Clinton Says He Is ‘Bewildered’ by Rich Furor

Bill Clinton said Thursday that he is “bewildered” by the controversy over his last-minute pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich and he blamed Republicans for fueling the criticism.

In a telephone call to Geraldo Rivera, host of CNBC’s “Rivera Live” and a friend, the former president again denied any wrongdoing in pardoning a man who had faced federal charges of evading more than $48 million in taxes, fraud and participating in illegal oil deals with Iran.

“There’s not a single, solitary shred of evidence that I did anything wrong or that his [Rich’s] money changed hands,” Clinton said, according to Rivera. “And there’s certainly no evidence that I took any of it.”

Clinton’s comments were not recorded, but a transcript of Rivera’s notes was provided to Associated Press. A call to Clinton’s transition office was not returned.

The pardon is the subject of congressional inquiries and a criminal investigation by the FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office in New York, which indicted Rich in 1983. Prosecutors are trying to determine whether Clinton was somehow bribed to grant the pardon.

“I was blindsided by this,” Clinton told Rivera. “I just wanted to go out there and do what past presidents have done, but the Republicans had other ideas for me.”

Clinton pointed out that Rich was once represented by lawyer Lewis Libby, now Vice President Cheney’s chief of staff.

“It’s terrible!” he told Rivera. “I mean, he had three big-time Republican lawyers, including Dick Cheney’s chief of staff.”

U.S. Atty. Mary Jo White, in a brief statement issued Thursday, confirmed her office and the FBI are investigating whether federal laws were broken in the pardons of Rich and his partner, Pincus Green.

Critics have noted that Rich’s former wife, Denise Rich, contributed an estimated $450,000 to the Clinton Presidential Library Fund, more than $1.1 million to the Democratic Party and at least $109,000 to Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Senate campaign.