Judge Demands Interview Tapes

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A federal judge ordered NBC-TV and CNN to turn over tapes of interviews with Whitewater figure David Hale, the government’s chief witness against James B. McDougal, the former business partner of President Clinton.

U.S. District Judge George Howard said Friday that the networks must turn over the portions of the interviews that they aired and bring the outtakes to court so the judge can determine whether McDougal also is entitled to them.

McDougal has said the tapes might reveal inconsistencies in Hale’s story. Hale is a former federally backed banker who is the government’s chief witness against McDougal, his ex-wife Susan and Gov. Jim Guy Tucker in the current Whitewater trial.