Barrett Report

The Barrett Report is a 400-page report created by special prosecutor David Barrett. Initially tasked with investigating allegations of lying to the FBI against Henry Cisneros, Secretary of the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development under U.S. President Bill Clinton, the investigation eventually{{when|reason=The article provides no dates, and the time-frame is vague |date=November 2020}} delved into allegations that President Clinton had used the U.S. Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service as political tools against American citizens.{{cite web

|url=http://www.nationalreview.com/york/york200511181743.asp

|title=A Cover-up of the Barrett Report? Congress's action might keep it under wraps

|first=Bryon

|last=York

|publisher=National Review

|date=2005-11-18}} The investigation lasted ten years and cost nearly $21 million.{{cite news

|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2005/04/01/cost-of-cisneros-probe-nears-21-million-over-10-years/e8c92d08-446f-4f42-8948-04fed3eba271/

|title=Cost of Cisneros Probe Nears $21 Million Over 10 Years

|first=Jonathan

|last=Weisman

|newspaper=Washington Post

|date=2005-04-01}} It resulted in one misdemeanor conviction against Cisneros and developed information that led to a prison term for his former mistress, Linda Medlar Jones, on an unrelated bank fraud charge.{{cite web

|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/07/us/politics/david-barrett-76-dogged-graft-investigator-dies.html

|title=David Barrett, Dogged Graft Investigator in Washington, Dies at 76

|first=Paul

|last=Vitello

|work=New York Times

|date=2014-03-06}}

Before the release of the report, three Democratic U.S. Senators, John Kerry, Dick Durbin and Byron Dorgan, forced the redaction of certain pages by attaching a rider to an unrelated appropriations bill.{{cite web

|url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20080124/EDITORIAL/774081954

|title=A GOP ace in the hole?

|first=Mark

|last=Goodman

|work=Washington Times

|date=2008-01-24}}

Cisneros, a former San Antonio mayor, eventually pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of lying to the FBI. He paid a US$10,000 fine and was pardoned by President Clinton on Clinton's final day in office.{{cite web

|url=http://www.nysun.com/article/25880

|title=Cisneros Probe Stirred Worries Of Democrats

|first=R. Emmett Jr.

|last=Tyrrell

|author2=Brian McGuire

|publisher=The New York Sun

|date=2006-01-16}}