Whitewater Affair

WASHINGTON -- The kinds of heavy clouds that often forecast a political thunderstorm have begun to take shape over the White House.In the past week, the president and first lady have been beset by accusations of stonewalling, calls for a special prosecutor, disclosures of secret grand jury subpoenas and suspicions of a cover-up with regard to their involvement in a failed Arkansas land deal.But lost in much of the ominous discussion of the Clintons' investment in Whitewater Development Corp.

You can almost hear the air hissing out of the Whitewater balloon.A half-dozen pinpricks in the past two weeks -- from Congress, from official reports, and from a few reporters punching holes in the much-ballyhooed book on the "scandal" -- have begun to sink the Whitewater balloon and bring the 3-year-old flying circus back to earth.It started when the Senate began tiptoeing away from Sen. Alphonse M. D'Amato's increasingly embarrassing Clinton bash, which has so fascinated Capitol Hill and the Washington media these past many months.

WASHINGTON -- There will be no talk of bloody gloves, and the testimony is likely to be about as gripping as watching paint dry. But that won't keep official Washington, deep in its midsummer slump, from perking up this week for its long-awaited and high-stakes spectacle of the season: Whitewater hearings.After six months of Republican pushing, Democratic pulling and White House angst over the prospect of congressional inquiries, the House Banking Committee will raise the curtain tomorrow, and the Senate Banking Committee on Friday, on hearings to examine one small portion of the multifaceted Whitewater affair.

WASHINGTON -- Moving closer to a federal court clash between Congress and the White House, the Senate Whitewater committee yesterday asked the full Senate to compel President Clinton to release notes of a 1993 meeting on the Whitewater affair.Voting 10-8 along party lines, the Republican-led committee urged the Senate to approve a court challenge to Mr. Clinton's claim that the meeting notes were protected by the confidentiality of attorney-client discussions.Committee chairman Sen. Alfonse M. D'Amato accused the White House of seeking to delay disclosure of the document and of not negotiating in good faith.

WASHINGTON -- On the eve of Congress' long-awaited inquiry into the Whitewater affair, the man most likely to wind up as the Clinton administration's "fall guy" took the offensive yesterday to insist that he did nothing wrong.Roger C. Altman, the deputy treasury secretary, repeatedly asserted that he had done nothing either illegal or unethical in connection with Whitewater. He made his defense during an hourlong conference with two dozen journalists whom he invited to the Treasury Department to hear his side.

The Harding camp's assault on Nancy Kerrigan is what much of the world expects from this country.Uh-oh. While the independent counsel on the Whitewater affair was being picked, Bill calmly took over leadership of the world.

WASHINGTON -- Republican lawmakers have stepped up pressure on Democrats to schedule congressional hearings into the Whitewater affair, as special counsel Robert B. Fiske Jr. wound down the initial phase of his investigation of President Clinton's role in the failed Arkansas land venture.Ending what had been the Clinton administration's first extended respite from GOP criticism over Whitewater, more than 90 House Republicans led by Rep. John T. Doolittle, R-Calif., introduced a resolution yesterday calling for concurrent hearings by five congressional committees.

WASHINGTON -- The fracturing of the close circle around President Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton continued yesterday, ending the short government career of their longtime friend and personal counselor, Webster L. Hubbell.Mr. Hubbell, who is quitting as the No. 3 official at the Justice Department after 14 months overall in the administration, insisted in a three-page statement that his resignation had "nothing to do with Whitewater" but instead was due to a billing dispute with his former law firm in Arkansas.

CORONADO, Calif. -- President Clinton and his family began a spring vacation in southern California yesterday at the oceanfront home of M. Larry Lawrence, the U.S. ambassador to Switzerland and the owner of a landmark hotel here.After a busy month made burdensome by new scrutiny of the Whitewater affair, aides said Mr. Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton hope to spend much of the week at play.This is spring break for their daughter, Chelsea, who arrived here from Dallas with her parents and an unidentified friend aboard Air Force One Sunday night.

WASHINGTON -- Republicans are turning up the heat on the Whitewater affair by raising the specter of another Watergate. Top administration officials stressed today that they are cooperating with investigators."

