So Terry was standing there on March 26th, 1992, listening into the pay phone in California as Richard Behar, safely separated by 3,000 miles, was calling Reed a con-man as he surreptitiously recorded the conversation. Terry had to come clean and turn over all his evidence, Behar was demanding, or Terry would be destroyed.
"Are you prepared to do that?" Behar challenged.
"I'm prepared to tell you, you better talk to John Hall. I'm prepared to tell you that you are probing into areas that I have purposely avoided so it'll come out in my civil litigation, if I ever get there [to court]. I have a September trial date," Reed responded.
"Terry, I am going to come out with some very, very, harsh conclusions about you."
"What, in TIME magazine?" Reed asked. Still in shock, he added, "Thanks a lot, Rich."
"Don't you think it's worthwhile to spend this time with me?"
"No, I don't. I don't feel I have to prove anything to you. If this is turning out to be a negative slam on me, you're going to set back my kind of litigation [civil-rights law suits] and what happened to me and Janis by a hundred years," Reed retorted, then dwelling for a second as the severity of Behar's threats impacted upon him.
Suddenly, realizing that Behar and TIME magazine had the ability to snuff out Janis and his hundreds of hours of effort to get their case to court, he added pensively, "I guess the power of the pen is mightier than the sword."
"There is evidence out there that you're a con man," Behar baited, probably referring to a "trash Reed file" provide him by private detective Tommy Baker, one of the defendants in Reed's civil-rights suit.
"That is not true!" Reed shot back.
"... Well. Fine. Why don't you --," Behar began to speak, but was then interrupted.
"Because this certainly wasn't how this started out," Reed reminded.
"Well, it wasn't how it started out, but it's certainly how it's going," Behar chided.
"So," Reed recapped. "You're going to write an article that will now be used against me in court."
"Well, I don't care," Behar answered. "I'm not interested in writing anything to be used for or against you."
This was certainly a reversal of the position Behar had originally taken when he came into Reed's life in Reno, Nevada. At that time he agreed to use TIME magazine's vast investigative resources to Reed's advantage, which was the only reason Reed had been willing to cooperate with Behar in the first place. Reed decided to remind Behar of the original intent of their collaboration.
"I thought you wanted to write an article about Jack Blum's coverup, about Lawrence Walsh's coverup," Reed said referring to an earlier conversation with Behar, in which Behar stated he felt there was strong evidence to prove Senator John Kerry's investigator, Jack Blum, had actually helped to stymie the Mena investigation.
Blum's job as Special Counsel to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations was to not only provide investigative services to Kerry's Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and International Operations, he was to also funnel off pertinent leads he developed during the course of his investigation to Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh's office, which was seeking indictments involving the Iran-Contra Affair. It was Blum who the Reeds had interviewed extensively with in Washington in 1988.
Behar had confided to Reed he felt Walsh, probably in concert with Blum, was indeed part of the Iran-Contra cover-up since Walsh's office had taken no action on Mena. Behar earlier cited the foundation for his suspicions stemmed from Walsh's lack of action on the preponderance of credible evidence provided directly to his office by federal, state and county law enforcement agencies, as well as the materials provided him by Arkansas Attorney General Winston Bryant and U.S. Congressman William Alexander concerning the activities at Mena.
Behar responded, completely reversing his earlier position on the Mena affair, "I'm not convinced there is a coverup."
Several months before the election took place, the telephone rang one day while I was lying in bed recovering from my battle with pneumonia. Blake Hendrix was still serving as my attorney/agent, and he had just received an interesting offer. Playboy magazine wanted to do a photo layout and article about me. My initial reaction was negative -- I really wasn't interested at all. But Blake persisted, "You need to know, this deal could be worth about a million dollars." That caught my attention.
This was something I had never even given a passing thought to. Magazines like Playboy and Penthouse didn't offend me, and I firmly believe women have the right to do whatever they wish with regard to nude photography. But it was never an option for me or something I aspired to even in my wildest dreams. The prospect of a million dollars, however, made me look at it from a different perspective. I had been offered nearly that much by the Republicans when they wanted to buy my tapes, but I refused to let those tapes be used in ways I couldn't control.
This was different, though. I was reasonably certain I could manage a Playboy photo layout with a minimum of difficulty. Blake and I had barely started talking about it when Penthouse entered the picture and started a bidding war with Playboy. Penthouse was offering an even more substantial package: a large sum up front, and part of the proceeds from the actual sales of the magazine. I was told the earning potential could be as high as ten million dollars. That kind of money was beyond my most optimistic expectations and was too seductive to turn down. My financial security would be guaranteed for life, and there would be a bonus: my story would be told in a way that wasn't sensational or muck-raking.
Bob Guccione, the publisher of Penthouse, absolutely wooed me. He assured me, "This will be about you. Bill Clinton will be in it, of course, but it will be a love story." He went on to say many actresses and other entertainers had posed for Penthouse or Playboy to further their careers: Kim Basinger and Sharon Stone, for example. He went on and on about how a nude pictorial of me would be a thing of beauty; I would be proud of it. Guccione's favorite line was, "Be a part of our Penthouse family." That didn't paint a particularly pretty picture in my mind, but ten million dollars was a powerful incentive to keep my opinions to myself. I would be set free financially.
