Opinion

Cheryl Mills, Clinton cover-up expert, strikes again

Tom Fitton President, Judicial Watch
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Four years ago, when Cheryl Mills was appointed chief of staff to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, I warned: “Mills is not fit to serve in any official capacity in the government, but most especially as chief of staff at the Department of State.” Now, as evidence emerges that she attempted to silence the congressional testimony of State Department whistleblower Gregory Hicks in the Benghazi-gate scandal, that warning has proven to be tragically prophetic.

For more than a decade, Mills has been a Clinton cover-up expert, specializing in subverting investigations of Bill and Hillary Clinton. Whether in the Bill Clinton White House or the Hillary Clinton State Department, Mills has served as something of a “double agent” — working on the taxpayers’ tab while seeming to spend all her time defending the personal fortunes of the Clintons.

Judicial Watch first encountered Mills’ double agent status in 2000, when, as Bill Clinton’s deputy White House counsel, she helped orchestrate the cover-up of a major scandal, often referred to as “Email-gate.” During the course of litigation against the Clinton White House — which pilfered the private FBI files of former Reagan and Bush staffers — Judicial Watch uncovered more than 1.8 million email communications the Clinton administration had withheld from our attorneys, federal investigators, and members of Congress.

When White House computer contractor (and Judicial Watch client) Betty Lambuth discovered the email communications, high-level White House officials instructed her to keep her mouth shut about the hidden emails or face dismissal. Sound familiar? Well, it gets even more familiar when you realize the role Cheryl Mills played in the cover-up.

When Mills testified on the matter, she admitted that she was aware of the missing White House emails, and that she just “assumed” someone else was handling the matter. But, in 2008, when Email-gate was finally brought before Judge Royce C. Lamberth, he termed Mills’ participation in the cover-up “loathsome.” And he further stated that she was responsible for “the most critical error made in this entire fiasco — Mills’ actions were totally inadequate to address the problem.”

But, even then, Mills was not new to scandals involving White House communications records. In the early 1990s, she was also one of three Clinton White House lawyers who recommended Bill Clinton release the private government records of Kathleen Willey, who had accused Clinton of sexually assaulting her in the White House. The release of the information, which included presidential records of communications from Willey to Clinton, were an attempt to discredit the Clinton accuser and help cover up Clinton’s egregious behavior. Mills was also referred to the Clinton Department of Justice for criminal prosecution for her alleged obstruction and perjury in yet another congressional investigation — this one into an illegal taxpayer-funded White House database of Clinton donors. Rather than be prosecuted, Mills gained headlines defending the indefensible as Bill Clinton’s impeachment defense lawyer.

Now, Mills is at it again. According to Gregory Hicks’ testimony before a congressional committee, it was Mills, Hillary Clinton’s chief of staff, who instructed him to try to derail the congressional investigation into the Benghazi terrorist attack by refusing to speak to Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT). Here’s a partial transcript of the testimony:

Hicks: I was instructed not to allow the RSO [Regional Security Officer], the acting deputy chief of mission, and myself to be personally interviewed by Congressman Chaffetz.

 

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH): So the people at State told you, “Don’t talk to the guy who is coming to investigate”?

 

Hicks: Yes, sir.

Let’s be clear here. Rep. Chaffetz was officially acting on behalf of the United States Congress. He was attempting to get to the bottom of a major terrorist attack that left four Americans dead, including the Ambassador to Libya. And Mills, clearly in her full cover-up mode for Hillary Clinton, ordered her subordinates to stonewall Congress.

If the rule of law meant anything in this morally debauched city, such conduct would immediately result in a criminal investigation. And, who knows, it still may. If so, it will be a clear-cut case of justice delayed — because Cheryl Mills, cover-up expert extraordinaire, has a long track record of using her official government positions to obstruct lawful investigations into Bill and Hillary’s nefarious activities.

With Benghazi, we face the extraordinary convergence — in the person of Cheryl Mills — of Obama and Clinton corruption.

Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch, is the author of the New York Times bestseller “The Corruption Chronicles” and the executive producer of the documentary “District of Corruption.”