The Clinton Chronicles

{{Short description|1994 political film}} {{Infobox film | name = The Clinton Chronicles: An Investigation into the Alleged Criminal Activities of Bill Clinton | caption = VHS copy of The Clinton Chronicles | director = Patrick Matrisciana | producer = Patrick Matrisciana | released = {{Film date|1994}} | runtime = 85 minutes }} '''''The Clinton Chronicles: An Investigation into the Alleged Criminal Activities of Bill Clinton''''' is a 1994 film that accused Bill Clinton of a range of crimes. The claims in the video are controversial; some have been discredited, while others continue to be debated. The philandering and sexual harassment claims in the film have since been reported, and in some cases confirmed, by mainstream media. Years after the film was released, Clinton paid an out-of-court settlement to resolve the accusations made by Paula Jones in the movie. While the film was directed by Patrick Matrisciana, who has a production company called Jeremiah Films, the production was credited to Citizens for Honest Government, a project of a Westminster, California organization named Creative Ministries Inc. that has connections to Matrisciana.<ref name="Connection"/> It was partially funded by Larry Nichols, a long-time Clinton opponent, and distributed with help from Jerry Falwell, who also appears in the film.<ref name="WP" /> Over 300,000 copies of the film were put into circulation<ref name="NYT" /> with perhaps half that being sales.<ref name=Connection />

==Summary== The film was produced shortly after Clinton's election to the presidency in 1992 and provides background on a number of conspiracy theories and controversies associated with now former president Bill Clinton. Several of these theories date to Clinton's tenure as the governor of Arkansas. Allegations include: *Being a drug addict *Having affairs with or harassing numerous women *Troopergate, using Arkansas State Police officers to facilitate sexual liaisons and intimidate accusers *Misuse of funds with the Arkansas Development Finance Authority *Using Bank of Credit and Commerce International to launder money *Profiting from drug smuggling at the Mena Airport **Protecting Barry Seal's drug smuggling activities **Murdering witnesses to the Mena drug smuggling operation **Covering up the circumstances surrounding the deaths of two boys found dead on railroad tracks near the airport, Kevin Ives and Don Henry **Protecting a state medical examiner who was repeatedly accused of misstating the cause of death in several autopsies *Whitewater controversy *Covering up the cause of the death of Vince Foster *Using contacts at the Rose Law Firm to shred documents that would have implicated Clinton in scandals

==Criticism== The video was characterized by ''The Washington Post'' as a "bizarre and unsubstantiated documentary."<ref name="WP">{{cite news | newspaper=The Washington Post |title=A Core Collection of Clinton Enemies |author=Lois Romano |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/enemies030298.htm |date=1998-03-02}}</ref> ''The New York Times'' reported that it was a poorly documented "hodgepodge of sometimes-crazed charges."<ref name="NYT">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/23/magazine/clinton-crazy.html |title=Clinton Crazy |author=Philip Weiss |date=1997-02-23|work=The New York Times}}</ref> The producers were criticized after it came to light that a number of the people in the documentary had been paid to appear. The director admitted the payments but denied he had instructed any paid participants to say anything that was false.<ref name=Connection/>

The movie helped perpetuate the Clinton body count conspiracy theory about a list of associates Clinton was purported to have had killed. ''The Los Angeles Times'' reported that Larry Nichols, who appears throughout the film and is the primary source for a number of the murder and mysterious death claims, was fired from his Arkansas state government job and once admitted to an Associated Press reporter to being motivated by spite.<ref name="la">{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-01-26-mn-1476-story.html|title=Clinton Accuser to Drop Lawsuit : Politics: Larry Nichols says case alleging infidelity by presidential candidate has 'gone way too far.' Arkansas governor and wife will appear on TV.|first1=Ronald|last1=Brownstein|author-link=Ronald Brownstein|first2=JANE|last2=HALL|date=January 26, 1992|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=October 15, 2016|via=LA Times}}</ref> The fact checking site TruthOrFiction.com states that "There is no credible evidence that any of the deaths is related or can be attributed to Bill Clinton".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.truthorfiction.com/clintonfriends/ |publisher=TruthOrFiction.com |title=The People President Clinton Didn't Have to Pardon…Because They're All Dead |date=Mar 17, 2015 |access-date=May 17, 2018}}</ref>

To promote the film, Falwell aired an interview with Matrisciana, who was silhouetted to conceal his identity as he pretended to be a journalist who was afraid for his life.<ref name="Connection">{{cite news|url=https://www.salon.com/1998/03/11/cov_11news/ |title=The Falwell connection |author=Murray Waas |author-link=Murray Waas |year=1998 |publisher=Salon.com  }}</ref> Matrisciana later acknowledged that he was not in any danger, but that the interview was staged for dramatic effect at Falwell's suggestion.<ref name="Connection"/>