Playboy wouldn't match Penthouse's offer, so I was eager and ready to sign a deal with Bob Guccione. Blake had met with Victor Kovner, Penthouse's lawyer, and Blake realized he was way out of his league. Blake's expertise was in criminal law, not entertainment law, so he suggested I find a representative more experienced in matters of that nature, as he didn't feel able to adequately represent me in dealings with Penthouse. He had been an exceptionally good friend and adviser to me throughout the ordeal, and I appreciated his honesty.
After considering a couple of people who turned out to be inept, a friend suggested I talk with Roy True, who had been Mickey Mantle's business manager for twenty-five years. When I met with him, I liked him and decided to hire him. Roy was in his late fifties at the time and very distinguished looking, with white hair and pretty blue eyes. He was part of a well-respected Dallas firm, and I could tell immediately that he was an intelligent man. Plus, the chemistry between us felt good. He had a lot of experience with contract negotiations and I felt he was the right person to handle the Penthouse deal for me.
We negotiated the deal, and even though I was apprehensive about posing nude, the prospect of having an article written that would tell my side of the story for a change was very exciting. I was also breathing a huge sigh of relief over the promise of never having to worry about money again.
My contract didn't specify exactly how much money I would receive, aside from the amount paid to me up front. But Guccione gave me lots of examples of other women who had a lot of notoriety, like me, and how they had ultimately profited. He threw a lot of numbers at me: so many magazines sold would translate into so many dollars. And I was truly overwhelmed. If only half his predictions came true, five million dollars was certainly more than enough to give me security for life.
The magazine assigned Art Harris to write the article. I had never heard of him, nor had I read anything he had written, but I was assured he was the perfect person to write my love story. Art cut an imposing figure with his shaved head and steely, penetrating eyes, but he had a gentle manner. His voice was soft, and he was generously flattering. It was important that he gain my confidence, and he was skilled in doing so. He made me feel secure that he was going to write the story in the way it had been promised. He asked for a list of people whom I had known for years or who had been involved in my life, so he could develop my background and gain insight into my personality. After he interviewed me extensively, he called or met with many old friends and family members, gathering information and opinion.
Warning flags went up, however, when all those people, one by one, called to tell me Art Harris was no friend of mine. They complained he was trying to put words into their mouths, trying to get them to say things that weren't true. No one liked him, and no one trusted him.
These reports were making me extremely nervous, and I became downright agitated when I learned he was working with Jack Palladino, the private investigator hired by the Clinton campaign to unearth damaging information on me. I called Jane Hamish, Bob Guccione's personal assistant, and told her, "I don't like this guy. I have a real bad feeling about him."
Jane tried to calm my fears by explaining that Art Harris was simply caught up in his assignment. She went on to say he always got very involved in whatever his subject was and he was probably just being a little too aggressive. My worry level increased, though, when she said, "We probably should have gotten somebody else who would have been better to do this than he, because he's an investigative reporter." But she tried to reassure me. "Don't worry," she said, "we'll edit the story."
Before I'd agreed to do the Penthouse piece, I had made an agreement with Guccione that specified I had a right to review and approve the article and pictorial before they were published. So even though I was concerned Art Harris might be doing a hatchet job on me, I knew I could demand it be rewritten before it went to print. So I tried to put my fears at rest, blaming my anxiety on my wholesale trashing by the media. After all, I reasoned, Penthouse had sought me out. They were the ones who came to me wanting to do an objective and sensitive article. I really had no reason to mistrust them.
I shifted my focus to the photo shoot that was looming ahead. I had to get it over with, so I flew to Los Angeles, alone. Penthouse sent a car to pick me up at the airport, and I went directly to the hotel, where I was to meet Earl Miller, the photographer assigned to my pictorial.
***
I returned to New York again, to review the pictorial. I was pleased with it -- the photos were extremely flattering. Now all that was left was to review and approve the article. Time kept dragging, though, and the article didn't come. Roy True called Penthouse a number of times asking when the article would be available for my review, and he was given lots of excuses and put off for one reason or another. I didn't like the warning signs I was getting about this article, but I tried to remain optimistic. I held fast to the belief that the final draft would appear in my mailbox any day, and I'd have the chance to repair any damage.
I couldn't have been more wrong.
Finis called me from Little Rock in mid-October. He had gotten yet another press release in his office, and told me I needed to see it. He faxed a copy to Roy True's office, and when I read it, I was stunned. It was from Guccione's office and said, in effect, he was releasing the magazine before the election to do damage control for Bill Clinton. The press release strongly suggested everything I alleged was probably untrue, and Guccione wanted to give Bill the opportunity to respond to my "sensational but unsubstantiated" charges before the election!
I knew I was in trouble. Was this Guccione's plan all along? Had his intent been only to discredit me instead of giving me the fair and unbiased treatment he had promised? It certainly seemed that way. I still hadn't seen the article, but the issue had already been printed. I had been set up and I went along willingly. Roy called Victor Kovner, Guccione's attorney, who was smooth as silk, apologetic but noncommittal.
Naturally, my first reaction was to sue Guccione's ass off. Although legal advisers assured me I had the basis for a lawsuit, they confirmed what I already suspected. Guccione has very deep pockets and is very patient. He could keep me tied up for years, financially and emotionally. I had already been used and abused so much, I just wasn't up to a protracted battle with someone who wouldn't hesitate to go for the jugular. I'm sure Guccione was betting that would be my reaction.
