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Controversy over former president Bill Clinton's long list of last minute pardons is escalating, with critics saying they were connected to political contributions.
A veteran United States Republican senator even suggested the former president could be impeached again over them. "I'm not suggesting that it should be done, but President Clinton technically could still be impeached," said Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.
Specter, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is looking into 140 pardons and 36 sentence commutations issued by Clinton at the eleventh hour of his presidency and is expected to hold a hearing on the matter on Wednesday, local time.
The loudest outcry was caused by Clinton's pardon of Marc Rich, who fled the United States for Switzerland in 1983, faced with $US48 million ($NZ109.8 million) tax evasion charges.
Rich was also charged with trading with Iran in violation of a US trade embargo at the very moment Tehran was holding Americans hostage.
The pardon shocked even Clinton allies after the disclosure that Denise Rich had donated more than $US1 million ($2.28 million) to the Democratic Party and $US450,000 ($NZ1.029 million) to a fund financing Clinton's future presidential library.
However, Clinton aides apparently counted on much more of Denise Rich's largess. Democratic fundraisers have been pressing her to commit as much as $US25 million ($NZ57.2 million) to the library, US News and World Report magazine reported.
Reflecting embarrassment among Democrats over the Rich pardon, Senator Joseph Biden Sunday said Clinton "was brain-dead when he did that one".
And the New York Times reported that Philip Purcell, chairman of Morgan Stanley, which paid Clinton more than $US100,000 ($NZ229,000) for his first post-presidency speech last week, told clients that the investment house "clearly made a mistake" by inviting the former president to speak.
But the controversy appeared to be snowballing beyond the fugitive billionaire. The Los Angeles Times reported that among those whose sentences were commuted was major drug kingpin Carlos Vignali, whose father is a major contributor to California Democrats.
Specter said that while he was not officially proposing new impeachment charges against Clinton, "somebody in the House of Representatives may do that tomorrow".
"A president may be impeached for the emoluments of office such as the substantial sums being spent on the library, such as the bodyguards, such as pension," said Specter.
Clinton was already impeached by the House in 1998 following his affair with Monica Lewinsky. He was acquitted by the US Senate in early 1999.
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