Hillary Clintonâs law license lapsed in 2002, but she wasnât disbarred. Hillary Clinton was admitted to the Arkansas Bar Association in October 1973, and her license was suspended in March 2002 because she didnât meet continuing education requirements, according to online Arkansas Judiciary records.
In 2008, Hillary Clintonâs presidential campaign replied to Zeifmanâs claims directly by saying, âIn a column circulating on the Internet Jerry Zeifman alleges that Hillary was fired from her job on the House Judiciary Committee in the 1970s. This is false. Hillary was not fired.â That website has since been taken offline.
So, itâs true that Hillary Clintonâs law license was suspended in 2002. But thereâs no proof to support claims her license was suspended for disciplinary reasons. This isnât the first time Hillary Clintonâs legal experience has been called into question, either.
Michael Sussmann departs a federal courthouse in Washington DC on 17 May. Photograph: Julia Nikhinson/Reuters A lawyer for Hillary Clintonâs 2016 presidential campaign was acquitted on Tuesday of lying to the FBI when he pushed information meant to cast suspicions on Donald Trump and his alleged links to Russia in the run-up to that yearâs race.
Washington Post fact checker Glenn Kessler gives a maximum Four Pinocchios to the claim that Hillary Clinton was fired during the Watergate inquiry, which has gotten a lot of circulation on social media. He makes a detailed case that there is no evidence for such a firing.
Zeifmanâs specific beef with Clinton is rather obscure. It mostly concerns his dislike of a brief that she wrote under Doarâs direction to advance a position advocated by Rodino â which would have denied Nixon the right to counsel as the committee investigated whether to recommend impeachment.
He simply didnât hire her for the permanent committee staff after the impeachment inquiry ended.
In an interview on the Neal Boortz Show in 2008, Jerry Zeifman altered his claim about Hillaryâs termination from the Watergate investigation, saying that he had terminated her and casting further doubt on his stories:
According to the rumors, as a 27-year-old working on the Watergate investigation in the 1970s, Hillary Rodham Clinton was âfiredâ from her position for being a âliarâ and âunethical.â.
Jerry Zeifman said he supervised Hillary Rodham Clinton as she worked on the team that worked on the Watergate impeachment inquiry, and that during the investigation Hillary Clinton had ââŚengaged in a variety of self-serving, unethical practices in violation of House rules.â.
One such rumor gained ground because it came directly from Jerome âJerryâ Ziefman, former counsel to the House Judiciary Committee, and it has been amplified in various forms ever since.
In a 1999 interview, Zeifman said he did not have the power to fire Clinton, or else he would have: Zeifman does not have flattering memories of Rodhamâs work on the committee. âIf I had the power to fire her, I would have fired her,â he said.