Besides, I still had the promise of back-end profits from the magazine -- that was written into my contract. Guccione had reneged on my right to review the article to serve his own purpose, but I really didn't think he would cheat me financially. He might be able to sidestep the small points, but if he blatantly violated the financial terms of the contract, his credibility as a businessman would be destroyed.
Even though the magazine was available in some places by the middle of October, it officially went on sale the first week in November, right before the election, and copies were snatched up in record time. Penthouse had promised to give me a specified number of copies, but they never appeared. Finis bought an issue in Little Rock, flew to Dallas with it that weekend, and that was the first time I saw it. I looked at the pictorial first and was thrilled. I was forty-two years old when those photos were taken, and I was proud of the way I looked. But then I read the article.
It would be easy to condemn Art Harris on the basis of what my friends and family told me about their interviews, but the truth is, I don't know how much of what he wrote was left out. He may have written my story from two different angles -- pro-Gennifer and anti-Gennifer -- but I'll never know. Jane Hamish, Guccione's assistant, told me Art turned in one hundred fifty pages of copy, but he had nothing to do with the final version, which was heavily edited. Guccione had the final say.
The article was definitely anti-Gennifer. Once again, I was portrayed as a gold-digging, no-talent, bleached-blonde bimbo. It was so hateful and mean that had it been about someone else, I would have had nothing but contempt for the shallow, greedy person Art Harris described. Bamboozled again. Why did I have to learn everything the hard way?
I tried to buy more copies of the magazine. As bad as the article was, since it was going to become a collector's item, I wanted to have a few on hand. (I understand that autographed copies have sold for as much as $2,000.) I certainly wasn't going to hold my breath and wait for Penthouse to come through with the copies they had promised me. I went from newsstand to newsstand looking for it and was told the same thing everywhere I went: Merchants had received only a limited number of copies, and they sold out quickly.
I found this curious. Why were so few copies being distributed when the issue was such a hot seller? I called various distributors around the country, posing as someone interested in getting a shipment of the magazine, and was told by most of them that they would love to have gotten more copies, but they had been told they probably wouldn't. It seemed that Penthouse had distributed far fewer than they normally did. It wasn't a matter of the magazines jumping off the shelves so fast they couldn't keep them stocked, there just weren't many available.
I thought back to a conversation I had had with Guccione during which he said he was concerned about the possibility of a conservative justice being appointed to the Supreme Court. Magazines such as Penthouse were constantly being sued under obscenity laws, and all Guccione needed was a conservative majority on the Supreme Court to start losing some of those lawsuits.
He wanted Bill Clinton, a liberal, to win the presidential election. Then when there was a vacancy on the Supreme Court, Bill would appoint a liberal justice to fill it. I began to wonder if I was nothing more than a pawn in his efforts to help get Bill elected. It seemed he made me look as bad as he possibly could have in order to discredit me and win support for Bill. That must be why Guccione was so eager to secure my story. It wasn't about money, it was about damage control for Bill. His negative portrayal of me helped to secure his own future by helping to elect a Democrat. He avoided the risk of Playboy presenting my story honestly, which might have hurt Bill's chances.
I never received a dime beyond the initial advance. The advance was generous, yes, but it certainly didn't give me long-term financial security. Furthermore, Guccione owns the rights to all the photos taken of me, and if he ever felt he could make money by using them, he wouldn't be obligated to pay me even a nickel. He knew what he was doing all along and knew he could get away with it, too.
-- Passion and Betrayal, by Gennifer Flowers with Jacquelyn Dapper
* * *
Behar had made a complete turnabout, saying initially he believed there was a cover-up, and saying there wasn't. Why? In order to have come to the conclusion that he was still not convinced there had been a CIA operation at Mena and a subsequent coverup, one must put into perspective Behar's own evidence that he was willing to ignore and dismiss.
After his week in Arkansas (March 8th through 14th, 1992) and the subsequent telephone investigation he conducted after returning to New York, Behar was literally drowning in leads, conflicting accounts of critical events, and experts willing to assist him in exposing the coverup. From court discovery obtained from Reed's federal libel suit against Behar and TIME, the following are excerpts from Behar's secretly-recorded interviews and telephone conversations during that time period.
As a result of Reed's off-the-record discussions concerning money laundering in Arkansas, Behar sought out the services of Roy Drew, a financial expert and former employee of Stephens, Inc., the largest investment banking firm in Little Rock. Behar was soliciting a professional opinion on the feasibility of the Clinton Administration's and other prominent Arkansans' involvement in these sordid money affairs.
DREW: Well I've been hired by the state. I've done due diligence on some bond issues. I've got a deal, an $85 million bond issue appealed back in 1989.
BEHAR: Who handled it, ADFA?
DREW: ADFA. But the Rose Law Firm (firm in which Hillary Clinton and Webb Hubbell practiced) and Stephens Incorporated and Beverly Enterprises and a whole bunch of folks were involved in. I worked for Stephens for a long time and I do know a lot about --
BEHAR: How big was that?
DREW: $85 million, $82 million.
BEHAR: Wow.
DREW: And they had done a deal exactly like it up in Iowa that last summer I appeared as an expert witness in. The exact similar case that got appealed here in Arkansas was done up in Iowa. That a judge ruled up there that it lacked any legitimate purpose and denied some tax exemptions for them and then called it a sham deal.
