Politics, Lies, and Videotape: Trashing Hillary Clinton.

By Frank Marafiote

The man who once called the Hillary Clinton Quarterly to complain -- in somewhat un-Christian fashion -- "I had Hillary up my ass," is now the star of an anti-Clinton video tape being promoted by TV-evangelist, Jerry Falwell. The Wall Street Journal, which admits attending a meeting with Larry Nichols during the campaign, is also helping to promote his video tape.

Larry Nichols is a man with a mission. Fired by then-Governor Bill Clinton in 1988 for misusing state telephones, Nichols has been attempting to smear the Clintons ever since. It was Nichols who helped to publicize the Gennifer Flowers controversy. He's still at it, but now has friends in high places who can give him the credibility and financial support he needs to exact his full measure of revenge.

One of those friends is John Fund, an editorial writer for the Wall Street Journal. In a conversation with HCQ, Fund admitted meeting with Larry Nichols and other anti-Clinton informants in a hotel room in Washington during the presidential campaign. The purpose of the meeting, HCQ was told, was "to bring down Bill Clinton."

Two years later, the Journal and Nichols are continuing their strange alliance.

In a coyly-worded July 18 editorial, the Journal published a toll-free phone number in the first paragraph so readers could order the Nichols video. The editorial then attempted -- "in the name of responsibility," as the Journal put it -- to distance itself from some of the more bizarre accusations, including Bill Clinton's alleged connection with the mob-style murder of a former security guard.

Nichols' video has already sold over 100,000 copies, thanks to another well-placed benefactor, Jerry Falwell, who has been hawking the video on his TV show, "The Old-Time Gospel Hour."

Although "The Clinton Chronicles" is mostly a melodramatic rant against Bill Clinton, it levels three accusations against the First Lady: 1) that she is guilty of "insider trading," 2) her commodity trading resulted in special treatment for Tyson Foods, and 3) she and Vince Foster were having an affair.

According to Nichols, Hillary unfairly profited when pharmaceutical stocks first dropped after she said the Administration would "go after" the industry and then backed off, causing stock values to rise again. Recent attacks against the Clinton health care plan by the industry hardly support Nichols' contention that Hillary is now a friend of the pharmaceuticals.

Nichols also repeats the story -- adding no new insights or information -- about Hillary's commodity trading and the presumption that Tyson Foods unfairly benefited as a result.

Last on his list is Vince Foster's suicide and the actions of White House staff in removing documents from Foster's office. "Why on earth would Hillary's secretary be there?" Nichols asks, ready to answer his own question. "She was there to see if there were any love notes from Hillary to Vince." Although the actions of Maggie Williams are still being questioned, to date no one has produced a shred of evidence suggesting that the First Lady and Foster had anything but a professional friendship. Nichols is merely repeating the same unsubstantiated rumor that the anti-Clinton crowd in Little Rock has been spreading for nearly two years.

It was Nichols, HCQ readers might remember, who called us just after the election claiming he had evidence of Hillary Clinton's affairs. According to notes we took during his call, Nichols said, "Bill and Hillary have what you'd call an open relationship." When we asked why he was bringing this to our attention, he replied, "I had Hillary up my ass."

Nichols, it turns out, had a personal reason for using such colorful language to describe his relationship with the First Lady. As reported in Newsweek, Hillary Clinton represented Nichols' ex-wife in a custody battle and Nichols blames the First Lady for telling his ex-wife "to take my daughter and get out of Dodge."

Despite questionable motives and a track record that suggests a willingness to lie whenever it suits his purpose, Larry Nichols continues to find support in both the mainstream and tabloid media. As noted in our story Sleaze for Sale (Spring, 1994), "What is more astonishing than the lurid tales told by people like the Two Larrys (Larry Nichols and private investigator Larry Case) is the complicity of some of the nation's most respected media in creating and nourishing a market for Clinton-bashing."

Thanks to people like Jerry Falwell and newspapers like the Wall Street Journal, Nichols' stock in that market will continue to rise as we get closer to the 1996 presidential campaign.