Xavier Becerra: Unfit for Any Office

By Ronald Kolb

On June 2nd, California held a statewide primary to select the top two candidates for Governor to replace term-limited Gavin Newsom. It's a "jungle primary" where party identification takes no precedence. Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell had led the polls until he resigned in April after multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. 

Former Democratic Congressman and Biden Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, who is a strong advocate for abortion and for universal health care, even for undocumented migrants, finished first and is headed toward the November election and will face Republican and former Fox News host Steve Hilton.

But there is something from his time in Congress that should have precluded Becerra from ever holding public office again, when he had paired with fellow future Biden cabinet member disgraced Homeland Security Director Alejandro Mayorkas to obtain a pardon for a major cocaine trafficker from outgoing President Bill Clinton.

In Bill Clinton’s final months in the White House in 2000, his office became a flea market and clearing house for terrorists, drug dealers, con artists and other of societies miscreants and criminals to receive clemencies and pardons, most notably fugitive billionaire and tax cheat Marc Rich. 

Members of the Clinton family would cash in, including Hillary’s brother Tony Rodham, who would receive 240 thousand dollars from two carnival promoters who were convicted of bank fraud, and most notably, her brother Hugh--who would be paid as we shall see--over 400 thousand dollars for his unholy efforts. 

Hillary herself was involved months earlier with the notorious FALN terrorist pardons, in a blatant attempt to try and secure the substantial Puerto Rican vote in New York during her 2000 Senate campaign. But by 2001, pardon and clemency handouts were a no-holds barred circus. One of them became as noteworthy as the FALN and Rich pardons.

A few years earlier on December 20, 1993, a grand jury in Minneapolis issued a 34-count indictment against Carlos Vignali, Jr. and 29 others in the largest drug investigation in Minnesota history. Vignali, born in 1971, was the ringleader and the group had shipped more than 800 hundreds of pounds of cocaine from California to Minnesota to be made into crack.

The evidence was overwhelming. On December 12, 1994, all but one of the defendants were convicted or pled guilty. Vignali was convicted of three counts of conspiracy and cocaine distribution and acquitted on a fourth count, and had been caught on audiotape, coming across as a boastful bully. Vignali remained uncooperative and unrepentant during the trial. 

He was also a fledging rapper calling himself “C-Low” with Brownside, an Hispanic group formed by Eazy-E, and spent some of his proceeds at the tables in Las Vegas with his father, who had set up Carlos in an exclusive condo. The pre-sentencing report had recommended 12-15 years, and on July 17, 1995, Judge David Doty sentenced him to the latter.

His father, Carlos “Horacio” Vignali, Sr., born in 1946 who had immigrated from Argentina in the early 1960's and later become a wealthy L.A. area real estate owner, had hosted fundraisers and donated to several local political figures. Soon after the conviction of his son, he filed an appeal and began contacting his political friends to write letters that falsely claimed that Carlos had no previous criminal record.

But a House Committee investigating the Clinton pardons in 2002 found that Vignali had two prior convictions and two arrests. In 1989, Vignali had been convicted and fined for fighting in a public place, and later for vandalism. He’d also been arrested for reckless driving and later for assaulting a girlfriend. Vignali had also admitted being involved with two different gangs.

After the appeal was unanimously defeated in appellate court in 2016, Horacio decided to try for executive clemency with the Clinton White House.

He contacted then-L.A. area Congressman Xavier Becerra, whom he had donated 16 thousand dollars to in three of Becerra’s campaigns. Even though neither of the Vignali’s had resided in his district, Becerra next called Alejandro Mayorkas, who was U.S. Attorney for Central California in Los Angeles, and he claimed the sentence was too harsh (even though neither Vignali lived in Mayorkas' jurisdiction as well.)

Becerra then contacted Pardon Attorney Roger Adams at the Justice Department and Meredith Cabe at the White House (legal) Counsel Office. Cabe would later say he was pushing for clemency for Vignali, but Becerra later claimed he never explicitly supported clemency for Vignali but had wanted a “review” of the case.

On November 21, 2000, Becerra sent a letter to Bill Clinton, who had less than two months remaining in office. Becerra falsely claimed that Vignali had no previous criminal record, was innocent, and how much it had affected his parents, whom he both knew. Becerra added that, "in the interest of redeeming the life of a young man, I respectfully urge you to weigh a few factors in Mr. Vignali's favor."

Meanwhile, Mayorkas twice contacted Minnesota U.S. Attorney Todd Jones, who had originally prosecuted Vignali. During the first contact, Jones warned Mayorkas that Vignali was “a major player,” and “don’t go there,” and that Vignali was “bad news.” Mayorkas contacted Andrew Dunne, who worked with Jones as an Assistant U.S. Attorney. Mayorkas hoped that Jones’ office would actually lobby for clemency for Vignali, but Dunne flatly rejected it.

Mayorkas then met the elder Vignali and had conversations about clemency for his son. Vignali brought up executive clemency and asked if Mayorkas would call the White House. Mayorkas made the second call to prosecutor Jones, telling him of his intent to call the White House. Jones once again told Mayorkas he opposed clemency.

