chung

| Importance: 9/10

Democratic fundraiser Johnny Chung receives $300,000 from Ji Shengde, the head of Chinese military intelligence, with instructions to funnel the money to help reelect President Clinton in 1996. Chung tells federal investigators that he passed on $35,000 of this money to the Democratic National …

Johnny Chung Ji Shengde Bill Clinton Democratic National Committee Chinese Military Intelligence campaign-finance foreign-interference election-interference china illegal-donations +1 more
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Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act Expands Deportation, Strips Judicial Review

| Importance: 7/10

President Bill Clinton signs the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) in response to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, despite the attack having no connection to immigration. While primarily focused on death penalty procedures and terrorism prosecution, the law contains sweeping …

Bill Clinton U.S. Congress Department of Justice Immigration and Naturalization Service immigration deportation judicial-review retroactive-punishment terrorism +1 more
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Lincoln Bedroom Fundraising Scandal Reveals White House Donor Access Program

| Importance: 8/10

Documents revealed in February 1997 show that President Bill Clinton and top aides orchestrated a broad fundraising operation during his first term, explicitly using overnight stays in the White House Lincoln Bedroom and other perks to woo and reward major donors. President Clinton personally …

Bill Clinton Democratic National Committee Major Donors campaign-finance political-corruption influence-peddling fundraising-scandal white-house
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Telecommunications Act of 1996 Eliminates Radio Ownership Caps and Raises TV Limits, Triggering Massive Media Consolidation

| Importance: 10/10

President Bill Clinton signs the Telecommunications Act of 1996 into law, eliminating the national cap on radio station ownership (previously 40 stations maximum) and increasing the television audience reach cap from 25% to 35%, triggering one of the largest media consolidation waves in American …

Bill Clinton U.S. Congress Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Clear Channel Communications Viacom +1 more media-consolidation deregulation telecommunications-act corporate-lobbying fcc +2 more
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Hillary Clinton Delivers "Super-Predators" Speech Supporting 1994 Crime Bill

| Importance: 8/10

First Lady Hillary Clinton delivers a speech at Keene State College in New Hampshire supporting the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, in which she uses the now-infamous “super-predators” terminology. In her remarks, Clinton stated: “They are not just gangs of kids …

Hillary Clinton Bill Clinton mass-incarceration racial-justice criminal-justice rhetoric political-discourse
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IMF Approves $6.8 Billion Russia Loan With Structural Adjustment Conditions: Second Largest Loan in IMF History Fails to Stabilize Economy

| Importance: 9/10

The International Monetary Fund approved a $6.8 billion loan to Russia, the second largest loan the IMF had made at the time, following years of failed stabilization efforts and broken conditionality requirements. This was followed by an agreement in 1996 to provide a total of $10.2 billion over …

International Monetary Fund Boris Yeltsin Bill Clinton G-7 World Bank +1 more imf russia structural-adjustment conditionality shock-therapy +4 more
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Robert Rubin Appointed Treasury Secretary After 26 Years at Goldman Sachs

| Importance: 8/10

Robert E. Rubin was sworn in as the 70th Secretary of the Treasury, bringing Wall Street directly into the highest levels of economic policymaking. Rubin had spent 26 years at Goldman Sachs, rising to co-chairman from 1990-1992, before joining the Clinton administration as director of the National …

Robert Rubin Bill Clinton Goldman Sachs revolving-door goldman-sachs treasury financial-deregulation regulatory-capture
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Operation Gatekeeper Launches Clinton Border Militarization, Funneling Migrants to Deadly Terrain

| Importance: 8/10

The Clinton administration launches Operation Gatekeeper, deploying additional Border Patrol agents, surveillance equipment, and barriers along the San Diego sector of the U.S.-Mexico border. Immigration and Naturalization Service Commissioner Doris Meissner implements the “prevention through …

Bill Clinton Janet Reno Doris Meissner Immigration and Naturalization Service U.S. Border Patrol immigration border-militarization enforcement death deterrence +1 more
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Clinton Healthcare Reform Dies After Insurance Industry Lobbying Campaign

| Importance: 9/10

Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell declares the Clinton administration’s Health Security Act dead, with the bill never coming to a vote in either chamber of Congress. The failure represents a devastating defeat for comprehensive healthcare reform after an intense lobbying campaign by …