BEHAR: Who did it?
DREW: Well, it was, Stephens operated Beverly Enterprises nursing Homes, and were sold to a sham tax exempt operation controlled by a handpicked person of [the] Rose Law Firm and Stephens Incorporated ...
BEHAR: ... When was it stopped in Arkansas?
DREW: It finally got killed in December of 1989 when the then-Attorney General of the state of Arkansas, Steve Clark [Reed's original attorney in the civil-rights lawsuit], accused the Stephens people of offering him a $100,000 bribe to remain neutral. All of this was going on while the Governor, Bill Clinton, [inaudible]- ... (At this point in Behar's recording of the conversation, the tape conveniently becomes inaudible).
BEHAR: ... Are these [the Stephens group] bad guys?
DREW: Yes, they're real bad guys ....Yeah, they're bad people. They're financial terrorists. They run the state. And Bill Clinton is the politician that makes it all go. That's the only reason he has been able to do that since 1980. He came in, he was a very ideological person in 1978, he lasted two years. And he got voted out of office because Stephens financed a guy named Frank White [former Governor] and he [Clinton] got religion.
BEHAR: You really think Stephens has that much power?
DREW: I don't think, I know.
The conversation then shifted to a discussion of a $50 million bond issue involving Stephens and Clinton. Behar appeared to be getting confused from the details Drew was providing.
BEHAR: ... Well, let's try to keep it in --
DREW: There's no way to -- hey, Bill Clinton is a very sophisticated person whose got very sophisticated advisors. This is a very sophisticated way that he has been able to gain money to run a campaign. He's been doing this since he was a teenager. It was very sophisticated because nobody like Boyd or Julie [state auditors] was supposed to be around to see through it. He [Clinton] has been milking, along with his conservators, for years, the retirement systems and the bonding systems and has gained a lot of friends from it. There is no simple way to approach it.
BEHAR: ... Okay, but what I need from you is just to spend about 20 minutes getting an overview.
DREW: I can't do it in 20 minutes. I can tell you, Bill Clinton has been mis-managing the retirement systems and been putting money in people's pockets.
BEHAR: How is ADFA used?
DREW: Well, there's a number of ways that they can do it. I can show you one that is in the process right now .... I would suggest that you call me tomorrow. I've been talking to reporters from the Boston Globe, from The New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal, and the Arkansas Gazette today.
BEHAR: All today?
DREW: Yeah.
BEHAR: On this subject?
DREW: Yeah.
BEHAR: Wow.
DREW: Do you want to know Bill Clinton, and you want to know what's going on? I mean it's sure not Gennifer Flowers.
BEHAR: I don't give a shit about her.
DREW: It's not that. But, I mean, this is the hard core ... You're going to run in -- and I'm not lying. But I tell you what Richard, you're going to run in to some stone walls and some ruts without any kind of back up ...
BEHAR: ... Can I ask a couple of questions?
DREW: Certainly. I don't know that I'll answer them, but you can ask the question.
BEHAR: Okay, are you familiar with Dan Lasater, (man who was handling the deposits from Barry Seal's green flights, close associate of Bill Clinton and a bond dealer who was convicted on cocaine charges as a result of Roger Clinton's arrest).
DREW: Yes.
BEHAR: Do you have information about Dan and his operation?
DREW: Some.
BEHAR: In a nutshell, what is that.
DREW: I'm not going to tell you that.
BEHAR: Ever?
DREW: That's pretty sensitive ...
BEHAR: ... I'm wondering if there has been some money laundering.
DREW: Through what?
BEHAR: Through ADFA.
DREW: Hell, money's been laundered through the retirement system -- it's all out in the open -- to Bill Clinton conservators. It's not sexy enough for a guy [Lasater] that's gone to prison on a dope deal. I know you guys got to sell newspapers and I understand. I mean, he's [Clinton] laundered money through the retirement systems to a guy where he ain't gone to prison for a dope deal. I know it looks better if you got a guy that the money was laundered through from a dope deal ...
BEHAR: ... Okay, and has it been laundered as well through ADFA?
DREW: Yeah.
BEHAR: And you can prove that? I don't know what we're going to be able to get into ...
DREW: Yes I'm not interested in talking about Dan Lasater.
BEHAR: Okay, so we're not going to be able to get into Dan.
DREW: No, we're not going to talk about Dan Lasater.
BEHAR: Okay, let's leave that out. Are we going to talk about Mena?
DREW: You're talking about the same thing ...
BEHAR: ... Now, most of what you have is laundering through the retirement system, or is it ADFA, or is it equal?
DREW: Both.
BEHAR: Both?
DREW: Both ...
BEHAR: ... What about Bob Nash? (Clinton Administration's head of ADFA).
DREW: We can talk about him for awhile.
BEHAR: We can what? ...
DREW: ... Hey look, Richard, this is some dangerous shit. I'm telling you.
BEHAR: I know that. It's dangerous for me being here poking around.
DREW: Who have you interviewed?
BEHAR: I spent half a day with Bobby Nash.
DREW: Did he tell you anything?
BEHAR: Of course not.
DREW: He serves at the wheel of the government. I saw the guy threatened, I've got it on tape. He was threatened in a meeting by a white guy, to take him out in the alley and whip his ass.
