Richard Ben-Veniste

{{Short description|American lawyer (born 1943)}} {{Infobox person | name = Richard Ben-Veniste | image = Richard Ben-Veniste (cropped).jpg | image_size = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1943|1|3}} | birth_place = | death_date =  | death_place = | body_discovered = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | citizenship = | other_names = | known_for = Watergate prosecutor; Senate Whitewater Committee Chief Counsel (Minority); member, [[9/11 Commission]] | education = [[Bachelor of Arts|A.B.]] (1964), [[LL.B.]] (1967), [[LL.M.]] (1968) | alma_mater = [[Muhlenberg College]], [[Columbia Law School]], [[Northwestern University School of Law]] | employer = Mayer Brown LLP | occupation = [[Lawyer|Attorney]] | years_active = | networth = | height = | title = Partner | term = | predecessor = | successor = | political_party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] | opponents = | boards = | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | relatives = | callsign = | awards = The Best Lawyers in America, 1983-2010.<br>[[Washingtonian (magazine)|Washingtonian Magazine]]'s Top Lawyers in Washington, DC, 1992-2010.<br>[[LL.D.]] (honorary), Muhlenberg College, 1975. | signature = | website = | footnotes = <ref> {{cite news |title=CHRONICLE |first=Nadine |last=Brozan |author-link=Nadine Brozan |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/28/nyregion/chronicle-353159.html |work=[[New York Times]] |date=November 28, 1997 |page=D8 |access-date=May 2, 2009 |quote=Today, there are 1,500 Jews in [[Salonika]] and Mr. Ben-Veniste met a distant relative among them, ''the grandson of my grandfather's half-brother,'' he said. ''It was a wonderful discovery.''}} </ref><ref name=ContempAuthors> [[Contemporary Authors Online]], Gale, 2003. Entry Updated : 12/10/2003. Document Number: H1000007672 http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC. Fee via [[Fairfax County Public Library]], accessed 2009-05-02. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. [[Farmington Hills, Michigan]]: [[Gale (Cengage)|Gale]], 2009. </ref><ref name=BioResource> "Richard Ben-Veniste." Biography Resource Center Online. Gale, 2004. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2009. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC Document Number: K1650004142. Fee via [[Fairfax County Public Library]], accessed May 2, 2009.</ref> }}  '''Richard Ben-Veniste''' (born January 3, 1943) is an [[Americans|American]] [[lawyer]]. He was a special prosecutor during the [[Watergate scandal]] and later became a member of the [[9/11 Commission]]. He is known for his pointed questions and criticisms of the [[Presidency of George W. Bush|Bush administration]]. In 2017, he became a [[CNN]] legal analyst.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2017/06/19/politics/trump-investigation/index.html|title=Trump defiant as pressure grows|work=[[CNN]]|author=Stephen Collinson|date=June 19, 2017|access-date=August 10, 2017}}</ref>

==Early life and education== Ben-Veniste was born to a [[American Jews|Jewish]] family, his father of [[Levant]]ine origin and his mother of [[Russian Jews|Russian]] and [[German Jews|German]] origin.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HHNrnexojzYC&q=Richard+Ben-Veniste&pg=PA186|first=Jacob|last=Radar Marcus|title=United States Jewry, 1776-1985, Volumes 1-2|pages=186 |publisher=Wayne State University Press|date=January 1, 1990|isbn=9780814321867}}</ref> He graduated from [[Stuyvesant High School]] in [[New York City]] in 1960,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9901E0D7133CF936A25755C0A9649C8B63 |title=Lead Levels At School Are Linked To Sept. 11 |first=Anemona |last=Hartocollis |date=June 15, 2002 |work=[[New York Times]] |access-date=November 2, 2007}}</ref> earned an [[Bachelor of Arts|A.B.]] from [[Muhlenberg College]] in [[Allentown, Pennsylvania]] in 1964, an [[LL.B.]] from [[Columbia Law School]] in New York City (1967), and an [[LL.M.]] from [[Northwestern University School of Law]] in [[Chicago]] in 1968.

