Dick Morris baselessly suggested Clinton replaced Arkansas U.S. attorney to avoid Whitewater investigation

In a December 11 column published in the New York Post and on Newsmax.com, syndicated columnist and Fox News contributor Dick Morris and his wife and frequent collaborator Eileen McGann baselessly suggested that former President Bill Clinton "fire[d] all 93 US Attorneys" upon entering office in 1993 in order to "cover for firing [Eastern District of Arkansas U.S. Attorney Charles] Banks and replacing him with Paula Casey, a Clinton ally." Morris and McGann falsely suggested that Banks "was hot on [Clinton's] heels as he probed charges that swirled around the [Whitewater] land deal."

In fact, as Media Matters for America has noted, Banks himself had reportedly resisted investigating the Whitewater matter in 1992, in defiance of pressure from officials in then-President George H.W. Bush's administration, which Banks reportedly said "appears to suggest an intentional or unintentional attempt to intervene into the political process of the upcoming presidential election."

As Mollie Dickenson noted in a February 1998 Salon.com article, Banks refused to pursue the Whitewater matter, citing his belief that "no prosecutable case existed against any of the witnesses," including the Clintons. From the article:

On Oct. 8 [1992], [Attorney General William] Barr convened a joint FBI-Justice Department panel to examine the referral [naming the Clintons as witnesses in the Whitewater case]. But the panel concluded that the referral "failed to cite evidence of any federal criminal offense." The panel's comment about the referral ranged from "junky" and "half-baked" to that its allegations were "reckless, irresponsible" and "odd."

Nevertheless, Barr put a preliminary investigation into motion and ordered Banks to review it again and to report back by Oct. 16, two weeks before the Nov. 3 election.

But, in fact, Banks had already concluded, and the FBI in Little Rock had agreed, that "no action should be taken on the referral at that time." Banks had already prosecuted Jim McDougal in 1990 for alleged bank crimes, and McDougal had been acquitted. Banks said further that he believed "no prosecutable case existed against any of the witnesses," most notably the Clintons.

After Clinton appointed Casey, L. Jean Lewis -- the Resolution Trust Corporation investigator who produced the original criminal referral -- again attempted to persuade the U.S. attorney's office to investigate the Whitewater matter. But as journalist Joe Conason and political columnist Gene Lyons noted in their book, The Hunting of the President (Thomas Dunne Books, 2000), Casey cited Banks' analysis in refusing to pursue the case:

Lewis became particularly exercised after Paula Casey, citing analyses by Justice Department experts and former U.S. attorney Charles Banks, turned down her original 1992 referral for a second time. [Page 95]

Robert Ray, the third and final counsel assigned to investigate the Clintons, announced on September 20, 2000, that he had closed the probe after concluding that "the evidence was insufficient to prove to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that either President or Mrs. Clinton knowingly participated in any criminal conduct."

Further, contrary to Morris' suggestion that Clinton's removing the first President Bush's U.S. attorneys was unusual, as Media Matters has noted, it is common practice; President George W. Bush reportedly replaced 88 of 93 U.S. attorneys in his first two years in office, compared with 89 of 93 by Clinton in his first two years.

From Morris and McGann's December 11 column, as it appeared in the New York Post:

WHEN Bill Clinton took office in January 1993, he was hearing the foot steps of Little Rock US Attorney Charles Banks, who was hot on his heels as he probed charges of corruption that swirled around the Watergate [sic] land deal. President Clinton decided, in one of his first acts, to fire all 93 US Attorneys -- claiming he wanted a clean slate.

Many insiders suspected that the other 92 bodies were a cover for firing Banks and replacing him with Paula Casey, a Clinton ally.

US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald's indictment of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich raises a similar question as President-elect Barack Obama prepares to take office. Will the new president fire Fitzgerald?