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January 1993 - Story 1 EX-S&L CLEANUP CHIEF GETS $1 MILLION PENSION - SIMILAR GOLDEN PARACHUTES QUIETLY YANKED FOR TWO OTHER TOP RTC OFFICIALS, WHO DIDN'T KNOW THEY WERE LOSING OUT ON THE BIG FEDERAL BUCKS UNTIL THIS WEEK. by Susan Schmidt Under a provision tucked into the last funding bill for the Resolution Trust Corp., David C. Cooke, head of the government agency, was able to retire June 30 at age 46 with a hefty nest egg -- a lifetime pension valued at $1 million. Cooke, it seems, left just in time. Two other top officials still at the savings and loan cleanup agency, one 50 and the other 49, were eligible for similar golden parachutes, but Congress quietly repealed the legislation three months ago, unbeknown to (BEACON JOURNAL , 833 words.) Jan 2

January 1993 - Story 2 (New York Times) JUDGE FEARS ERASURE OF TAPES - BUSH AIDES MAY BEGIN TODAY, TO DESTROY COMPUTER RECORDS, WHICH SOME DEEM IMPORTANT IN IRAN-CONTRA AFFAIR by Stephen Labaton A federal judge said Thursday, that the Bush administration has indicated that it will begin destroying White House and National Security Council computer tapes today, in defiance of his orders. The judge, Charles R. Richey, on Thursday, issued his second order in seven days demanding that the administration preserve the records, which investigators consider important in the Iran-Contra affair. But he said in an interview ThursDAY, afternoon that court papers filed by the Bush admi (BEACON JOURNAL 447 words.) Jan 15

January 1993 Story 3 (New York Times) HEADLINE: BENTSEN DID WELL WITH STOCK IN FIRM LAUNCHED BY TEXAN WITH CASH FROM FAILED S&L by Jeff Gerth In 1988 Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, who will be the top financial regulator for President Bill Clinton, was invited by a Texas savings and loan operator to buy stock in a new company. For Bentsen, who met with federal regulators on the businessman's behalf four months before he bought the stock, an investment of $100,000 came to be worth at least $600,000 three years later. (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS , 443 words.) Jan 17

January 1993 Story 4 (Washington Post) S&L CLEANUP LEAVES MESS OF LAWYERS' BILLS - THE GOVERNMENT PAID MILLIONS IN LEGAL FEES. NOW, WE'RE PAYING AUDITORS MILLIONS TO FIND THE BILLS. by Susan Schmidt FIRST, the government officials in charge of cleaning up the savings and loan industry found themselves far behind in paying their legal bills. So they started something called the Accelerated Payment Program, mailing checks to law firms that sent in one-page demands for payment without waiting for itemized invoices.( SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS , 862 words.)Jan 31

February 1993 Story 1 (Washington Post) HEADLINE: FEDERAL BANK REGULATORS DO POOR JOB, SAYS GAO REPORT by Susan Schmidt Despite the huge bureaucracy devoted to the task, the federal government is doing a poor job of examining the books of the nation's banks and thrifts, the General Accounting Office reported Tuesday. Comptroller General Charles Bowsher told the House Banking Committee that all four federal bank-regulatory agencies fail to adequately ensure that unsafe practices are detected. (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS , 421 words.) Feb 17

July 1993 Story 1 (New York Times) PROBE IN DEATH GOES ON CLINTON AIDE LEFT FEW HINTS by Stephen Labaton The Justice Department said Thursday it will continue investigating the death of Vincent Foster, a senior White House lawyer and a close friend of President Clinton, until it could find a reason for his apparent suicide. The decision to conduct the unusual federal investigation was announced after Clinton said Thursday that there was nothing more that could be known about why, at the pinnacle of his career, Foster appeared to have killed himself. Asked whether he could add a (THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER , 329 words.) Jul 23

October 1993 Story 1 (New York Times) ENTHUSIASM FOR PUBLIC HERO RENO WANING AT JUSTICE by Stephen Labaton Some department employees think the attorney general has wavered on decisions regarding politically charged topics. ( LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER , 1165 words.) OCT 27