In spite of Jones second stern warning, Mayorkas called White House Counsel Bruce Lindsey, who was very close to the Clintons, and then received a return call from Meredith Cabe and Eric Angel, who worked with Lindsey on pardons.

Mayorkas and Becerra had laid the groundwork for clemency, but there was another major player that Horacio Vignali reached out to--L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca. Vignali had raised or contributed a stunning total of over 200 thousand dollars to Baca’s campaigns.

Vignali asked Baca to write Clinton a letter, and he also told Baca that Hillary’s brother Hugh Rodham was helping Carlos receive clemency. Vignali had already paid Hugh four thousand dollars, and would pay another 200 thousand if Carlos was pardoned. 

Baca then received a call from Rodham and then a call from Dawn Woolen, assistant to Lindsey. She asked Baca if Clinton should pardon Carlos. Baca said he supported a commutation but did not want to write it in a letter.

Meanwhile, Bruce Lindsey was the point man at the White House for Horacio. He falsely told Lindsey that Vignali was innocent and had no previous criminal record. He mentioned Mayorkas, Becerra and Baca supported clemency as well as the prosecutor, Todd Jones in Minnesota. However, Jones and his assistant prosecutors both opposed clemency as did Judge David Doty, who had sentenced Vignali.

But the White House staff, including Lindsey, Cabe and Angel, would soon find out the truth. Pardon Attorney Roger Adams issued a strong report denying clemency, noting Vignali was not a first-time offender, was the leader of the cocaine ring, and the prosecutors and Judge Doty had all opposed any pardon.

When Adam's report was sent to the White House, it did not contain Deputy Attorney General Holder’s signature. Adams signed the report opposing clemency for Vignali instead of Holder, thinking the Justice Department should be on record opposing a pardon. Adams concluded his report writing that “…I recommend that you deny his (Vignali’s) petition.”

Even after learning the truth about Carlos Vignali’s history, the staff later claimed that they considered the support of Sheriff Baca, U.S. Attorney Mayorkas and Congressman Becerra to be significant. Lindsey, who would soon be president of the tainted Clinton Foundation, later said under oath that he thought the Vignali commutation was an “appropriate one.”

On January 20th, Bill Clinton’s final day in office, Becerra called the White House, but Clinton had not yet made the decision final. But later that day he commuted Vignali’s sentence, who had served less than six years (and less than 40 percent) of his fifteen-year sentence. Most of the media coverage focused on the Marc Rich pardon. There was also controversy about Clinton pardoning two Weather Underground terrorists, including the infamous Susan Rosenberg.

On January 24th, Hugh Rodham received 200 thousand dollars from the senior Vignali for helping his son receive clemency. On February 20, numerous media reports headlined that Hugh Rodham had been paid over 204 thousand dollars by Horacio Vignali and another 230 thousand by Glenn Braswell, who sold miracle medical cures and had been convicted of mail fraud, perjury and tax evasion. Hillary, who had just been sworn in as a senator, claimed that she was “extremely disappointed,” and “knew nothing” about Hugh taking money for pardons.

Bill Clinton claimed “neither Hillary or I had any knowledge” of the payments, and that Hugh should return any money, but Rodham’s attorney later said that Hugh had not returned most of the money and had no intent to return anything else. Clinton himself has never explained why he chose to pardon Vignali, a major and unrepentant drug trafficker, to serve less than half of his 15-year sentence.

Even though Pardon Attorney Roger Adams made the White House aware of the facts of the Vignali case, no one ever contacted Minnesota law enforcement, the Federal prosecutors there, or Judge David Doty. Todd Jones, the U.S. Attorney and the chief prosecutor, told Roger Adams he was against the pardon because “it was a no-brainer.” Judge Doty sent a letter to the Justice Department opposing clemency because of Vignali’s role in the conspiracy and his lack of remorse.

Gerry Wehr and Jeff Burchett, retired investigators of the Vignali case in Minnesota, recently told me Becerra and Mayorkas are corrupt and incompetent and their careers should have ended years ago. In 2017, Los Angeles County Sheriff Baca was convicted of obstruction of justice and lying to the FBI because of the abuse of county inmates, including beatings, rape and trying to cover it up. Other officers were also convicted, and Baca was released from prison in 2022 after serving two years of a three-year sentence.

After Biden nominated Mayorkas and Becerra for their cabinet posts in 2020, they were narrowly confirmed by the Senate on mostly party line votes. But the actions of Becerra, Mayorkas and Sheriff Baca in 2001 had given the Clinton White House an excuse to pardon drug kingpin Carlos Vignali and should have ended the careers of all three men.

Judge Doty had said the Vignali pardon was outrageous. In 2005, Doty had told LA Weekly in referring to the Vignali clemency that, “the whole thing stunk,” and that it had “money and corruption and fraud written all over it.” 

As for Xavier Becerra, he had taken $16,000 from Vignali’s father, reached out to the White House and Justice Department, sent a letter to Bill Clinton and called the White House only hours before Clinton issued the pardon on his final day. Now, shamefully, Becerra thinks he is qualified to be Governor of the largest State of the Union and lead 40 million people into the future. 

Ron Kolb is a native of Washington, DC and resides in Corpus Christi, Texas and has been posted in National Review, American Spectator, Wall Street Journal, Townhall and American Greatness