==Later developments== ''The New York Times'' interviewed some of the participants in the film after it aired for followup developments. Gary Parks, who appeared in a segment of the film discussing the suspicious circumstances of the death of his father, who investigated Clinton's womanizing, admitted he embellished some details in the film, but still believes his father was killed for political reasons.<ref name=NYT/> Linda Ives, the mother of Kevin Ives, stated that her interest for participating was solving the mystery of her son's death, and was concerned her comments were used for political purposes. Bill Duncan, a former IRS agent who investigated the Mena accusations regretted appearing on the film, stating, "I would not have willingly been a part of it had I known where that footage would end up".<ref name=NYT/>

Matrisciana produced a followup video focused exclusively on the Mena airport drug smuggling and murder accusations. Two police officers accused in that film of being involved with the murders of Ives and Henry attempted to sue Matrisciana for defamation. They initially prevailed; however, lost the case when it was appealed. The appeal focused primarily on free speech and the ability to criticize public figures. Even though the judges overturned the ruling of defamation, they were critical of the film in their ruling, saying it blurred the lines between fact and fiction.<ref name=justia>{{cite court |litigants=Jay Campbell; Kirk Lane, Appellees, v. Citizens for an Honest Government, Inc., D/b/a Integrity Films; Jeremiah Films, Inc.; Pat Matrisciana, Appellants |vol=255 |reporter=F.3d |opinion=560 |court=8th Circuit Court of Appeals |date= July 10, 2001 |url=https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/255/560/478268/ |access-date= May 31, 2018}}</ref>

A number of the incidents mentioned in ''The Clinton Chronicles'' continued to be investigated after its release. Paula Jones, who appeared in the film accusing Clinton of harassing her, sued the president for sexual harassment. The president paid Jones $850,000 to settle the case out of court. Special prosecutor Ken Starr was assigned to investigate a number of incidents mentioned in the film. While the Starr Report accused Clinton of obstruction of justice in covering up an affair, and other players in the Whitewater controversy were charged and sentenced, Starr declined to recommend charges for Clinton over Whitewater and cleared Clinton of involvement with Vince Foster's death.<ref name="cnn">{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1997/02/23/starr.report/|title=Report: Starr Rules Out Foul Play In Foster Death|date=February 23, 1997|work=All Politics |publisher=CNN|accessdate=June 25, 2009}}</ref>

Linda Ives continued to search for justice for her son's death. The film mentioned that her son's death was controversially ruled accidental by an examiner who had a history of questionable rulings. After the film aired, she had her son's body exhumed and a second autopsy performed. She successfully had the original examiner's ruling overruled and the cause of death for Kevin Ives and Don Henry was changed from accidental to homicide.<ref name="NYT" /> The movie connected these deaths to smuggling activities at the Mena Airport, suggesting the boys had become accidental witnesses to a drug drop. However, their bodies were found along train tracks in Alexander, Arkansas, approximately {{convert|120|mi|km}} to the east of Mena. Official investigations have focused on drug smuggling activities in Saline County, Arkansas.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/kevin-ives-and-don-henry-12289/ |title=Kevin Ives and Don Henry (Murder of) |publisher=Central Arkansas Library System |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Arkansas |author = Cody Lynn Berry |date=September 1, 2020 |access-date=July 9, 2022}}</ref> In February 2018, Billy Jack Haynes, a professional wrestler with a history of making controversial claims on camera, claimed to have been hired as a body guard for drug smugglers and a witness to these murders. He advocated for the case to be re-opened; however, the case remains unsolved.<ref name=kark>{{cite news |url = http://www.kark.com/news/local-news/new-witness-man-claims-to-have-seen-boys-on-the-tracks-murders/971386523 |title= New Witness? Man Claims to Have Seen "Boys on the Tracks" Murders |date = February 13, 2018 |publisher= KARK TV, Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. }}</ref>

==See also== {{Portal|United States|Politics}} ;People who appeared or who were discussed in the film *James D. Johnson *David Hale *Wilson v. Arkansas - A litigant in this case was interviewed for the film.

;Other efforts to accuse Clinton of misdeeds *Arkansas Project *Clinton crazies *Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy

==Sources== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *{{IMDb title|id=0433674|title=The Clinton Chronicles}} *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCGW033-82c ''The Clinton Chronicles''] full film at YouTube * [http://www.jeremiahfilms.com/ ''Jeremiah Films''] web site of the director

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clinton Chronicles, The}} Category:1994 films Category:Conspiracist films Category:Films based on urban legends Category:Clinton administration controversies Category:Jerry Falwell