Lawyers for Indonesian businessman James Riady last week reached agreement with federal prosecutors on a plea bargain by which Riady will avoid serving time in prison. Instead, Riady will pay hefty fines and admit guilt in a scheme to make felonious financial contributions to the Democratic party during the 1992 presidential campaign.
As part of this bargain, federal prosecutors demanded that Riady confirm accounts of a conversation he was alleged to have had with his friend Bill Clinton that year. The story was that the two men met in the backseat of Riady's limousine to discuss the Indonesian's eventually successful plan to make $ 1 million in disguised, foreign contributions to Clinton's election effort. The story, James Riady now acknowledges, was true.
Needless to say, Bill Clinton, who lies the way fish swim, has testified under oath that he has no "specific recollection" of either the talk with Riady or the "fact of the car ride."