Tapes: Hubbell Showed Concern About First Lady's Legal Work
His lawyer says there will be no deal with Starr
WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, May 1) -- In taped prison conversations, Webster Hubbell suggested Whitewater prosecutors might be investigating Hillary Clinton for double-billing for legal work. "That's kinda the theory," Hubbell said.
In an August 1996 conversation with a friend, Hubbell said Whitewater prosecutors were interested in a real-estate deal involving Seth Ward, his father-in-law. He suggested prosecutors believe he did the legal work, but that both he and Mrs. Clinton billed the client for it.
"Well, it's pretty clear, at least they are speculating that
someone -- I was doing the work because I was advising Seth,"
Hubbell said in the tapes, portions of which were obtained by The Associated Press.
"Everybody knows Seth, and knows I couldn't have not advised
him," Hubbell said. "So I was billing it but for ... some
reason I haven't figured out why -- Hillary billed it, my time as
hers. That's kinda the theory."
The report drew a flat denial from David Kendall, Mrs. Clinton's private lawyer.
Kendall told The Associated Press the first
lady never double-billed. "Mrs. Clinton billed her time for work
she, and she alone, did."
Hubbell, his wife Suzy and two friends were indicted Thursday on
new charges that he conspired to avoid taxes on hundreds of thousands of dollars paid to Hubbell from President Bill Clinton's supporters. Hubbell already has served a 18-month prison sentence for stealing from legal clients and his former law firm.
Whitewater prosecutors have been working for months to try to determine whether any of the payments were "hush money" to keep Hubbell from providing them
with information harmful to the president and his wife, Hillary.
In the tapes, Hubbell and his wife talked of White House pressure, but he said he would avoid raising "allegations that might open it up to Hillary," his former law partner at the Rose Law Firm.
According to transcripts of a March 1996 conversation obtained by the AP, Hubbell's wife was worried she would lose her job at the Interior Department if her husband proceeded with filing a lawsuit against the Rose Law Firm.
"Webb, I've got to keep this job," she pleaded. "I have to have the support ... of my friends at the White House."
In the tapes, Mrs. Hubbell repeatedly talks of a woman named Marsha who "is our link." It's a references to Marsha Scott, a longtime friend of the Hubbells and Clintons who still works in the White House.
"By suing it really makes it look like you really don't give a [expletive] and that you are opening Hillary up to all this," Mrs. Hubbell said.
"Well honey, I keep telling you sometimes you have to fight battles alone," Hubbell responded.
"I am the one that has to explain this to Marsha. She says you are not going to get any public support if you open Hillary up to this ... well by public support I know what she means. I'm not stupid," his wife replied.
Hubbell reassured his wife: "I will not raise those allegations that might open it up to Hillary."
Mrs. Hubbell again raised the concerns about the White House, saying the woman named Marsha "is ratcheting it up and making it sound like if Webb goes ahead and sues the firm, then any support I have at the White House is gone. I'm hearing the squeeze play," she said. (320K wav sound)
Her husband responded with a flip retort: "So I need to roll over one more time."
'A Starr-Gingrich leak-a-thon'
That taped conversation was played by Whitewater
prosecutors to Mrs. Clinton last weekend when she gave videotaped testimony to a federal grand jury investigating her legal work, her lawyer confirmed late Thursday.
"This is a Starr-Gingrich leak-a-thon. What a coincidence, the independent counsel plays this tape at Mrs. Clinton's deposition on Saturday, and then five days later, House partisans leak it to the press," attorney David Kendall said.
"I heard this on Saturday as Mr. Hubbell saying simply that he did not want to embarrass the first lady by
involving her in litigation," he added. "The independent
counsel is making a trademark of keyhole spying, leaking,
and surreptitious taping."
In an interview with the AP, Hubbell decried the release of the tapes as illegal and said none of his comments to his wife were meant to imply he knew of any wrongdoing by Mrs. Clinton.
"I think I have said 100 times, maybe a thousand times now, I know of no wrongdoing by Hillary," he said.
The former associate attorney general said he was simply
telling his wife that any lawsuit he might pursue against
the Rose Law Firm would negatively impact Mrs. Clinton,
even if it did not raise any wrongdoing by her.
"They are in the middle of the campaign and I've already
hurt her pretty damn bad already, both of them
(Clintons)," he said. "She was a victim of what happened
by my crimes directly.
"But for me to, in be the middle of the campaign, accuse
other members of the law firm, not Hillary, of doing
anything wrong reflects on her and I'm not going to hurt
her or the people I love within the firm," Hubbell said.
No deal, Hubbell's attorney says
Hubbell's attorney said the ex-Justice Department official won't strike a deal with Whitewater Independent Counsel Ken Starr.
Hubbell's attorney, John Nields, said during an appearance on ABC's "Good Morning America" Friday there will be no deal to avoid prosecution.
"Absolutely none," Nields said, when asked about the chance of that. "I told them in December of '94, when we agreed to cooperate, that Webb only knew about one crime. And that was the one he had done, and he did it alone."
Meanwhile, the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee
released a list of the consulting fees paid to Hubbell after he left government service.
They were:
Lippo/Riady $100,000
MacAndrews & Forbes $62,775
Time Warner [the parent company of CNN] $6,250
American Income Life Insurance Co. $18,000
Sprint $60,000
Truman Arnold Co. $18,000
Pacific Telesis $52,000
Entrecorp $5,000
C.W. Conn $18,000
Sun America $25,000
Reaud, Morgan & Quinn $18,000
John Moores $18,000
Mid-American Dairymen's $25,000
Los Angeles Airport $24,750
HarperCollins $61,667
Consumer Support & Education Fund $45,000
Nick Stonnington $18,000
Lilyan Lindemann $18,000
Total: $593,442
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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CNN's Joie Chen shares information from taped phone conversations between Webster Hubbell and others