Whitewater prosecution pits Hale's testimony against Clinton's

May 13, 1996
Web posted at: 11:35 p.m. EDT

From Correspondent Bob Franken

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (CNN) -- The lead prosecutor in the Whitewater trial said the defendants, James and Susan McDougal and Arkansas Gov. Jim Guy Tucker, lied to obtain a series of fraudulent loans.

W. Ray Jahn also said the prosecution's chief witness, David Hale, had no reason to lie when he said President Clinton pressured him to make an illegal loan a decade ago.

"It defies common sense, it defies reasonableness (that) David Hale made all this up," Jahn said. "If he's going to make up a story, he could have made up a good one .. he could have made up a better one."

The feeling is widespread that key to this case will be the jury's deciding the credibility of the president's taped testimony rebutting Hale's charges. Clinton's testimony was played in court Thursday, the last evidence before both sides rested.

In his closing argument, Jahn dismissed Clinton's testimony as riddled with discrepancies -- attributed to a "faulty recollection" by the president years later. As a result, said Jahn, "his testimony ... is going to be limited."

Defense attorneys said Jahn's comments -- he took just three of his five hours, retaining two for rebuttal -- were mild.

"They certainly did not take on (Clinton's) credibility," said William Sutton, a defense attorney.

But Jahn said he was more concerned with stressing Hale's credibility than with Clinton's.

As for Clinton's testimony, the fight over public release of the tape continued Monday. Floyd Brown, leader of Citizens United and an avowed opponent of the president, asked to join news organizations in their court appeal to get the taped testimony released.

Even before the president videotaped the testimony at the White House two weeks ago, defense attorneys convinced the judge to temporarily seal the tape, citing fears that his political opponents would embarrass him with it.

Brown, who was responsible for the Willie Horton ads targeting Michael Dukakis in his failed presidential campaign against George Bush in 1988, said that if Clinton has done nothing wrong, he should have no fear about releasing the tape.

White House press secretary Mike McCurry minced few words in responding to Brown.

"He should crawl back under the rock that he came from," McCurry said. "It's an individual who is widely credited with having poisoned our politics in 1988. He just has no business trying to do it again in 1996."

While that fight goes on outside the trial, defense attorneys are up next inside the courthouse. Their case relies very heavily on discrediting Hale, and very heavily on the word of President Clinton.

Related stories:

• Whitewater trial nears end - May 13, 1996
• Both sides rest in Whitewater - May 9, 1996, 1996
• President Bill Clinton's Whitewater testimony - May 9, 1996
• Clinton Denies Wrongdoing In Whitewater - April 29, 1996
• Barbour Takes A Jab At Clinton's Whitewater Testimony - April 26, 1996

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