The Democratic Fund-Raising Flap

Bowles Receives A Starr Subpoena

Current and former White House chiefs of staff to testify on Hubbell help

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, April 4) -- White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles has received a subpoena from a federal grand jury in Arkansas, courtesy of Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr, White House sources tell CNN.

The subpoena calls on Bowles to produce documents and to testify before the grand jury on April 15 on his actions related to former Justice Department official Webster Hubbell. Former White House Chief of Staff Thomas "Mack" McLarty received a similar order on Thursday night.

The chief of staff's office says Bowles "will cooperate to the fullest."

Starr's investigation is looking into whether Clinton Administration aides and the president's friends sought work for Hubbell to buy his silence about what he knew concerning Whitewater.

Hubbell resigned from the Justice Department and later pleaded guilty to two felony counts of bilking the Rose Law Firm and his clients of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Both Bowles and McLarty have said they did try to line up work for Hubbell, but did so out of concern for a friend and before they knew he was guilty of any of the charges against him.

The Whitewater grand jury is probing Hubbell's employment record between his time at the Justice Department and his embezzlement plea. A key question for prosecutors is when White House officials assisting Hubbell first knew he was under criminal investigation.

At least three top administration officials, including McLarty and Bowles, made calls to find Hubbell work in the days that followed Hubbell's resignation.