Richard Ben-Veniste (born January 3, 1943) is an American lawyer. He first rose to prominence as a special prosecutor during the

Watergate scandal The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's contin ...

. He has also been a member of the 9/11 Commission. He is known for his pointed questions and criticisms of members of both the Clinton and

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

administrations. In 2017, he became a

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

Legal Analyst.

Career

Ben-Veniste was born to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family, his father of

Levant The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is ...

ine origin and his mother of

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

origin. He graduated from Stuyvesant High School in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

(1960), earned an

A.B. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

from

Muhlenberg College Muhlenberg College is a private liberal arts college in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1848, Muhlenberg College is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and is named for Henry Muhlenberg, the German patriarch of Luthe ...

in Allentown, Pennsylvania (1964), an

LL.B. Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

from

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...

in New York City (1967), and an LL.M. from

Northwestern University School of Law Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law is the law school of Northwestern University, a private research university. It is located on the university's Chicago campus. Northwestern Law has been ranked among the top 14, or "T14" law s ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

(1968). He was an assistant U.S. attorney (1968–1973) in the

Southern District of New York The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case citations, S.D.N.Y.) is a federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of New York State. Two of these are in New York City: New ...

, and chief of the Special Prosecutions section, (1971–1973). He became a leading Watergate prosecutor, as chief of the Watergate Task Force of the Watergate

Special Prosecutor In the United States, a special counsel (formerly called special prosecutor or independent counsel) is a lawyer appointed to investigate, and potentially prosecute, a particular case of suspected wrongdoing for which a conflict of interest exis ...

's Office, (1973–1975). He was the Democrats' chief counsel (1995–1996) on the Senate Whitewater Committee which investigated a variety of allegations involving Bill and

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

. He argued that the Clintons did no wrong in connection with their investment in a failed land development project named Whitewater, or in their other

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

business affairs, nor did they commit violations of law after Mr. Clinton became president. Ben-Veniste was a presidential appointee (2000) to the

Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group The Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group is a United States government interagency group, which is tasked with locating, identifying, inventorying, and recommending for declassification classified U.S. ...

, which ultimately declassified some 8 million documents relating to war crimes in the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and post-war era.

9/11 Commission

Ben-Veniste was a member (2002) of the

National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, was set up on November 27, 2002, "to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11 attacks", includin ...

(or "9/11 Commission"), where he developed a reputation for asking tough questions and demanding access to sensitive documents, although in some circles he was accused of grandstanding. His interrogation of

U.S. Secretary of State The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's Ca ...

Condoleezza Rice was contentious, and led to the declassification of the previously secret August 6, 2001,

President's Daily Brief The President's Daily Brief (PDB), sometimes referred to as the President's Daily Briefing or the President's Daily Bulletin, is a top-secret document produced and given each morning to the president of the United States; it is also distribute ...

: "

Bin Laden Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until his death in 2011. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, his group is designated a ...

Determined to Attack Inside the United States." The 9/11 Commission's report was published in 2004 and has been read by millions of readers worldwide. Ben-Veniste was a partner of the

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, law firm of Melrod, Redman & Gartlan (1975–1981). In 1981 he formed Ben-Veniste and Shennoff, where he practiced for 10 years. He joined Weil, Gotshal and Manges in 1991, where he was a partner until 2002. Ben-Veniste was a partner at Mayer Brown LLP from 2002 until January 2023.Mayer Brown - Richard Ben-Veniste firm biography
/ref>

Works

* Richard Ben-Veniste and George Frampton, ''Stonewall: The Real Story of the Watergate Prosecution'' Simon & Schuster, 1977, * Richard Ben-Veniste, ''The Emperor's New Clothes: Exposing the Truth from Watergate to 9/11'' Thomas Dunne Books, 2009,

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ben-Veniste, Richard Living people 1943 births Columbia Law School alumni Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law alumni Stuyvesant High School alumni Muhlenberg College alumni Lawyers from Washington, D.C. New York (state) lawyers American prosecutors Jewish American attorneys 21st-century Sephardi Jews United States Senate lawyers Washington, D.C., Democrats New York (state) Democrats Whitewater controversy Watergate scandal investigators CNN people People associated with Mayer Brown