First Lady’s Testimony Sought in McDougal Trial

Independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr’s prosecutors said Monday they hope to play part of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s videotaped testimony to a grand jury at the trial of her former Whitewater partner, Susan McDougal.

Starr deputy W. Hickman Ewing Jr. said outside the courthouse at the end of Monday’s testimony that prosecutors want to play “perhaps 30 minutes” of the first lady’s testimony, as early as today.

McDougal’s lawyer, Mark Geragos, was expected to object at a hearing today before the trial resumes.

The defense opened the door for prosecutors to present Clinton’s testimony when Geragos questioned FBI agent Mike Patkus, who works for Starr’s office.

Patkus said Thursday he did not know if prosecutors had asked Clinton a series of questions about a $27,600 loan in the name of Bill Clinton from the Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan owned by McDougal and her former husband, James B. McDougal.

Prosecutors allege that the Clinton loan is connected to a fraudulent $300,000 loan made to Susan McDougal in 1986. She is charged with contempt of court and obstruction of justice.

Ewing said prosecutors want to “clear up misimpressions” left when Patkus testified that he wasn’t sure Hillary Clinton had been questioned about the transactions.

Clinton gave the videotaped testimony at the White House on April 25, and it was played several days later to the Whitewater grand jury in Little Rock.

Earlier Monday, Starr’s office put one of its own prosecutors on the witness stand to fight McDougal’s allegation that Whitewater investigators pressured her to tell lies about the Clintons.

Starr’s office only asked for the “total and complete truth,” former prosecutor Amy St. Eve insisted.

The independent counsel’s office has been thrown on the defensive by the strategy of Geragos, who is accusing the prosecutor’s staff of a pattern of misconduct--including urging McDougal to give testimony that falsely implicates the Clintons.

“Absolutely not,” St. Eve replied when Myers asked her whether McDougal had been asked to lie.