In 1995, the Resolution Trust Corporation issued a $4 million report by the San Francisco-based (and heavily Republican) law firm of Pillsbury, Madison and Sutro that concluded that there had been no criminal wrongdoing on the part of William Jefferson Clinton or his wife Hillary in connection with the land deal known as Whitewater. This report was either denounced (G.O.P. Rep. Jim Leach of Iowa, then the House banking committee's ranking minority member, charged that the R.T.C. was illegally withholding Whitewater documents that would incriminate the Clintons) or ignored (most of the media, including the so-called liberal press).
Now, after six years, $70 million dollars and multiple reports of prosecutorial misconduct, the Office of the Independent Counsel has issued its Whitewater report. It concludes that there was no criminal wrongdoing on the part of William Jefferson Clinton or his wife Hillary in connection with the land deal known as Whitewater. Oh, it tries to hint that there were crimes that couldn't be proven but that's basically what it says.
Democrats will say, "Let's put this behind us," because they've decided that there's no upside to them in anything that involves repeated usage of the name, "Clinton." Republicans will argue that somehow, justice has been denied; that there must have been a crime there…or maybe that it doesn't matter since they proved that Bill did something wrong and it helped them capture a few offices including, perhaps, the presidency.
I think both should be furious that so much time and money was wasted on a witch hunt but they won't be. Politics over principle.