U.S. IS ASKED TO PROBE FAILED ARKANSAS SL --- RTC QUESTIONS THRIFT'S MID-'80S CHECK FLOW; By Susan Schmidt-1a The Resolution Trust Corp. [L.Jean Lewis] has asked federal prosecutors in Little Rock to open a criminal investigation into whether a failed Arkansas savings and loan used depositors' funds during the mid-'80s to benefit local politicians, including a reelection campaign of then-governor Bill Clinton. ( Washington Post Oct 31)

INVESTIGATORS [L.Jean Lewis] TO LOOK AT CLINTON DONATIONS by Susan Schmidt -1b (BEACON JOURNAL , 127 words.) Oct 31

ARKANSAS S&L, TIES TO CLINTON CAMPAIGN PROBED [L.Jean Lewis] by Susan Schmidt 1c (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS , 148 words.) Oct 31

RTC [L.Jean Lewis] SEEKS PROBE OF ARKANSAS S&L DEPOSITORS' MONEY MAY HAVE BEEN DIVERTED TO POLITICIANS, INCLUDING THEN-GOV. CLINTON by Susan Schmidt 1d ( SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS , 492 words.) Oct 31

RTC [L.Jean Lewis] SEEKS INQUIRY ON THRIFT. MATTERS REFERRED TO U.S. ATTORNEY REPORTEDLY INCLUDE ARKANSAS LINKS TO CLINTON CAMPAIGN (Schmidt 1e-AP) A federal prosecutor was asked a few weeks ago to investigate whether a failed Arkansas thrift illegally contributed to a Bill Clinton campaign for governor and other political races, a published report said Sunday. The Washington Post, quoting unidentified sources, said the Resolution Trust Corp. [L.Jean Lewis] in early October forwarded to U.S. Attorney Paula Casey in Little Rock, Ark., information about 10 matters arising from transactions at the now-closed Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan Association. (The ASSOCIATED PRESS Nov 1)

CLINTON TIES TO THRIFT PROBED [L.Jean Lewis] POSSIBLE ILLEGAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO HIS GUBERNATORIAL CAMPAIGN ARE AT ISSUE, A NEWSPAPER REPORTED. (Schmidt 1f AP ) ( PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER , 487 words.) Nov 1

ARKANSAS THRIFT FOCUS OF PROBE [L.Jean Lewis] OVER DONATIONS (Schmidt 1h AP) ( THE STATE , 361 words.) Nov 1

U.S. ASKED TO INVESTIGATE FAILED ARKANSAS S&L (Schmidt-1i AP) The Resolution Trust Corp. [L.Jean Lewis] has asked federal prosecutors in Little Rock to ( THE MIAMI HERALD , 269 words.) Nov 1

U.S. INVESTIGATING CLINTON'S LINKS TO ARKANSAS S & L by Jeff Gerth and Stephen Engelberg Federal investigators [L.Jean Lewis] are raising questions about ties between President Clinton and an Arkansas businessman, a political patron of the Mr. Clinton in the 1980's whose failed savings and loan is now under investigation. Government officials and lawyers familiar with the case said the President was neither the subject nor a target of the investigation, which is still in its early stages (New York Times, Nov 2)

CLINTONS' FORMER REAL ESTATE FIRM PROBED -FEDERAL INQUIRIES FOCUS ON FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES OF OTHER ARKANSANS By Michael Isikoff and Howard Schneider A real estate firm that was half-owned by President Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton is under scrutiny in two separate federal investigations [not true] that focus on the financial activities of prominent Arkansas business and political figures, according to federal officials [L.Jean Lewis] and law enforcement sources. [L.Jean Lewis] ( Washington Post Nov 2.)

