Clinton Chronicles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

VHS copy of The Clinton Chronicles.

The Clinton Chronicles, known as "The Clinton Chronicles: An Investigation into the Alleged Criminal Activities of Bill Clinton," is a 1994 film created by Patrick Matrisciana. This video explored the deaths of Vincent Foster and an alleged cocaine-smuggling operation.^[1] These deaths were part of what the film called the "Clinton Body Count", which grew as years went by, as connections to Clinton were added with varying degrees of allegedly suspicious circumstances surrounding the deaths.^[2]

1 Backing and promotion
2 Controversy and criticism
3 Obstruction of Justice: The Mena Connection
4 See also
5 Sources
6 External links

[edit] Backing and promotion

The film was produced by Citizens for Honest Government, a project of a Westminster, California non-profit organization named Creative Ministries Inc, which also spawned Jeremiah Films, Matrisciana's production company.^[3] Some of the funding for the film came from long-time Clinton opponent Larry Nichols.^[4]. Over 300,000 copies of the film were put into circulation.^[5]

Other films put out by Matrisciana "attack" Mormons, gays, and environmentalists, and also "makes apocalyptic videos such as 'Earths Two-Minute Warning,' which examines 'Bible-predicted signs of the end times' while distributing a film that "proves" UFOs are real."^[3] Waas has reported that "Matrisciana and Richard Mellon Scaife-sponsored reporter Christopher Ruddy share a bank account," which in September 1997 contained more than $3 million.^[1]

VHS copies of the film were promoted and distributed via television infomercials by Moral Majority leader Rev. Jerry Falwell, who also appears in the film.^[1] Falwell's infomercial for the 80-minute tape included footage of Falwell interviewing a silhouetted journalist who was afraid for his life. The journalist accused Clinton of orchestrating the deaths of several reporters and personal confidants who had gotten too close to his illegalities. However, it was subsequently revealed that the silhouetted journalist was, in fact, Patrick Matrisciana, the producer of the video and president of Citizens for Honest Government. "Obviously, I'm not an investigative reporter," Matrisciana admitted (to investigative journalist Murray Waas), "and I doubt our lives were actually ever in any real danger. That was Jerry's idea to do that ... He thought that would be dramatic."^[1]

[edit] Controversy and criticism

The content of the film has largely been discredited and debunked as containing deliberate bias, circumstantial evidence, and coincidence. Snopes.com classifies the "Clinton Body Count" conspiracy theory connecting Clinton to the deaths as an urban legend.^[2]

In 1994, in a letter to congressional leaders, former Rep. William Dannemeyer listed 24 people with some connection to Clinton who had died "under other than natural circumstances" and called for hearings on the matter. The list was mostly compiled by "Linda Thompson, an Indianapolis lawyer who in 1993 quit her year-old general practice to run her American Justice Federation, a for-profit group that promotes pro-gun causes and various conspiracy theories through a shortwave radio program, a computer bulletin board and sales of its newsletter and videos."^[2]

Since 1994, various respected news outlets have run their own investigations into some of the claims, and found nothing to substantiate them.^{[citation needed]} Those investigations would culminate in yet another story about yet another conspiracy theory.^{[citation needed]}

In a 2005 interview for The Hunting of the President Falwell admitted, "To this day I do not know the accuracy of the claims made in The Clinton Chronicles," but nevertheless failed to condemn the poor research and false statements. Larry Nichols was also interviewed for the book in which he asserted he was glad to provide information for a price. Thus, according to the book Nichols claims have proved to be unreilable and in some cases completely false.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Obstruction of Justice: The Mena Connection

Pat Matrisciana, Citizens for an Honest Government, Inc., Integrity Films; and Jeremiah Films also released a 1996 video titled Obstruction of Justice: The Mena Connection. This film claimed Jay Campbell and Kirk Lane, both law enforcement officers, were connected to the murder of two teenage boys. Supposedly these two officers killed the teenagers when they came across a cocaine smuggling ring in Mena, Arkansas Clinton was tied to. The two officers sued against the false claims and Judge C. Arlen Beam of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the officers in an in-depth 26 page decision.[1]