Hillary Clinton Caught with Abramoff Cash

Unlike many in her party, 2008 presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has been silent about the influence peddling scandal erupting around lobbyist Jack Abramoff, whose plea bargain with the Justice Department is said to have more than a few on Capitol Hill quaking in their boots.

Now we know why.

Turns out, Mrs. Clinton is among the dozens of Democrats who accepted Mr. Abramoff's tainted contributions.

Clinton spokeswoman Ann Lewis told The Buffalo News on Thursday that "after examining our records we found two contributions for $1,000 from tribes which have been clients of Jack Abramoff in the past."

News of Mrs. Clinton's Abramoff connection comes the same day that her 2000 Senate campaign acknowledged it violated Federal Election Commission regulations by hiding hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign cash given by Hollywood mogul Peter Paul.

All this transpires against the backdrop of the Clinton campaign finance scandal of the late 1990s, where millions of dollars of illegal Chinese campaign cash found its way into Democratic Party and Clinton legal defense fund coffers.

The consequences of those transactions dwarf anything expected to emerge from the Abramoff imbroglio.

After Chinese intelligence and U.S. aerospace mogul Bernie Schwartz plied the DNC with donations, the Clinton Commerce Department permitted Schwartz's company, Loral, to share missile guidance technology with Beijing.

The result? By the end of the Clinton administration, China's nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile fleet was able to reach every city in the U.S.