Whitewater Grand Jury May Adjourn

The Whitewater grand jury created four years ago to investigate President Clinton’s Arkansas land dealings may be ready to adjourn, independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr said Tuesday.

The special Whitewater grand jury--the second impaneled at Little Rock since 1994--is scheduled to expire May 7.

Starr suggested that he might not need another, saying the cooperation of former Arkansas Gov. Jim Guy Tucker has proved helpful.

“This investigation could conclude quickly if all persons who have relevant and material information would come forward and cooperate with the grand jury,” Starr said outside his Little Rock office.

Tucker, who recently began cooperating with Starr’s probe, pleaded guilty in February to conspiring to avoid taxes in the sale of a cable television business.

“We have long sensed that it’s in the national interest to bring these matters to a conclusion and closure in an orderly and very professional way,” Starr said.

The Arkansas grand jury is separate from a Whitewater grand jury that has been meeting in Washington since September. Most recently it has been looking into Clinton’s relationship with White House intern Monica S. Lewinsky.

The Arkansas Whitewater grand jury has most recently been interviewing Rose Law Firm attorneys who worked with First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. It is also looking into whether President Clinton’s supporters hired former Justice Department official Webster L. Hubbell in an effort to buy silence on matters related to Whitewater, a failed real estate deal.

Lewinsky’s father had harsh words for Starr in a television interview broadcast Tuesday.

Appearing in part two of an interview conducted Monday in Los Angeles for NBC’s “Today,” Beverly Hills oncologist Bernard Lewinsky said his daughter “is not a criminal and has committed no crime.”

Starr has investigated allegations that she had sex in the White House with Clinton and that he urged her to lie about it. Clinton has strongly denied having had sex with her or telling her to lie.

“This is a situation where my daughter is caught in the power struggle between Ken Starr and the president and they are trying in every possible way to manipulate her in one way or another. This is not about sex and this could happen to other people. . . . I’m saying that the situation is clearly a political one,” Bernard Lewinsky said.

“I think Mr. Starr has run away with power. He has been at this for four years, spent $40 million of our tax money. He is persecuting my daughter. . . .”

Meanwhile, a House Judiciary Committee meeting erupted in a shouting match Tuesday as Democrats accused Republican leaders of plotting to spend $1.3 million to prepare for a possible impeachment inquiry.