Clinton Clemency Decisions Due Today

President Clinton, as his last action during eight years in the White House, will decide today whether to grant the pardon applications of more than 100 people, including financier Michael Milken.

In an extraordinary finish to his presidency, Clinton will be making news even as his successor, George W. Bush, is sworn in as the nation’s new chief executive. Sometime before 9 a.m. PST, when Bush takes the oath of office, the White House will announce Clinton’s clemency decisions.

“A lot of cases have come in virtually from every corner of the United States over the last couple of months,” White House Press Secretary Jake Siewert said Friday.

But the White House did not turn its attention to making final rulings until Friday. The president had been preoccupied with a more pressing issue: his own legal problems and possible indictment.

After promising an announcement Friday, the White House late in the evening said that there would be no news until today.

In addition to Milken, Clinton reportedly was considering pardons for Susan McDougal, a partner with the Clintons in the Whitewater real estate venture who was jailed for refusing to testify about the matter, and Webster L. Hubbell, a former Justice Department official who had been a law partner of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s in Arkansas. Hubbell also was convicted on Whitewater-relasted charges.

Milken, 54, virtually created and dominated the “junk bond” market, which helped fuel a wave of takeovers and mergers during the 1980s. He pleaded guilty in 1990 to six felonies involving securities fraud.

The Encino resident is active in a wide range of philanthropic and charitable activities and has an extensive network of influential friends and acquaintances who have been urging the White House to grant him a presidential pardon.

But the law enforcement community has been strongly opposed to any pardon, arguing that Milken’s activities constituted major violations of securities laws.

Despite having paid massive fines to the government, Milken still has an estimated net worth of $750 million.

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Rosenblatt reported from Washington and Vrana from Los Angeles.