NEWSWEEK has learned that the chief source of the now inoperative version of reality was deputy White House counsel Bruce Lindsey, who told other Clinton aides ““there was never any business discussed’’ in the Clinton-Riady meetings. Lindsey is close to some of the Arkansas lawyers and businessmen who are central to Indogate, and some White House staffers are furious that he wasn’t more candid. ““This is a bottomless pit,’’ said one. (White House spokesman Mike McCurry denied any suggestion that Lindsey might have misled him.)
Indogate now threatens to engulf the DNC and the White House in a wide-ranging probe of ““soft money’’ campaign contributions. And since no fewer than three special prosecutors are already investigating Bill Clinton and his administration, the next four years could produce a politically disastrous series of high-profile prosecutions.
The most obvious threat is independent counsel Kenneth Starr’s Whitewater inquiry. Sources close to Starr say decisions will soon be made on ““five or six’’ indictments. The toughest is what charge, if any, to bring against Hillary Clinton. Starr’s staff thinks she has been less than forthcoming on a range of matters, starting with a land deal she worked on for former business partner James McDougal’s thrift. One sign of Starr’s progress may come at McDougal’s sentencing on fraud charges. If Starr recommends leniency, that could be a signal that McDougal gave important testimony implicating Mrs. Clinton or the president. At the very least, Starr’s expanded inquiry may prompt him to haul the First Lady before a grand jury again.
Meanwhile, Clinton himself must still confront the sexual-harassment suit filed in 1994 by Paula Jones. If the U.S. Supreme Court agrees that a sitting president can be sued for civil damages–and no one can predict that ruling–the president faces embarrassing testimony even if he ultimately wins the case.
But Indogate is the hot topic–and it will get hotter now that the Republicans have retained control of both houses of Congress. Already, GOP leaders are pledging full-blown hearings, and may form a select committee in the Senate on the Indonesian affair. ““This will be a jihad,’’ said one staffer. The White House will counter that the probe is all political–but that won’t make it any easier to endure.
