Robert Ray | |
---|---|
Independent Counsel for the Whitewater Scandal | |
In office October 18, 1999 –March 13, 2002 | |
Preceded by | Ken Starr |
Succeeded by | Julie Thomas |
Personal details | |
Born | Robert William Ray April 4,1960 Frankfurt,West Germany (now Germany) |
Political party | Republican |
Spouse | Jade Cantor |
Education | Princeton University (BA) Washington and Lee University (JD) |
Robert William Ray (born April 4,1960) is an American lawyer. As the successor to Ken Starr as the head of the Office of the Independent Counsel (1999 to 2002) he investigated and issued the final reports on the Whitewater controversy,the White House travel office controversy,and the White House FBI files controversy. Before that he was Deputy Independent Counsel investigating former Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy and before that Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. [1]
Ray received his A.B. from Princeton University in 1982,and his Juris Doctor cum laude from the Washington and Lee University School of Law in 1985. [2]
After graduating from law school,Ray was a clerk for Frank Altimari,a Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Under independent counsel Donald Smaltz,he prosecuted Mike Espy,and then worked under Ken Starr.
He was an unsuccessful candidate for a non-partisan school board in Brooklyn,New York 1993 and 1996,on the "children's slate." He was briefly a candidate in the 2002 United States Senate elections in New Jersey. [1] [3] [4]
In 2020,he served on President Donald Trump's legal defense team before his impeachment trial. [5]
Kenneth Winston Starr was an American lawyer and judge who as independent counsel authored the Starr Report,which served as the basis of the impeachment of Bill Clinton. He headed an investigation of members of the Clinton administration,known as the Whitewater controversy,from 1994 to 1998. Starr previously served as a federal appellate judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1983 to 1989 and as the U.S. solicitor general from 1989 to 1993 during the presidency of George H. W. Bush.
The Whitewater controversy,Whitewater scandal,Whitewatergate,or simply Whitewater,was an American political controversy during the 1990s. It began with an investigation into the real estate investments of Bill and Hillary Clinton and their associates,Jim and Susan McDougal,in the Whitewater Development Corporation. This failed business venture was incorporated in 1979 with the purpose of developing vacation properties on land along the White River near Flippin,Arkansas.
The Starr Report,officially the Referral from Independent Counsel Kenneth W. Starr in Conformity with the Requirement of Title 28,United States Code,Section 595(c),is a United States federal government report by Independent Counsel Ken Starr concerning his investigation of President Bill Clinton. Delivered to the United States Congress on September 9,1998,the allegations in the report led to the impeachment of Bill Clinton and the five-year suspension of Clinton's law license.
Paula Corbin Jones is an American civil servant. A former Arkansas state employee,Jones sued United States President Bill Clinton for sexual harassment in 1994. In the initial lawsuit,Jones cited Clinton for sexual harassment at the Excelsior Hotel in Little Rock,Arkansas on May 8,1991. Following a series of civil suits and appeals through the U.S. District Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals from May 1994 to January 1996,Clinton v. Jones eventually reached the United States Supreme Court on May 27,1997. The case was later settled on November 13,1998.
In the United States,a special counsel is a lawyer appointed to investigate,and potentially prosecute,a particular case of suspected wrongdoing for which a conflict of interest exists for the usual prosecuting authority. Other jurisdictions have similar systems. For example,the investigation of an allegation against a sitting president or attorney general might be handled by a special prosecutor rather than by an ordinary prosecutor who would otherwise be in the position of investigating his or her own superior. Special prosecutors also have handled investigations into those connected to the government but not in a position of direct authority over the Justice Department's prosecutors,such as cabinet secretaries or election campaigns.
Robert Swan Mueller III is an American lawyer who served as the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013.