Bill Clinton Hillary Clinton Health insurance industry Health Insurance Association of America Pharmaceutical Industry healthcare regulatory-capture lobbying insurance-industry corporate-power +1 more
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Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act Fuels Mass Incarceration

| Importance: 9/10

President Bill Clinton signs the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, the largest crime bill in U.S. history, consisting of 356 pages that provided for 100,000 new police officers and $9.7 billion in funding for prisons. Drafted by then-Senator Joe Biden and sponsored by …

Bill Clinton Joe Biden Jack Brooks mass-incarceration criminal-justice prison-industrial-complex racial-justice legislation
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Kenneth Starr Replaces Robert Fiske as Whitewater Independent Counsel

| Importance: 8/10

Pursuant to the newly reauthorized Ethics in Government Act, a special three-judge division of the D.C. Circuit Court appoints Kenneth Starr, former U.S. Solicitor General under George H.W. Bush, as independent counsel to continue the Whitewater investigation, replacing Robert Fiske. The Special …

Kenneth Starr Robert Fiske Special Division Court Bill Clinton whitewater investigation independent-counsel political-corruption
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Whitewater Investigation Launches Under Special Counsel Robert Fiske

| Importance: 7/10

Attorney General Janet Reno appoints Robert Fiske, a moderate Republican and former U.S. Attorney, as special counsel to investigate the Whitewater controversy involving President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton. The investigation focuses on the Clintons’ 1978 investment in the …

Bill Clinton Hillary Clinton Robert Fiske Janet Reno whitewater investigation political-corruption real-estate arkansas
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Clinton Signs NAFTA Creating Corporate Tribunals to Override National Laws

| Importance: 9/10

President Bill Clinton signs the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) into law, creating the first major free trade agreement to include Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) provisions binding developed nations. NAFTA’s Chapter 11 establishes corporate tribunals that allow …

Bill Clinton Al Gore Robert Rubin NAFTA Corporate Lobbies Mexican Government +1 more nafta free-trade corporate-tribunals isds investor-state-disputes +3 more
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$25 Million Corporate Lobbying Blitz Drives NAFTA Passage Despite Labor Opposition

| Importance: 8/10

U.S. businesses and the Mexican government launch a $25 million coordinated lobbying and public relations campaign to secure Congressional approval of NAFTA, overcoming fierce opposition from labor unions and environmental groups. The Business Roundtable, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and National …

Business Roundtable U.S. Chamber of Commerce National Association of Manufacturers American Express Mexican Government +2 more nafta corporate-lobbying trade-policy labor-opposition business-roundtable +2 more
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National Voter Registration Act (Motor Voter): Expands Registration Access Despite Republican Opposition and Implementation Resistance

| Importance: 7/10

President Clinton signed the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), known as “Motor Voter,” requiring states to offer voter registration when citizens apply for driver’s licenses, at public assistance offices, and through mail-in registration. The law aimed to reverse decades of …

Bill Clinton Congress Republican Governors ACORN League of Women Voters voting-rights federal-legislation voter-registration motor-voter republican-opposition
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Zoe Baird Nomination Collapses Over Undocumented Nanny, Launching Immigration Enforcement Politicization

| Importance: 6/10

Zoe Baird withdraws her nomination as Attorney General after revelations that she employed undocumented immigrants as household workers and failed to pay required Social Security taxes. The scandal, dubbed “Nannygate,” generates intense public backlash despite the commonplace nature of …

Bill Clinton Zoe Baird U.S. Senate Kimba Wood Janet Reno immigration political-scandal attorney-general enforcement-hypocrisy employer-sanctions
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Clinton Uses 'Sister Souljah Moment' to Distance Democrats from Black Community

| Importance: 7/10

Bill Clinton stunned Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow Coalition by using a speech to the civil rights organization to attack rapper/activist Sister Souljah, comparing her to white nationalist David Duke. Sister Souljah had been quoted in The Washington Post saying, in the aftermath of the LA riots, …

Bill Clinton Sister Souljah Jesse Jackson Rainbow Coalition Democratic Party racial-politics dog-whistle-politics political-strategy democratic-party triangulation +1 more
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