Starr Expands Whitewater Probe to Clinton Campaign Donations

Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth W. Starr has expanded his investigation to include certain contributions made to President Clinton’s 1992 campaign.

The independent counsel, who had previously dealt almost exclusively with financial deals among a small set of Arkansas friends, won broader jurisdiction as he looked at a pair of Arkansas bankers indicted this week. The revised jurisdiction also gives him permission to look for obstruction of justice, a charge that can outlive some statutes of limitations.

According to newly unsealed documents, Atty. Gen. Janet Reno and the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington gave Starr permission last summer to examine some contributions made during Clinton’s run for president. Starr also won permission to look at other matters that remain under seal.

“We have not been put on any notice,” White House lawyer Mark Fabiani said Friday. “As far as the scope of the independent counsel’s work, our position has been that we will cooperate by providing whatever information the independent counsel needs to do his job, hopefully quickly and fairly.”

Starr’s office said last year that White House aide Bruce Lindsey, Clinton’s 1990 gubernatorial campaign treasurer, was a target of Starr’s investigation.

When Perry County Bank owners Herby Branscum Jr. and Robert M. Hill were indicted Tuesday, a separate court filing outlined how Starr obtained jurisdiction over the men. The filing was necessary because the pair are not related to Starr’s original charge: to investigate the Whitewater land development and two federally backed lending companies, Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan and Capital Management Services.

The jurisdiction notice includes exhibits that previously had been under seal. They give Starr permission to explore Branscum’s and Hill’s relatives and others regarding contributions to “the 1990 Clinton gubernatorial campaign or the 1992 Clinton presidential campaign.” The contribution to the campaign was legal; the indictment of the bankers only alleges that Branscum and Hill raised the money illegally.

The notice also says he can look for obstruction of justice, perjury, destruction of evidence, intimidation of witnesses or conspiracies.