By his comments, the governor's political problems and his potential exposure were clearly on his mind. Clinton showed his contempt for the young man from Washington as he lost his composure, jumped to his feet and shouted: "Getting my brother arrested and bringing down the Arkansas bond business in the process isn't my idea of kosher! You gents live a long way from here. Your meddling in our affairs here is gonna carry long-term exposure for me! I mean us. And what are we supposed to do, just pretend nothing happened?" He was angry.
"Exactly, pretend nothing's happened," Johnson snapped back. "It's just like the commercial, you're in good hands with Allstate. Only in this case, it's the CIA." Johnson paused, took a deep breath, and continued. "Mr. Clinton, Bill, if you will, some of those loose ends you refer to here were definitely brought on by your own people, don't you agree? I mean your brother didn't have to start shoving Mr. Seal's drugs up his nose and your friend, Lasater, has been flaunting his new wealth as if he's trying to bring you down. We're having to control the SEC and the IRS just to keep him afloat.
"Our deal with you was to help 'reconstruct the South,''' Johnson sniped, using a term Southerners hate, since it reminds them of the post-Civil War Yankee dominance of the South. "We didn't plan on Arkansas becoming more difficult to deal with than most banana republics. This has turned out to be almost comical."
"Bobby! Don't sit here on your black ass and take this Yankee shit!" Clinton yelled at Nash in an appeal for support. "Tell him about Seal bribing those federal agents!" It was getting to resemble a verbal tennis match as volleys were being lobbed, each one with more intensity. From the comment about Seal, Terry concluded that Clinton did in fact have his own intelligence network, too.
"Why, Mr. Clinton, with racial slurs like that, the federal government could terminate educational busing aid here," Johnson wryly shot back. "I thought Arkansas was an equal opportunity employer!"
Nash touched the governor's arm, coaxing him back into his chair.
Johnson continued, "The deal we made was to launder our money through your bond business. What we didn't plan on was you and your token nigger here to start taking yourselves seriously and purposely shrinking our laundry."
"What do you mean by shrinking the laundry?!" Clinton asked still shouting. By now, Clinton's face was flushed with anger.
-- Compromised: Clinton, Bush and the CIA: How the Presidency was Co-opted by the CIA, by Terry Reed & John Cummings
Delivered 6 coolers of cocaine to SLN. Met Barry Seal in C-123. Ramon Navarro was with Seal. Asked Seal what was up with the cocaine being made in contra camps. - Said it was a CIA OPN. This shipment was going to Calif to make a drug called crack. Seal said that the CIA planned to get all the niggers in the U.S. hooked on it & then throw 'em in prison. Said the $'s for the crack goes to buy weapons for the contras. Asked him who is involved -- he said it goes all the way to the white house. Said I could talk to the boss -- he'd be here (in Honduras) in a couple days. Took notes on back of AA. Msn request for RMTC. Will include with this flight plan. Msn RQ dtd 6 April.
-- The Chip Tatum Chronicles: Testimony of Government Drug Running, by Chip Tatum
BEHAR: This guy was going to take Nash out and whip his ass?
DREW: Right.
BEHAR: For what reason?
DREW: Because he wouldn't go along with a deal that he'd promised. And they invited him back. The Governor [Clinton] never said one word about it. You're talking about race relations, you think some pasty-face white guy comes up from Texas [Bruce Wallyer] and threatens to whip the ass of Bobby Nash on television in front of the reporters and the Governor doesn't say a word about it? Go figure.
And Bobby Nash doesn't come across the table and kill him? I mean, anybody -- I mean, I thought Bobby Nash, you know, it was great restraint on his part ...
BEHAR: ... Okay, can I ask you --
DREW: That's the kind of stuff that goes on and that's why Bobby Nash is not going to say anything.
BEHAR: Can I ask you one thing?
DREW: Yeah, sure.
BEHAR: The companies that received ADFA money, these small companies that get ADFA loans, are they all basically political favors?
DREW: Yeah.
***
That one conversation not only supported Reed's private allegations that Barry Seal's Mena black ops money was being run through Dan Lasater's firm and probably also the Stephens corporation as well, it also provided Behar with a totally independent and non-biased view from a financial expert, that money was allegedly being laundered through the state retirement system as well as ADFA. Something equally as important was Drew's assessment of Bob Nash as being a compromised individual who had been neutralized as a result of underhanded dealings. This too fit the profile Reed had provided Behar about Nash and ADFA, especially the information about making preferred loans to politically connected companies (POM and the other firms manufacturing the Agency's weapons parts).
Strangely, Behar never took Drew up on his offer to volunteer his expertise in proving fiscal wrongdoing in Arkansas. He chose instead to attack Reed's money allegations in the first paragraph of his slash-and-burn article and present them out of context and as an inconceivable myth.
Behar attempted to personally interview Wally Hall, the Little Rock sportswriter. It was Wally and his wife Cherryl who had dined with Terry and Janis the night Clinton forced the impromptu meeting outside of Juanita's Restaurant, where Clinton discussed Barry Seal's death with Reed.
During Behar's telephone questioning of Hall concerning his recollection of the events the night he dined with the Reeds, the following exchange was recorded:
BEHAR: I'm a writer for TIME. I've been here [Little Rock] for awhile and I'm covering a couple of things. I was hoping there might be a chance I might be able to get together with you, have a beer, and talk about something I'm certainly eager to talk about, even on a very deep off-the-record basis if we can do it.