WASHINGTON -- Signaling his intention to move aggressively in reopening the Senate's Whitewater investigation, the prospective chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee said yesterday he plans to hold hearings on the issue as soon as late January or early February.Sen. Alfonse M. D'Amato, R-N.Y., who as chairman of the banking panel would be the Senate's chief Whitewater investigator, said he is inclined to create a special subcommittee -- which he would chair -- to handle the Whitewater probe.

WASHINGTON -- All the stars seemed to line up in the White House's favor yesterday as the curtain went up on Capitol Hill's long-awaited Whitewater hearings.The administration's avuncular, white-haired trouble-shooter, Washington superlawyer Lloyd N. Cutler -- projecting the picture of moral rectitude and lawyerly precision -- staunchly defended the actions of White House and Treasury officials as they dealt with the unfolding Whitewater controversy last fall."There was no violation of any ethical standard," said Mr. Cutler, the first and only witness at yesterday's highly partisan daylong hearing by the House Banking Committee.

WASHINGTON -- Henry Gonzalez entered the hearing room wearing a white linen suit so wrinkled and baggy it looked like the entire House Banking Committee had just finished sleeping in it.As chairman of that committee, Gonzalez, D-Texas, was presiding over the first public hearings into the Whitewater affair.Sort of.Gonzalez, whom the Houston Chronicle recently called "eccentric even by Texas standards," made sure the scope of the hearing was so narrow as to make the dullest possible TV.Which was the fervent hope of the White House.

WASHINGTON -- On the eve of Congress' long-awaited inquiry into the Whitewater affair, the man most likely to wind up as the Clinton administration's "fall guy" took the offensive yesterday to insist that he did nothing wrong.Roger C. Altman, the deputy treasury secretary, repeatedly asserted that he had done nothing either illegal or unethical in connection with Whitewater. He made his defense during an hourlong conference with two dozen journalists whom he invited to the Treasury Department to hear his side.

WASHINGTON -- There will be no talk of bloody gloves, and the testimony is likely to be about as gripping as watching paint dry. But that won't keep official Washington, deep in its midsummer slump, from perking up this week for its long-awaited and high-stakes spectacle of the season: Whitewater hearings.After six months of Republican pushing, Democratic pulling and White House angst over the prospect of congressional inquiries, the House Banking Committee will raise the curtain tomorrow, and the Senate Banking Committee on Friday, on hearings to examine one small portion of the multifaceted Whitewater affair.

WASHINGTON -- Republican lawmakers have stepped up pressure on Democrats to schedule congressional hearings into the Whitewater affair, as special counsel Robert B. Fiske Jr. wound down the initial phase of his investigation of President Clinton's role in the failed Arkansas land venture.Ending what had been the Clinton administration's first extended respite from GOP criticism over Whitewater, more than 90 House Republicans led by Rep. John T. Doolittle, R-Calif., introduced a resolution yesterday calling for concurrent hearings by five congressional committees.

NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks slumped yesterday as Treasur bond yields climbed to their highest level in 10 months and concern grew about President Clinton's involvement in the Whitewater affair."

WASHINGTON -- Moving closer to a federal court clash between Congress and the White House, the Senate Whitewater committee yesterday asked the full Senate to compel President Clinton to release notes of a 1993 meeting on the Whitewater affair.Voting 10-8 along party lines, the Republican-led committee urged the Senate to approve a court challenge to Mr. Clinton's claim that the meeting notes were protected by the confidentiality of attorney-client discussions.Committee chairman Sen. Alfonse M. D'Amato accused the White House of seeking to delay disclosure of the document and of not negotiating in good faith.

While Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton may consider the furor caused by their investment in Whitewater Development Co. 12 years ago depressing, for James McDougal, their partner in the real estate venture, it suddenly has become utterly rejuvenating.Some months ago, he was lamenting with friends and interviewers about his miserable life, which he said would soon be ended by an assortment of medical problems. Now, he is running for Congress.His platform? It's not quite clear, but it has something to do with Whitewater.

CORONADO, Calif. -- President Clinton and his family began a spring vacation in southern California yesterday at the oceanfront home of M. Larry Lawrence, the U.S. ambassador to Switzerland and the owner of a landmark hotel here.After a busy month made burdensome by new scrutiny of the Whitewater affair, aides said Mr. Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton hope to spend much of the week at play.This is spring break for their daughter, Chelsea, who arrived here from Dallas with her parents and an unidentified friend aboard Air Force One Sunday night.