Fri, Apr 4, 2008 at 7:44PM
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By Andrea Mitchell and the NBC News Investigative Unit
Hillary and Bill Clintons' wealth has skyrocketed a staggering 5,700 percent since President Clinton left the White House, according to their newly released tax records.
In Clinton’s last full year in office, 2000, he and Mrs. Clinton earned $357,026. Last year, their estimated total income was $20.4 million. That is an increase of 5,700 percent.
Most of the Clintons’ newfound wealth comes from lucrative speeches and books. In the seven years since the Clintons left the White House, President Clinton has earned $51.8 million in speeches around the globe. The president’s book royalties total $29.5 million for that same period, and Senator Clinton’s book payments total $10.4 million, the Clinton campaign reported today.
It’s a remarkable turnaround for a couple that faced $12 million in legal fees when they left the White House, in the wake of the Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky scandals. Since that time, the new records show, the Clintons have raked in more than $109 million in total gross income--and made charitable contributions of more than $10 million.
Thu, Apr 3, 2008 at 7:10PM
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By Andrea Mitchell and Jim Popkin, NBC News
For more than 50 years, the National Prayer Breakfast has been a Washington institution. Every president has attended the breakfast since Eisenhower, elbow-to-elbow with Democrats and Republicans alike. “I am really proud to carry on that tradition,” President Bush said at this year’s breakfast. “The people in this room come from many different walks of faith. Yet we share one clear conviction: We believe that the Almighty hears our prayers -- and answers those who seek Him.”
Besides the presidents and first ladies--Bill and Hillary Clinton attended in 1997--the one constant presence at the National Prayer Breakfast has been Douglas Coe. Although he’s not an ordained minister, the 79-year-old Coe is the most important religious leader you've never seen or heard.
But Doug Coe is well known to scores of senators in both parties--and many faiths--including Sam Brownback, Mike Enzi, Mark Pryor and Bill Nelson. They go to small weekly Senate prayer groups that Coe attends. Participants tell NBC News that so have senators John McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, which those campaigns confirm.
Senator Clinton’s participation is surprising to observers who have investigated Coe’s group, called The Fellowship Foundation, which critics have described as a secretive organization populated mostly by conservative Republicans.
Wed, Apr 2, 2008 at 10:07PM
19540 views
Updated April 4, 2008 6:35pm
By the NBC News Investigative Unit
A Tampa megachurch under scrutiny by Senate investigators directed church staffers to make political contributions to a Republican gubernatorial candidate, according to documents obtained by NBC News.
A month-long NBC News investigation also found information indicating that the church's pastor, Randy White, seems to have lied about a business transaction in a deposition made under oath, and misrepresented his religious academic credentials.
Without Walls International, a megachurch founded by televangelists Randy and Paula White, is one of six tax-exempt religious ministries the Senate Finance Committee is examining, amid allegations some of the ministers misused church funds to enrich themselves. Last month, NBC News reported the results of its investigation into some of these allegations.
Tue, Apr 1, 2008 at 6:26PM
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By Rich Gardella and Lisa Myers, NBC News
On Saturday's Nightly News, NBC News Senior Investigative Correspondent Lisa Myers reported on Deborah Shank, a former employee of Wal-Mart permanently disabled in a car accident eight years ago. Wal-Mart's health plan had moved to collect some of the settlement money she won in a lawsuit against a trucking firm in order to reimburse itself for the more than $470,000 in medical expenses it had paid for Shank.
Although it had just contacted Shank's attorney to begin the process of actually collecting the money from Shank and her husband, Wal-Mart announced Tuesday it had reversed its decision and said that it no longer will seek any reimbursement from the Shanks.
Wal-Mart had won its case in several courts over the past few years. Recently, the Supreme Court declined to hear Shank's appeal.
Tue, Apr 1, 2008 at 5:12PM
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By Lisa Myers and Adam Ciralsky, NBC News
The Pentagon’s Inspector General has found that the U.S. Army repeatedly failed to follow federal contracting rules in procuring billions of dollars worth of body armor for American soldiers, according to an IG report obtained by NBC News.
In nearly half of the body-armor contracts given out between January 2004 and December 2006, according to the report, the Army failed to require or perform so-called ‘first article testing’ designed to catch and correct any defects in the body-armor manufacturing process. What’s more, the Army failed to maintain appropriate records to justify why a number of contracts were awarded in the first place, the report said. It is scheduled for public release tomorrow.
As a result, the report states that the Department of Defense “has no assurance” that 13 of 28 Army body-armor contracts--worth an estimated $2.98 billion--“met the required standards” or that 11 of 28--worth an estimated $3.92 billion--“were awarded based on informed procurement decisions.”
Tue, Apr 1, 2008 at 4:55PM
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By Lisa Myers, NBC News Senior Investigative Correspondent
After 9/11, the federal government set aside $1 billion in insurance funds to protect New York City, and to compensate workers who became ill or injured after working at Ground Zero. Today, thousands of workers say they are sick, and they can't understand why so few of them have gotten any payments.
Workers like Mike Valentin.
Before working for two months at Ground Zero, Valentin, a New York City Police Officer, says he was in perfect health. Today, he has lung disease and an inoperable tumor on his windpipe, conditions he blames on the toxic air at Ground Zero.