==Career== Ben-Veniste was an [[Assistant United States Attorney|assistant U.S. attorney]] (1968–1973) in the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of New York|Southern District of New York]], and chief of the Special Prosecutions section, (1971–1973). He became a leading [[Watergate]] prosecutor, as chief of the Watergate Task Force of the Watergate [[Special Prosecutor]]'s Office, (1973–1975).

He was the Democrats' chief counsel (1995–1996)<ref name="ContempAuthors"/> on the [[Senate Whitewater Committee]] which investigated a variety of allegations involving Bill and [[Hillary Clinton]]. He argued that the Clintons did no wrong in connection with their investment in a failed land development project named Whitewater, or in their other [[Arkansas]] business affairs, nor did they commit violations of law after Mr. Clinton became president.<ref>{{Cite web |title=2010 |url=https://www.muhlenberg.edu/news/2010/formerwatergateprosecutorrichardben-veniste64tolectureatberg.html |access-date=2023-09-11 |website=Muhlenberg College |language=en}}</ref>

Ben-Veniste was a presidential appointee (2000) to the [[Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group]], which ultimately declassified some 8 million documents relating to [[war crimes]] in the [[World War II]] and post-war era.

==9/11 Commission== Ben-Veniste was a member (2002) of the [[9/11 Commission]], where he developed a reputation for asking tough questions and demanding access to sensitive documents, although in some circles he was accused of grandstanding.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/22/AR2009052201114.html|title=Book Review: 'The Emperor's New Clothes' by Richard Ben-Veniste|first=Isaac|last=Chotiner|date=May 24, 2009|access-date=July 19, 2017|via=WashingtonPost.com}}</ref> His interrogation of [[U.S. Secretary of State]] [[Condoleezza Rice]] was contentious, and led to the declassification of the previously secret August 6, 2001, [[President's Daily Brief]]: "[[Osama bin Laden|Bin Laden]] Determined to Attack Inside the United States." The ''[[9/11 Commission Report]]'' was published in 2004 and has been read by millions of readers worldwide.

Ben-Veniste was a partner of the [[Washington, D.C.]], law firm of Melrod, Redman & Gartlan (1975–1981). In 1981 he formed Ben-Veniste and Shennoff, where he practiced for 10 years. He joined Weil, Gotshal and Manges in 1991, where he was a partner until 2002. Ben-Veniste was a partner at Mayer Brown LLP from 2002 until January 2023.<ref name=ContempAuthors/><ref name=BioResource/><ref>[http://www.mayerbrown.com/lawyers/profile.asp?hubbardid=B946682155 Mayer Brown - Richard Ben-Veniste firm biography]</ref>

==Works== * Richard Ben-Veniste and George Frampton, ''Stonewall: The Real Story of the Watergate Prosecution'' Simon & Schuster, 1977, {{ISBN|0-671-22463-8}} * Richard Ben-Veniste, ''The Emperor's New Clothes: Exposing the Truth from Watergate to 9/11'' Thomas Dunne Books, 2009, {{ISBN|978-0-312-35796-2}}

==References== <references />

==External links== *{{C-SPAN|36893}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ben-Veniste, Richard}} [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:1943 births]] [[Category:21st-century American Sephardic Jews]] [[Category:American prosecutors]] [[Category:CNN people]] [[Category:Columbia Law School alumni]] [[Category:American lawyers]] [[Category:Lawyers from Washington, D.C.]] [[Category:Muhlenberg College alumni]] [[Category:New York (state) Democrats]] [[Category:New York (state) lawyers]] [[Category:Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law alumni]] [[Category:People associated with Mayer Brown]] [[Category:Stuyvesant High School alumni]] [[Category:United States Senate lawyers]] [[Category:Washington, D.C., Democrats]] [[Category:Watergate scandal investigators]] [[Category:Whitewater controversy]]