Clinton: Unprecedented pardons in the last days of his presidency

The Washington Post reports that she did, however, take part in a White House meeting with the leader of the community, who was lobbying for the pardons.

Family affairs

The Senate and a federal attorney are carrying out two separate investigations of Bill Clinton's 140 pardons and 36 reductions in sentence on his last day in office - an action unprecedented in modern American history.

The scandal deepened this week when Mrs Clinton's brother Hugh Rodham admitted accepting nearly $400,000 to lobby for two men who received pardons.

Hugh Rodham has returned nearly $400,000

The Clintons said they were unaware that Mr Rodham, a Miami lawyer, had taken money for his actions, and demanded that he return it.

Mr Rodham, who denies wrongdoing, has returned the money, his lawyer said.

Roger Clinton upset

Mr Rodham reportedly received the payment for months of work in securing a reduced sentence for Carlos Vignali, a convicted drug trafficker, and a pardon for Almon Glenn Braswell, a businessman guilty of fraud.

Roger Clinton has also become embroiled in the pardons affair

It has also emerged that Mr Clinton's half-brother had Roger lobbied the former president for pardons.

But these were not granted and Roger Clinton told the Los Angeles Times that he was so angry that he did not talk to his brother for two weeks.

"It sort of caused a rift," he was quoted as saying. "I couldn't understand why none of my requests for pardons for my friends were granted. I thought they all deserved it."

Roger Clinton says he was not paid to intervene with the former president.

But Congressional investigators looking into Mr Clinton's pardons on his last day in office have added Roger Clinton - who himself received a pardon for a 1985 cocaine offence - to their inquiry.