HALL: What's it about?
BEHAR: Terry Reed.
HALL: ... But other than having dinner with them [the Reeds] 2 or 3 times, that was about the extent of our [relationship] ... And I know very little about him other than he was a very intelligent person, very intelligent.
BEHAR: He's got a mind like a steel trap ... Yeah, he's a pretty intense guy.
HALL: Yeah. I mean, I've kept up with this on-going story about his airplane and all that Oliver North stuff. But I would have no idea if that was true or not true.
BEHAR: You know what the one thing I need to know is ... And again, it can be an off-the-record thing. He [Reed] talks about an incident happening in Juanita's where he was having dinner with you and Cherryl and Nash ...
HALL: I really, Richard, I go to so many things ... that honestly, I mean, that could have happened ... I can't say one way or the other ...
BEHAR: ... Why don't we get together on Sunday ... Let me buy you guys [the Halls] lunch here at the Capitol [Hotel], one o'clock Sunday ...
HALL: ... You understand my concerns?
BEHAR: Absolutely. This is not exactly the lightest subject I'm bringing up.
HALL: We're not talking about basketball persons.
BEHAR: No.
HALL: We're talking about government.
BEHAR: I understand. This is rough stuff and it's very sensitive.
HALL: And I do not want my family involved.
Mysteriously, the Halls cancelled the Little Rock luncheon scheduled with Behar to discuss the events of that night. Behar made no mention of this or the concerns expressed by Hall when he wrote in the TIME article that the Halls had never been to the restaurant with the Reeds. When Behar sought out Larry Nichols, a former employee of ADFA and the man fired from his job for making telephone calls to the Contras, at the expense of the state, Behar tapped into more dirt on Clinton than he had apparently bargained for. This probably explains why, once again, Behar's recordings have strategically placed gaps whenever Bill Clinton's name surfaces in extremely embarrassing and possibly incriminating ways. It is also interesting to note from the dialogue between the two men, it appears that Behar has recruited Nichols to lure and entrap some very prominent people into some very compromising conversations.
NICHOLS: Did you get the stuff I had delivered?
BEHAR: Yeah, just a couple of documents ... Okay. You were supposed to come back here with tapes. (Nichols' tape-recorded conversations between himself, Clinton's Chief of Security Buddy Young, Clinton and others, concerning the on-going negotiations between Clinton and Nichols which were outlining the terms of getting Nichols to drop his lawsuit against Clinton for wrongful dismissal. Keep in mind, it was Larry Nichols who exposed the Gennifer Flowers scandal.)
NICHOLS: Right, that's what I was going to say. I'm meaning to come out there after she [Nichol's wife] gets back.
***
After the two men agree to meet later that night for a private meeting, the conversation leads into an area in which Nichols is alerting Behar of the intense media investigation into the Mena scandal, and the resulting articles being written.
BEHAR: ... Well, the one in the Nation I think I'm aware of already .... What was in the [Boston] Globe?
NICHOLS: Some story in the Globe was passing on information that the Arkansas traveler certificates that I had made up by Clinton to give Calero [Adolpho Calero, the head of the Contras] and Singlaub [Retired U.S. Army General and Contra fundraiser] were not on file, but yet everybody saw them get delivered. And he said it was quite, [sic] Buddy [Young] says it connected him to Mena somehow.
BEHAR: Who's him?
NICHOLS: Him, Buddy.
BEHAR: It connected Buddy?
NICHOLS: Buddy said -- if I were Buddy, Buddy said, it connects me to Mena. What is this shit about? ... I said, shit Buddy, I don't know.
BEHAR: What is it about?
NICHOLS: I mean, I don't know what is so sensitive to Buddy about that.
BEHAR: Well, nobody wants to be connected to Mena.
NICHOLS: Well, Buddy asked me if I had talked to anyone about his relationship with Mena. I said, yes, I did today at lunch .... I said to him [Buddy], you be sure and you call the Governor and you make sure he understands, with my little present that starting tomorrow, his world's turning to shit. And four weeks to the day from Sunday, he will be out of the governor's race, I mean the President's race.
BEHAR: Why four weeks? (Tape fades out, conveniently)
BEHAR: You have this conversation on tape?
NICHOLS: Oh, no, no, no.
BEHAR: All right.
NICHOLS: Yours?
BEHAR: No, yours with Buddy.
NICHOLS: Oh, yeah, yeah. I thought you meant this conversation.
BEHAR: No, no, no, no. I'm talking about with Buddy.
NICHOLS: Oh, Yeah.
BEHAR: All right, Now, are you going to come over here with your other stuff?
NICHOLS: Yeah, you want me to come over after Kerry [wife] gets here, or is it too late? You want to do it in the morning?
BEHAR: No, let's do it tonight.
NICHOLS: What are your plans? Give me some clue. I know what my agenda is.
BEHAR: I have no plans until I see what you've got.
NICHOLS: Okay.
BEHAR: Remember I showed you at lunch, the distance on that pen. (A secret transmitter housed within a ball point pen, used for bugging a room.)
NICHOLS: Yeah.
BEHAR: You haven't moved it since I last saw you ... I mean, you got your work cut out for you with me and, you know --
NICHOLS: What do you mean I got my work cut out for you in what way?
