Starr Gets 6-Month Extension of Whitewater Grand Jury

A federal judge extended the term of a Whitewater grand jury Friday after independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr told her that six more months of the jury’s work would be “strongly in the public interest.”

Starr asked U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright to let the special grand jury stay on the job until May 7, 1998--two years after its first meeting. The grand jury’s term had been scheduled to expire Nov. 7.

Wright agreed that more time was needed “to complete several ongoing investigations.”

Since his appointment in August 1994, Starr has spent more than $30 million investigating President Clinton and the first lady and their ex-business partners James B. and Susan McDougal, the owners of a failed Arkansas savings and loan.

Six months ago, Starr told Wright that he was investigating possible obstruction of justice before getting an initial extension of the grand jury’s term. Friday, he told the judge he had authority to investigate “federal crimes that are connected with or arise out of [his office’s] investigation.”

Special grand juries can meet for a maximum of two years. If Starr has not completed his work by next spring in Arkansas, he could ask the federal court there to impanel yet another.

The current special grand jury is Whitewater’s second in Little Rock. A previous grand jury, which met for two years, indicted seven people. Washington, D.C., also has a newly appointed panel.

In recent months, Starr’s office subpoenaed records of the Clintons and top White House aides about possible contacts with investigation witnesses.

Starr has been investigating whether the Clintons played any part in fraudulent business deals in Arkansas when Clinton was governor. The Clintons deny wrongdoing and have not been charged with any crime.