The White House FBI files controversy of the Clinton Administration,often referred to as Filegate,arose in June 1996 around improper access in 1993 and 1994 to FBI security-clearance documents. Craig Livingstone,director of the White House's Office of Personnel Security,improperly requested,and received from the FBI,background reports concerning several hundred individuals without asking permission. The revelations provoked a strong political and press reaction because many of the files covered White House employees from previous Republican administrations,including top presidential advisors. Under criticism,Livingstone resigned from his position. Allegations were made that senior White House figures,including First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton,may have requested and read the files for political purposes,and that the First Lady had authorized the hiring of the underqualified Livingstone.
Alphonso Michael Espy is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 25th United States secretary of agriculture from 1993 to 1994. He was both the first African American and the first person from the Deep South to hold the position. A member of the Democratic Party,Espy previously served as the U.S. representative for Mississippi's 2nd congressional district from 1987 to 1993.
Bill Clinton,the 42nd president of the United States,was impeached by the United States House of Representatives of the 105th United States Congress on December 19,1998,for "high crimes and misdemeanors". The House adopted two articles of impeachment against Clinton,with the specific charges against Clinton being lying under oath and obstruction of justice. Two other articles had been considered but were rejected by the House vote.
The White House travel office controversy,sometimes referred to as Travelgate,was the first major ethics controversy of the Clinton administration. It began in May 1993,when seven employees of the White House Travel Office were fired. This action was unusual because executive-branch employees typically remain in their posts for many years.
Kathleen Willey is a former White House volunteer aide who,on March 15,1998,alleged on the TV news program 60 Minutes that Bill Clinton had sexually assaulted her on November 29,1993,during his first term as President. She had been subpoenaed to testify in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case.
Donald C. Smaltz is an American lawyer who was appointed as Independent Counsel to investigate charges that United States Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy had received improper gifts from companies with business before his department. Espy was acquitted,but the investigation ended in convictions of some associates and fines for the companies.
The Office of Special Counsel was an office of the United States Department of Justice established by provisions in the Ethics in Government Act that expired in 1999. The provisions were replaced by Department of Justice regulation 28 CFR Part 600,which created the successor office of special counsel. The current regulations were drafted by former acting solicitor general Neal Katyal.
Deputy White House counsel Vince Foster was found dead in Fort Marcy Park off the George Washington Parkway in Virginia,outside Washington,D.C.,on July 20,1993. His death was ruled a suicide by five official investigations.
Benjamin Wittes is an American legal journalist. He is editor in chief of Lawfare and senior fellow in governance studies at The Brookings Institution,where he is the research director in public law,and co-director of the Harvard Law School–Brookings Project on Law and Security. He works principally on issues related to American law and national security. Wittes was number 15 on the Politico 50 of 2017,described as "Bard of the Deep State".
Donald Francis McGahn II is an American lawyer who served as White House counsel for U.S. President Donald Trump,from the day of Trump's inauguration through October 17,2018,when McGahn resigned. Previously,McGahn served on the Federal Election Commission for over five years. In November 2019,McGahn received a court order to testify before the U.S. House of Representatives. In August 2020,the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 7–2 that the House can sue him to comply.
Robert F. Bauer is an American attorney who served as White House Counsel under President Barack Obama.
The Robert Mueller special counsel investigation was an investigation into 45th U.S. president Donald Trump regarding Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections and was conducted by special prosecutor Robert Mueller from May 2017 to March 2019. It was also called the Russia investigation,the Mueller probe,and the Mueller investigation.
Terry Falk Lenzner was an American attorney and founder of Investigative Group International.
Solomon Louis Wisenberg is an American lawyer,legal analyst,and former Chief of the Financial Institution Fraud Unit in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas. From 1997 to 1999,he served as Associate and Deputy Independent Counsel under Kenneth W. Starr during the Whitewater Investigation &Clinton-Lewinsky Investigations. Wisenberg was a frequent commentator on legal issues related to the investigation of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign by Special Counsel Robert Mueller that resulted in a finding of insufficient evidence of a criminal conspiracy.