BEHAR: You've got to prove to me, you've got to show me what you've got that could concern him, first of all. And then you've got to bring me more of your taped conversations with Buddy and these people, if there are any others.
NICHOLS: Okay, number one, as I think I already told you, what I have that concerns them is, they are scared to death of me. I mean, they shouldn't be, but they are. They ought not be dealing with me. Something's got them -- now, I know, as you know, all the shit about it. And I know which things are real because I heard them say it. I know who the women [women with whom Clinton had alleged extra-marital affairs] are that want to get the big money.
BEHAR: This is what I want to hear from you.
NICHOLS: ... You just need to calm down. Damn.
The following is from a follow-up, taped conversation which begins with a discussion of women Nichols alleges were involved with Clinton. By this time Behar was no doubt, feeling somewhat intimidated by the money laundering aspects of his investigation, so apparently decided to focus on something he understood ... infidelity.
BEHAR: Hello. Okay, Elizabeth Ward is a former Miss America. She's white. And the other woman is Lynn Cola Sullivan. She's black, former Miss America. They both live in Arkansas. No. [sic]
NICHOLS: One is in New York and one in California ....
BEHAR: ... Now, you're not the only one with this information on Ward because --
NICHOLS: She's negotiating her own contract.
BEHAR: She's negotiating. Her lawyer in L.A., what's his name?
NICHOLS: Miles Levy.
BEHAR: And they're talking to newspapers. [sic]
NICHOLS: Talking to TV.
BEHAR: TV. What does she want?
NICHOLS: $250,000.
BEHAR: $250,000, that's right. She's been offered a hundred?
NICHOLS: She's been offered one and a quarter.
BEHAR: One and a quarter, by who?
NICHOLS: Star.
BEHAR: The Star?
NICHOLS: Star Magazine got it up to about 175. And then Gennifer Flowers went.
BEHAR: Flowers, okay.
NICHOLS: So then, Star didn't want to pay her that much money. So, then, when it looked like Clinton was losing in New Hampshire, they got in touch with me and said, could we get it back up to the 175 or 200 range again. I said, I don't know. I called Conafer [person not further identified]. Conafer said that they would be interested in talking to them, working towards a relationship. But then, Clinton lived through New Hampshire. And Miles Levy and all of them think that she's worth a lot more money if you consent to the --
BEHAR: ... Do you have any other information that you got from bugging? When you say you bugged the mansion, what did you actually do? ...
NICHOLS: ... I had unique information sources that allowed me to hear and cover some strategies ....
BEHAR: ... What else is there, drug use?
NICHOLS: There is a viable linkage to me, what I can get Adolpho Calero to say, and Clinton's relationship to them [the Contras]. I mean, I can make it too, I can present a case on the front that it would be inconceivable to believe the Governor didn't know about it .... Because if you don't have the element of Adolpho Calero, who's the absolute leader of the Contras, you see, you don't get the whole story.
BEHAR: Why would Calero come forward?
NICHOLS: Why would he not? I mean he's not being sued, he's not being tried, and he's a friend of mine. And all I need is just the proof. I just need the answers to the questions. I just need some help getting the questions that I need the answers to.
BEHAR: Has Calero already told you about Clinton's involvement with Mena?
NICHOLS: No. He has told me ... that Mena was not a Contra feeder system.
BEHAR: Right.
NICHOLS: But he also said that there's no way that Clinton could not have been aware of the goings-on there since Calero, who didn't even live there, was aware of it. Now, Calero would, in Clinton's situation, going to become a hostile witness. Clinton will not be supported by Calero. The pieces of the puzzle at the Mena Airport fall apart because they sealed the files and got rid of all the players.
BEHAR: Right.
***
Behar's article in TIME made no mention of Adolpho Calero's comments, which were passed on by Nichols, nor is there any evidence that Behar took Nichols up on his later offer to arrange for Behar to conduct an interview with Calero in order to determine the depths of Arkansas' involvement in the CIA's Contra support operations.
The transcripts of Behar's taped interviews with: United States Congressman from Arkansas, William Alexander; Colonel Tommy Goodwin, Commander of the Arkansas State Police; Joe Hardegree, former Polk County Prosecutor (location of Mena); and Charles Black, former Deputy Prosecutor of Polk County -- all seem to indicate Behar was convinced that there had not been sufficient funding to conduct a thorough investigation into the nefarious activities at Mena. He focused primarily on the elusive $25,000 of state funds that Clinton allegedly promised for state grand jury proceedings.
Probably the most credible evidence of a White House orchestrated cover-up of Mena came from Bill Alexander. And who should know better than a U.S. Congressman from Arkansas who was trying to gain access to intelligence information through the back door accounting channels offered him through the GAO (General Accounting Office).
BEHAR: ... Remember the GAO investigation in 1988?
ALEXANDER: Of what?
BEHAR: Mena.
ALEXANDER: Yeah. It wasn't just Mena, though, was it?
BEHAR: No, it wasn't just Mena ...
ALEXANDER: ... But it included Mena as part of it and they stonewalled me.
BEHAR: That's right. Now, when that thing was stopped cold, is it accurate to say that the CIA and the State Department refused, on orders from the White House, to turn over Data? Is that accurate?
ALEXANDER: Let me think a minute about it. I've got a letter from GAO which I could share with you that says precisely what happened ... [the letter says that the] National Security Counsel [N.S.C.] refused to participate, and ordered everybody else not to for security reasons. So, to the extent N.S.C. is part of the White House, that's correct.
