Try our new search engine

Starr Beefs Up Whitewater Prosecution Staff

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, June 20) -- As his Whitewater investigation drags on, Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr has added four new names to his team of prosecutors.

Starr describes his new players as seasoned prosecutors with experience in cases of white-collar crime.

The new prosecutors will join Starr's operation in Washington. The scope of the D.C. investigation includes the handling of documents from the White House office of the late Vincent Foster, the deputy White House counsel.

Among the four attorneys is John Bates, who will serve as deputy independent counsel to the Whitewater probe, a post he held from 1995 until four months ago. Deputy Independent Counsel Jackie Bennett, the current head of the Washington office, is expected to remain on the job, and Bates said that both prosecutors would serve as deputies.

During his previous tenure, Bates was deeply involved in the investigation of Hillary Rodham Clinton's activities. Earlier this year, it fell to the 17-year veteran of the U.S. attorney's office to make the prosecution's case when Starr wanted access to notes taken by White House lawyers during conversations about Whitewater with the first lady.

During arguments, Bates told a three-judge panel in St. Louis that Mrs. Clinton, and serveral other unnamed people, could face indictment in the case. The judges ruled for the prosecution, and the White House has since appealed to the Supreme Court.

Starr's other new additions include:

• Michael Emmick is chief of the public corruption and government fraud section in the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles.

• Bruce Udolf is chief of the public corruption section in the U.S. attorney's office in Miami, where he tried cases against the former mayor of Miami Beach and several city council members.

• Mary Anne Wirth, a former assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern district of New York.