Lawyer Claims Note Shows Starr Duplicity
While cooperating with Whitewater prosecutors, James B. McDougal wrote “Lie against Clinton and Tucker” and “for immunity” in his prison cell, a lawyer for his ex-wife said Thursday.
Attorney Mark Geragos said the note bolstered Susan McDougal’s claim that Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth W. Starr has pressured her to lie about President Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Geragos said he obtained the note within the last week and confirmed that the handwriting was James McDougal’s, but he would not say how he got it. Neither prison officials nor Starr’s office would comment.
Earlier, Susan McDougal, 43, pleaded not guilty to charges of criminal contempt of court and obstruction of justice for refusing to answer questions from the Whitewater grand jury in September 1996 and again last month.
Geragos said Susan McDougal is prepared to tell 12 jurors what she wouldn’t say to 23 grand jurors behind closed doors: whether Clinton testified honestly at her 1996 fraud trial. She and her late husband were partners with the Clintons in the Whitewater land deal.
“She’s always been interested in answering that question if somebody’s interested in hearing the truth,” Geragos said.
The McDougals and then-Gov. Jim Guy Tucker were convicted of fraud in 1996.
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