Starr puts first lady on witness list for Hubbell trial
June 23, 1999
Web posted at: 4:18 p.m. EDT (2018 GMT)
WASHINGTON (June 23) -- As expected, Independent Counsel Ken Starr has included first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton on the list of potential witnesses for the trial of former associate attorney general and Clinton friend Webster Hubbell, knowledgeable sources tell CNN.
Hubbell, a former law partner of Mrs. Clinton, goes on trial August 9 in
connection with legal work the two did together in the 1980s on the fraudulent Castle Grande land development in Arkansas. The Castle Grande project has become a part of the Whitewater investigation headed by Starr.
The indictment claims Hubbell concealed the Castle Grande work so the Rose Law firm -- where Hubbell and Mrs. Clinton worked -- could get lucrative government work in a lawsuit against the accounting firm for Whitewater figures Jim and Susan McDougal's failed Savings & Loan.
If federal regulators had known that the Rose Law firm had previously done work for the S&L, conflict of interest regulations would have barred them from representing the government, the indictment says.
Hubbell is also charged with failing to declare income for work he did
before he pleaded guilty to fraud charges in December 1994.
The first lady was considered a likely witness since Starr's office indicated in April it might call her. Just because her name is on the list of 63 potential witnesses, the independent counsel is under no obligation to actually call the first lady to the stand. Neither the prosecution nor the defense would comment on whether that in fact will happen.
In January, 1996, the first lady testified before Starr's Whitewater grand jury in Washington.
CNN's Bob Franken and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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