BEHAR: Did they order -- they are part of the White House.[ sic]
ALEXANDER: Yeah, they are part of the White House. And you need to say N.S.C. because that says specifically what part of the White House ordered everyone to stop -- they stonewalled me. They just said, none of your business.
BEHAR: Did they order it to the State Department, the CIA, how many different --
ALEXANDER: Everybody across the board: Justice Department, CIA, Defense Department, everybody. And I'll give you a copy of the letter if you want ... I mean that's the kind of thing that really galls you when you're trying to find out what's going on.
BEHAR: And you get stonewalled.
ALEXANDER: And what they've done is thumb their nose at the Congress and the American people.
BEHAR: Right. Okay, second and last thing. Clinton, it's so cloudy, you know, his lack of interest. You know, he claims Arkansas did everything it can but it just doesn't seem that way. I remember you mentioned that you had asked for some support.
ALEXANDER: Well ... I asked him [Clinton] to see the deputy prosecutor named Charles Black. And I said, Charlie Black is trying to see you about this Mena case, this Mena investigation that I have followed and I'm involved in. And I would encourage you [Clinton] to see him ....
BEHAR: ... And you were trying to get federal money?
ALEXANDER: No. Charlie Black was trying to get state money for a grand jury investigation. And I asked him to help .... you [Behar] ought to call him [Black].
BEHAR: Yeah, I spoke to him .... He said that he hand delivered a letter to Clinton that didn't get an answer.
ALEXANDER: I see. Well, that was what I spoke to Clinton about.
BEHAR: But that's funny. In the newspapers in Arkansas in September, do you remember, Bill [Clinton] said that he'd made some attempt to get some money and then nothing ever happened with it. It was very odd ...
ALEXANDER: ... Have you talked to Duncan? (Bill, former IRS investigator, then working for Arkansas Attorney General Winston Bryant).
BEHAR: Yeah ...
ALEXANDER: What did he tell you?
BEHAR: You mean about his not being able to make phone calls? (A reference to orders from Arkansas State Attorney General Winston Bryant that Duncan neither accepts nor places any phone calls related to Mena.)
ALEXANDER: Right.
BEHAR: Yeah. Something is going on over there [at the AG's office].
ALEXANDER: I just learned about this [about Duncan's gag order] this week .... But did you talk to Duncan personally?
BEHAR: Yes, of course .... Yeah, I spent a lot of time with him. *
ALEXANDER: Because he [Duncan] couldn't talk to me over the phone ....
BEHAR: ... Okay. Well, what Bill [Clinton] said to the press in September was, that he had authorized the state police to tell local officials that the state would help pay $25,000 for a grand jury but that nothing ever came of it.
ALEXANDER: I see.
BEHAR: But that's not true is it?
ALEXANDER: I don't know whether it is or is not. I know that there's been no grand jury investigation.
***
The reason Behar knew of Clinton's statement about the $25,000 still in question, was he had earlier interviewed the man who had approached Clinton for financial assistance to investigate Mena. His name is Charles Black.
BEHAR: ... I was interested in the Mena situation ... And I just wanted to check something with you ... the year that you hand delivered that letter [request for state assistance in investigating Mena] to Clinton asking for help was 1988?
BLACK: Yes, latter part of 1988 ... several of us had a meeting at the state police headquarters at Little Rock. Bill Alexander was there and Colonel Goodwin, the head of the state police and several others that had been involved in looking at this ... And it was discussed whether I should go or would be willing to go ask him [Clinton] for any available state assistance ... I did go and ask him [Clinton]. And he said that he'd check into it and get word back to me. I never heard from him again or never heard from anybody about it. But he's [Clinton] been quoted ... as saying that he authorized Colonel Goodwin to communicate to us [county prosecutors office] the $25,000 was available. And I never got that word ...
BEHAR: ... Right. Okay. But do you think in the end, he [Clinton] did as much as he could on the Mena situation or probably not? He's probably busy with other stuff.
BLACK: He [Clinton] probably could have. The only thing I could say is that he might have been a little more public about criticizing the way that that case [Mena investigation] was handled by the federal authorities.
BEHAR: Or trying to get a lot of state money together to do something.
BLACK: .. .that's why I was going through him [Clinton]. ... I don't know if there was something else he could have done in that regard.
BEHAR: Well, if you were Governor you'd find a way.
BLACK: ... It [Mena] was a situation tailor-made for handling by the federal-level authorities.
BEHAR: And tailor-made for covering up by them.
BLACK: Correct. Absolutely correct ... I saw some well documented supported findings and requests that he [Bill Duncan] made in his investigation that certain people be indicted for CTR (money laundering) violations and perjury. And that information that he compiled, at substantial taxpayers' expense, never was presented to the grand jury, federal grand jury, that were looking into it. Absolutely no reason or excuse. I don't think Duncan was ever subpoenaed to testify before the grand juries ... I can't understand why Fitzhugh, that Assistant U.S. Attorney, didn't present that information to the grand jury ... and it would have been very, very expensive.
BEHAR: ... Well, I'll tell you, this $25,000 that Alexander's gotten, that's about enough money to buy a big tarp that can cover up the coverup.
BLACK: ... that amount would have been tantamount to trying to extinguish a raging forest fire by spitting on it.
***