January 26, 1999
Web posted at: 3:01 p.m. EDT (1501 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, January 26) -- Whitewater figure Webster Hubbell said he and his wife were "disappointed" by the ruling of a U.S. Court of Appeals Tuesday reinstating tax evasion and related charges against them and two other people.

Webster Hubbell

Reversing a district court decision from last year, the court ruled U.S. District Judge James Robertson overreached his authority when he threw out the charges against the longtime Clinton friend and three others.

Hubbell said he had not read the opinion, but had been in communication with his legal counsel. "We're obviously disappointed that it has been sent back to Judge Robertson that it is just not over," Hubbell said.

However, Hubbell said his lawyer told him the "opinion is very favorable to the position we took in the court below and before the district court, the D.C. Court of Appeals and especially on the issue of my Fifth Amendment rights. And so we're pleased in that regard and hopeful that this matter will come to an end real soon."

In its ruling the court said, "The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Congress' independent counsel arrangements ... It is not for lower court judges to undercut that decision by constructions of the Act that prevent this Independent Counsel from performing his duty in a manner reasonably approximating that of an ordinary prosecutor."

The appeals court upheld Independent Counsel Ken Starr's contention that he could bring the charges based on evidence that hundreds of thousands of dollars of what could have been "hush money" were paid to Hubbell from friends of Clinton to secure his silence in the Whitewater probe.

"The timing, sources, and extent of the payments make the belief that they were hush money reasonable," the court said.

The court did raise questions about how much Starr can rely on documents he received from Hubbell, saying the independent counsel must establish it knew of the existence of the documents before they were collected.

"Unless the Independent Counsel can establish its knowledge of the existence and possession of the documents sought in the subpoena with greater detail and particularity, it will have to live with the consequences of its decision to compel production," the court ruled.

Hubbell said, "They gave me immunity to get the documents and then they used those documents to later indict not only me, but my wife and my two friends and that's wrong."

Hubbell's wife, Suzanna, their accountant Michael C. Schaufele, and their lawyer Charles C. Owen were also named in the indictment which charged Hubbell with hiding money from the federal government that should have been used to pay back taxes.

"We're innocent, not only myself, but my wife and my friends... I don't know of any wrongdoing on behalf of anyone and I'm not going to lie to make a case against anyone," Hubbell said.

The charges against the four had been thrown out based on the argument that Starr was beyond his prosecutorial jurisdiction in pursuing the tax charges. It was also argued that Starr based his indictment on material he received from Hubbell after Hubbell was granted immunity by Starr.

Hubbell has already served one prison sentence and now will face two more criminal trials involving Starr's office. Beyond the tax charge, the independent counsel alleges Hubbell obstructed investigators in the Whitewater investigation. Starr brought the obstruction case last year while the appeal was pending in the tax case.

A former partner of Hillary Rodham Clinton at the Rose Law firm in Little Rock, Arkansas, Hubbell served as the third-ranking Justice Department official early in the Clinton Administration.

Tuesday, January 26, 1999

• Senate discusses bipartisan plan for timetable, witnesses
• Transcript: Motion to depose witnesses introduced in Senate impeachment trial
• Document: House managers' memo in support of witnesses
• Document: House managers' motion for witnesses
• Sen. Mikulski hospitalized with flu
• Analysis: Senate vote shows a contempt for public
• Tough sentence for Espy's top aide upheld
• Hubbell 'disappointed' by appeals court decision
• Democratic fund-raiser Charlie Trie surrenders to custody
• Dole's hometown rallies for a presidential run
• Bradley splits with Gore on welfare
• Both parties' mid-term funds grew
• Poll: Mrs. Clinton ahead in Senate race
• War tales at impeachment trial
• Gore to unveil immigrant aid plan
• Clinton reflects on millennium
• $5.4 billion budget deficit recorded
• Clinton to explain his Iraq, Cuba policies to Pope

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