Sen. Clinton's Financing in the Spotlight

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http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-clinton-fundraising-probe,0,6478284.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

Sen. Clinton's Financing in the Spotlight


By PAUL CHAVEZ
Associated Press Writer

May 8, 2005, 2:44 PM EDT


LOS ANGELES -- Campaign donations made more than four years ago at a celebrity-studded Hollywood gala have led to a federal criminal trial against a former finance director for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton that could hamper her future campaigns.

The trial set to open Tuesday focuses on a lavish August 2000 political party at a tony Brentwood estate that drew dozens of A-list guests and performers, including Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, Cher, Diana Ross and Muhammad Ali.

Clinton hasn't been linked to charges that the cost of the event was vastly underreported, but Republicans will be watching for any ammunition they can use against the Democrat, considered an early front-runner for the 2008 presidential nomination.

David Rosen, who was Clinton's finance director during her 2000 U.S. Senate run, faces three counts of filing a false statement. An FBI agent speculated in an affidavit that Rosen was trying to duck federal financing rules so the campaign would have more money to spend on other expenses...