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Judicial Watch - Larry Klayman

As of January 1999, Larry Klayman of Judicial Watch had filed 18 lawsuits against the Clinton administration. He claims most of the money to support his filings comes from direct mail solicitations, but admits some funding comes from Scaife, including $550,000 in 1997. According to Time magazine, "Klayman calmly and routinely proposes the most outlandish conspiracies," including speculation that Commerce Secretary Ron Brown's death in a plane crash was not accidental.⁷⁶

Klayman is an industrious media hound who "regularly faxes his findings to hundreds of media outlets around the country and travels the television circuit."⁷⁷ According to a bio from Judicial Watch:

In addition to his role as General Counsel representing Judicial Watch in court, Mr. Klayman has made frequent television appearances on such programs as CNN's Crossfire, ABC's Prime Time Live, and FOX television speaking on ethics and the need for honest government. Mr. Klayman is currently providing legal commentary on the campaign finance hearings for NET....⁷⁸

According to Francine Kiefer in The Christian Science Monitor, "Klayman spends much of his 70- to 80-hour work week waging a `guerrilla war' against the Clinton administration, because, as Klayman says, you might as well start at the top."⁷⁹

Judicial Watch's main web page included a teaser for an article on the "Clinton body count." This macabre charge is a staple in the conspiracist cupboard:

List of deceased persons reportedly associated with the Clinton Administration left on Linda Tripp's chair by Monica Lewinsky, according to Ms. Tripp's Filegate testimony. (The origin of the handwriting is unknown. Ms. Tripp perceived this as a threat to her.)⁸⁰

At the top of the same opening page is a banner that encourages a visit to the web site of Free Republic, an anti-Clinton organization that uses conspiracist patriot movement rhetoric. ⁸¹ In an exercise in mutual back-scratching, a Christopher Ruddy advertisement quoted Klayman, saying about Ruddy: "An Intrepid Journalist-read his stuff!"⁸²

In 1997 US District Judge Denny Chin of New York City imposed sanctions on Klayman and an associate after they questioned his impartiality in a commercial case unrelated to Klayman's anti-Clinton lawsuits. After an unfavorable ruling, Klayman and his associate had sent a letter with a conspiratorial and racist subtext to Judge Chin, an Asian-American. The letter noted that Judicial Watch had filed a lawsuit claiming the Clinton administration, a Clinton appointee named John Huang, and "other persons in the Asian and Asian-American communities," were involved in illegal fundraising activities. According to the AP report:

The letter to Chin mentioned that the judge, too, was a Clinton appointee, and asked him to tell the lawyers whether he knew and had dealings with Huang and others involved in the Judicial Watch litigation over Democratic campaign.⁸³

Klayman has not been slowed by the Senate's failure to remove Clinton. In a late-January 1999 direct mail fundraising letter, Klayman continues to target both Clinton and Al Gore over the "Chinagate" scandal he claims involves "crimes that include election fraud, espionage and possibly treason."⁸⁴

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