Defiant Clinton warns ‘I’m still here’

Defiant Clinton warns ‘I’m still here’
Associated Press

Washington, Jan 21: Reluctant to relinquish the spotlight, Bill Clinton has fallen back into the ranks of ordinary citizens.

"I left the White House, but I’m still here," he said yesterday. "We’re not going anywhere."

Clinton’s defiant farewell earned wild applause from 2,500 followers attending his farewell in a hangar at Andrews Air Force base in nearby Maryland.

He then boarded a plane, dubbed Special Air Mission 28000, and headed to New York, where he and freshman Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will have their primary residence.

It was an end to a roller-coaster presidency that, even in its last two days, was marked by his typical mix of defiance and scandal.

On Friday, he cut a deal with prosecutors, agreeing to acknowledge that he had lied to grand jurors in exchange for shutting down the investigation of an obscure Arkansas land deal that had morphed into the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

On Saturday morning, Clinton pardoned Susan McDougal, one of his partners in the original Whitewater land deal, among 140 pardons he issued on his last day.

Flooded with expensive gifts
WASHINGTON: Bill Clinton raked in more than $190,000 in gifts during his last year in the White House -- more than the total value of gifts received in his previous seven years as US President, according to newly-released financial disclosure forms. The gifts, many of which came from famous Hollywood personalities, included furniture, rugs and art. It took seven pages to list the inventory made public late Friday, after most media closing deadlines. "I’ve never heard anything like it," commented Sheilatate, who worked as press secretary for Nancy Reagan in the Reagan White House. The biggest gifts included two sofas, an easy chair an an ottoman valued at nearly $20,000, which came from New York supporter Steve Mittman.