More Probes, Problems

The Clinton White House has been troubled by a series of accusations that have gained new intensity in the past week. Among the overlapping areas of inquiry:

* WHITEWATER

This is the investigation into the financing of an Ozark land development, in which President Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton were among the partners. An independent prosecutor was appointed in January 1994 to look into the failed venture. That investigation has broadened to include a variety of allegations of improper activities involving Clinton associates in Arkansas. The independent prosecutor, Kenneth W. Starr, is also reviewing the death of White House Deputy Counsel Vincent Foster and the findings of the Senate Whitewater Committee, which issued dual reports last week.

* TRAVEL OFFICE FIRINGS

In May 1993, the White House fired seven veteran employees of the office that handles travel arrangements for the White House press corps. White House officials accused Billy R. Dale, the head of the office, of financial wrongdoing, but Republican critics said Dale and the others had been fired to make room for political cronies. Dale was acquitted. A House committee has been investigating the affair, looking into Mrs. Clinton’s role in it as well as allegations that officials misused law enforcement agencies to justify the firings.

* FBI FILES

Late in 1993, White House aides improperly obtained summaries of confidential FBI files on 407 former White House employees, including some prominent Republicans. Clinton has apologized for the matter, saying it was a bureaucratic blunder, but Republicans have accused the White House of engaging in political dirty tricks.

Status of the Investigations

* WHITEWATER TRIALS

Last month, Starr won convictions against Clinton business partners James B. McDougal and his former wife, Susan, on charges of fraud stemming from an improper loan from a corporation backed by the Small Business Administration. Arkansas Gov. Jim Guy Tucker was also convicted of participating in the scheme.

NEXT STEP: Clinton advisor Bruce Lindsey is expected to be named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the next Whitewater-related trial in Little Rock, Ark. Arkansas bankers Herby Branscum and Robert Hill are charged with illegally using bank assets to make a $7,000 donation to Clinton’s 1990 gubernatorial campaign as part of an effort to secure a state job for Branscum. Prosecutors say Lindsey advised the two men not to report bank withdrawals to the Internal Revenue Service, an accusation Lindsey denies. The trial resumes this week. Clinton is not charged, but he is expected to testify via videotape in the case.

Starr’s aides have also been presenting evidence to a grand jury in Washington on questions of whether White House officials tried to impede federal investigations of the original Whitewater allegations. Among those allegations are questions about whether relevant documents were taken out of Foster’s office after his death.

* WHITEWATER HEARINGS

A special Senate committee began its own investigation of Whitewater in May 1995. Thirteen months later, a bitterly divided committee issued two reports. The Republican majority said that the Clintons, particularly the first lady, were at the center of a broad conspiracy to impede federal investigations of Whitewater. Democrats said White House officials exercised “questionable political judgment” but that “no credible evidence” indicated that either of the Clintons had committed improper or illegal acts.

NEXT STEP: The committee’s Republicans asked Starr to investigate allegations that three associates of the Clintons--White House Deputy Chief of Staff Harold M. Ickes, former Associate Atty. Gen. Webster L. Hubbell and lawyer Susan Thomases--might have lied to Congress.

* TRAVEL OFFICE

The House Government Reform and Oversight Committee is holding hearings on the affair. The committee, headed by Rep. William F. Clinger Jr. (R-Pa.), has focused on Hollywood producer Harry Thomason, who is accused of lobbying presidential aides for a share of the travel business on behalf of a friend. The Justice Department ended a lengthy investigation in April, finding that Thomason did not violate conflict-of-interest laws and had not impeded the investigation.

NEXT STEP: Clinger’s committee and the White House have been deadlocked over requests by the committee to review White House documents. The panel has set a Wednesday deadline for 2,000 pages of documents to be turned over. Earlier this year, Starr began investigating whether former presidential aide David Watkins, who was fired for improperly using a military helicopter to visit a golf course, committed perjury in his testimony to Congress on the travel office firings. Watkins had denied that Mrs. Clinton was involved in the firings.

* FBI FILES

Among the questions that remain are where the White House aides got the list of pass-holders that they used as the basis for their requests to the FBI; what use, if any, was made of the files; who in the White House knew of the existence of the files; and whether the requests for the files were authorized by anyone higher than the head of the White House personnel security office, D. Craig Livingstone.

NEXT STEP: The federal court that oversees the independent counsel has approved a request by Atty. Gen. Janet Reno for Starr to investigate the matter. He could begin calling witnesses before a grand jury this week. House hearings are expected to continue, and Senate hearings are possible.