Clinton's Testimony From The Second Whitewater Trial

Cast of Characters

Alfonse D'Amato Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, the New York Republican senator chaired the $1 million, 14-month Senate Whitewater Committee investigation. The proceeding produced a few fireworks, most notably over the mysterious appearance of Hillary Clinton's Whitewater legal records, but no conclusive evidence of wrongdoing.

Lanny Davis The White House's pointman for all matters scandalous, Davis took the job over from Mark Fabiani and Jane Sherbourne, who left the administration at the end of Clinton's first term.

W. Hickman Ewing, Jr. The lead prosecuting attorney in the second Whitewater trial, Ewing heads the Little Rock investigation into Whitewater.

Robert Fiske The first Whitewater independent prosecutor, Fiske, a New York attorney with a reputation for even-handedness, was appointed in January 1994. His investigation, which critics called lackluster, focused on longtime Clinton associate and White House counsel Vincent Foster's July 1993 death, which Fiske ruled a suicide.

Vincent Foster A longtime Arkansas associate of the Clintons, Foster came to Washington in 1992 to become White House counsel. In July 1993, he committed suicide, an event which sparked new and intense interest in Whitewater. Critics of the administration suspected Foster was depressed over legal issues dogging the Clintons, including Whitewater and Travelgate. What Foster may have done with the Clintons' legal records, and whether documents were removed from his office in the hours following his death, has been the source of intense speculation.

David Hale -- The government's star witness in the first Whitewater trial, Arkansas banker David Hale made the salacious claim that Clinton, in the 1980s, conspired with him and Whitewater partner Jim McDougal on an illegal $300,000 loan. Hale himself pleaded guilty to two felony counts of defrauding the Small Business Administration and is now serving a 24-month prison sentence in Texarkana, Texas. He has predicted Starr will indict Hillary Clinton, and recently told an interviewer he had only told investigators "a small, small part" of the whole Whitewater saga, and that "a lot more information will come out by the time this investigation is all over."

Robert Hill Along with co-defendant Herby Branscum Jr., Hill was charged with 11 counts of misusing bank funds for political purposes in the second Whitewater trial. Prosecutors suggested Clinton rewarded Hill with a plum Arkansas state job in return for political donations. The jury acquitted both Branscum and Robert Hill on four charges and deadlocked on the rest. Starr decided not to retry.

Webster Hubbell A former Rose Law Firm partner of Hillary Clinton and a golfing buddy to Bill, Hubbell was Starr's first prey, pleading guilty in late 1994 to bilking the Rose firm of hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent billings. The former No. 3 person at the Justice Department, Hubbell recently completed an 18-month jail sentence, but has frequently been summoned to testify before Whitewater federal grand juries or Capitol Hill committees, though he has frequently cited memory lapses on key issues. Senate Whitewater investigators believe Hubbell lied about his involvement with a deal called Castle Grande, and referred him to Kenneth Starr for possible criminal investigation. The latest Hubbell intrigue: Was legal work from Indonesia's Lippo Group thrown his way in 1995 to buy his silence on Whitewater matters?

Carolyn Huber Practically family to the Clintons, this diminutive longtime aide discovered Hillary Clinton's long-sought Whitewater billing records in a book room off the Clintons' White House residence. Not realizing their importance, she told investigators, she initially filed them away. After realizing their sought-after-status, she turned them over to White House lawyers who, in turn, delivered them to Whitewater investigators.

Harold Ickes Formerly deputy chief of staff, Ickes was referred to Kenneth Starr for possible criminal investigation by Senate Whitewater investigators, who believed he misled them about the statute of limitations for pursuing possible crimes committed by the Rose Law Firm. Ickes also participated in a phone conversation with George Stephanopoulos and Roger Altman protesting the selection of Republican lawyer Jay Stephens to head the RTC investigation of Madison. Forced out of office at the behest of incoming chief of staff Erskine Bowles, Ickes was asked initially to head the White House Whitewater response team.

David Kendall is the Clintons' personal lawyer for Whitewater matters. A Rhodes scholar and Yale law school graduate, just like Clinton, Kendall practiced civil rights law before joining the elite Washington, D.C., firm of Williams & Connolly. His biggest triumph there was in a case defending The Washington Post against libel charges filed by Mobil Oil. The judge who wrote the decision was a young U.S. Court of Appeals judge named Kenneth Starr. Representing the Clintons, Kendall has been forced into a more public posture than is customary for Williams & Connolly lawyer; in June 1996, he derided Sen. Alfonse D'Amato's Senate Whitewater committee as "a partisan kangaroo court."

William Kennedy Starr may be investigating Kennedy, formerly a White House counsel, on allegations he improperly used the FBI to trump up charges against the White House travel office staff. In the FBI files matter, Kennedy took responsibility for hiring Craig Livingstone, the former White House security office head who oversaw the improper collection of some 900 background files.

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