WASHINGTON — If Bill Clinton was nervous about losing the spotlight at the end of his eight-year presidency, he fretted for naught.
Nearly every day since he jetted off to New York nearly four weeks ago, Clinton has been making front-page news. Unfortunately for this man who agonized openly about how history would judge his stewardship of the White House, virtually none of it has been good.
On Tuesday, for the second time in a week, the former president backed away from a controversial decision, canceling a plan to occupy government-funded offices at a pricey Manhattan address and deciding instead on much cheaper space in Harlem.
Earlier, Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton decided to return $28,000 in gifts after donors said they were intended for the White House rather than the first family.
But the real storm, still gathering force in Washington, was Clinton's controversial pardon of fugitive businessman Marc Rich, granted on the president's last day in office. With both Republicans and Democrats in hot pursuit, a second congressional investigation of the pardon begins in Washington on Wednesday, and it will be chaired by a man who recently observed that Clinton may yet be subject to impeachment.
"I'm not suggesting that it should be done," Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said Sunday on Fox News, "but President Clinton technically could still be impeached."
Supporters of Clinton's successor, President Bush, say the controversies have been a boon for the new commander in chief, and sweet vindication for a campaign that pledged to restore honor and integrity to the White House. But Bush flashed a cautionary signal to Republicans Tuesday, urging them not to get carried away with their investigations.
"It's time to move on, it is," he said. "It's time to stay looking forward and that's what I'm going to do."
While acknowledging that "Congress is going to do what it's going to do," Bush indicated he had no interest in an immunity deal that would allow Rich's ex-wife, Denise, to testify before Congress.
But Republicans show little appetite for dropping their Clinton investigations. Among proposals kicked around by GOP members is one by the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, Don Nickles, to reduce Clinton's pension and post-presidential office expenses.
The former president's old Democratic friends haven't been much kinder.
"It was a terrible pardon," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. "It was outrageous."
"There's never been anything quite like this," said Forrest McDonald, a presidential historian at the University of Alabama.
While some observers have warned that Republicans run the risk of overplaying their hand against Clinton, McDonald said the Clinton mania has been a plus for the start of Bush's presidency.
"It reinforces the feeling that here's a man who can't stop himself from behaving badly," he said.
The Clintons' dwindling supporters also have had to contend with criticism of Sen. Clinton's $8 million advance for a promised White House memoir, and allegations that White House staffers ransacked their offices before leaving.
Bush stepped in Tuesday to quash another report claiming Clinton friends and supporters had stolen souvenirs from the Air Force jet that took the first family from Washington to New York on inauguration day. "All the allegations that they took stuff on Air Force One are simply not true," he said in an unprompted comment.
But Republicans kept up the attack. Specter said his Senate committee would examine whether the pardon of Rich was, in fact, legal. And Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott said Congress has no option but to investigate. "We have certain responsibilities that we're supposed to carry out," he said.
With criticism mounting, Clinton has twice moved to cut his losses — last week by returning some of the gifts the Clintons took from the White House, and then on Tuesday when he threw in the towel on leasing $800,000-a-year office space in Manhattan.
With House Republicans refusing to allow the government to sign the lease, Clinton opted instead for a location in the heart of historic Harlem reported to cost about $200,000.
But while those two controversies may be waning, Clinton's last-hour pardon of Rich is not. One congressional committee began an investigation last week and another starts Wednesday. Further, a U.S. attorney in New York reportedly is weighing a criminal investigation of Denise Rich.
Prior to the pardon, Rich was wanted by the Justice Department on charges of fraud and evading an estimated $48 million in taxes. He was also suspected of participating with Iran in illegal oil deals.
Republicans believe the pardon might be related to large contributions given to Democrats and to Clinton's presidential library by ex-wife Denise Rich. They also allege that the contributions may be illegal if it's determined, as Rich contends, that he is no longer a U.S. citizen.
Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service