Clintons will pay for gifts received in last year

From staff and wire reports

NEW YORK -- Former president Bill Clinton and his wife, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, announced Friday they will pay more than $85,000 for gifts given to the first family during the president's last year in office "to eliminate even the slightest question" of impropriety.

"As have other Presidents and their families before us, we received gifts over the course of our eight years in the White House and followed all of the gift rules," Bill Clinton said in a statement. "While we gave the vast majority of gifts we received to the National Archives, we reported those gifts that we were keeping."

Those gifts included $7,375 worth of furniture from the ex-wife of financier Marc Rich, who Clinton pardoned in the final hours of his presidency. Also listed on the statement was a china cabinet, chandelier and a copy of Lincoln's "Cooper Union" speech -- together valued at $9,433 -- from Walter and Selma Kaye of New York.

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An aide to Sen. Clinton said the decision to reimburse the gift-givers was part of a concerted effort to deflect a raft of bad publicity following the Clintons' departure from the White House January 20.

The gifts being repaid include flatware, televisions, clothing, china and artwork.

Also among the people to be repaid are Hollywood moviemaker Steven Spielberg and actress Kate Capshaw for $4,920 worth of china; actors Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen for $4,787 worth of china; and actor Jack Nicholson for a golf driver worth $350.

Also to be repaid is Brain Ready, of the Clintons' adopted hometown of Chappaqua, New York, for a portrait of their dog, Buddy, valued at $300.

Bill Clinton said the only gift he would not return is a photograph of seminal jazz composer Duke Ellington, valued at $800. Instead, he donated it to the Duke Ellington School for the Arts in Washington, D.C.

The photo was a gift from Ken Burns, who recently produced a documentary series on jazz.

The statement quoted Hillary Clinton as well, a reflection of stinging suggestions that accepting the gifts in the period between her election and her swearing-in was improper.

As New York's junior senator, I intend to focus all my energies on the interests of my constituents," she said. "I believe the step we are taking today reaffirms that I am fully committed to being the best senator I possibly can be for New York."

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Lockhart defends Clintons as GOP criticizes gifts, pardons, pranks
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