CLINTON PAL INVESTIGATED IN SAVINGS AND LOAN CASE Federal investigators [L.Jean Lewis] are raising questions about ties between President Clinton and an Arkansas businessman - a political patron of Clinton in the 1980s whose failed savings and loan is now under criminal investigation. Government officials and lawyers familiar with the case said the president is neither the subject nor a target of the investigation, which is still in its early stages. (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS , 430 words.) Nov 2

November 1993 Story 4 - The First Denials - CLINTON DENIES IMPROPRIETY IN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT President Clinton today denied that he and his wife Hillary's half-ownership of a troubled real estate firm that is now under investigation involved any impropriety on their part. ''We did nothing improper, and I have nothing to say about it -- old story," Clinton said when asked about a report that a real estate firm once half-owned by him and the first lady is under investigation in two separate probes into a failed savings and loan institution. ( SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS , 269 words.) Nov 2

November 1993 Story 5 -WHITEWATER (WP-Lewis) The First Denials (continued) CLINTON SAYS U.S. PROBE IS NOT OF HIM - INVESTIGATORS ARE FOCUSING ON A POLITICAL ALLY IN ARKANSAS. CLINTON IS NOT A TARGET OF THE INQUIRY. The White House took the offensive yesterday in an effort to dissociate President Clinton from two federal investigations [not true - see Timelines in other web pages] involving an Arkansas businessman with longtime ties to the first family. "We did nothing improper," Clinton told reporters after the disclosure that federal investigators, among other things, were examining a real estate venture the President and Hillary Rodham Clinton once partially owned. ( PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER , 353 words.) Nov 3

November 1993 Story 6 -WHITEWATER (David Hale-Bossie/Brown Disinformation) INDICTED EXEC LINKS CLINTON TO LOAN DEAL - 2 U.S. PROBES EXAMINING ARKANSAS S&L OPERATOR (THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER , 504 words.) Nov 3

November 1993 Story 7 -WHITEWATER (WP-FDIC) In August 1992, Susan Schmidt wrote a single story about widespread corruption and political favoritism by Republican operatives in the S&L regulatory agencies. There was no follow-up on this story, for which the Republican operatives were most grateful. REGULATORS [in the FDIC] SAY THEY WERE UNAWARE OF CLINTON LAW FIRM'S SL TIES By Susan Schmidt Government regulators who hired Webster Hubbell, now the associate attorney general, to press a savings and loan case in 1989 now say they did not know that his law firm had a long-standing relationship with the thrift that could have constituted a conflict. (Washington Post, Nov 3)

November 1993 Story 8-WHITEWATER (WP- Lewis) Fourth Washington Post Story - Deliberately misleading - GOV. TUCKER'S FINANCES BECOME PROBE FOCUS -INVESTIGATORS SEEK TO UNRAVEL LOANS AND TRANSACTIONS IN ARKANSAS, SOURCES [L.Jean Lewis] SAY By Howard Schneider The financial dealings of Arkansas Gov. Jim Guy Tucker (D) have emerged as a focus of federal investigators [L.Jean Lewis] as they unravel a complex network of loans and transactions involving a group of state political and business leaders, according to government sources. [L.Jean Lewis] ( Washington Post Nov 4.)

NEW ARKANSAS GOVERNOR DRAWS FEDERAL PROBE ( SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS , 198 words.) Nov 4

November 1993 Story 9- -WHITEWATER (WP-David Hale-Bossie/Brown) Fifth Washington Post story. HOUSE PANEL SEEKS SBA PROBE OF LITTLE ROCK LENDER'S ROLE By Susan Schmidt The House Small Business Committee has asked for an investigation into a Little Rock, Ark., firm's use of a federal program to loan money to a land development company that was half owned by President Clinton and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton ( Washington Post Nov 6.)

November 1993 Story 10 - New York Times attack on Reno. JUSTICE EMPLOYEES NOT JOINING CHORUS OF PRAISE FOR RENO by Stephen Labaton Six months after taking over as attorney general, Janet Reno has achieved wide public popularity, but inside the Justice Department, the euphoria has waned. Career lawyers have begun to question whether her personal appeal will translate into substantive gains for the agency. Many people got their first taste of the crusty former prosecutor during her commanding performance after the FBI's April assault on the Branch Davidian compound. Aides say she still gets hundreds of admiring letters eac ( THE STATE , 1501 words.) Nov 7

November 1993 Story 11-WHITEWATER (WP-Lewis) First non-Jean Lewis U.S. investigations now starting. Sixth Washington Post story. Again, deliberately misleading statements. U.S. STEPS UP INVESTIGATIONS IN ARKANSAS - JUSTICE DEPT. NAMES 3 AS PROSECUTION TEAM By Michael Isikoff and Susan Schmidt The Justice Department yesterday named a special three-member prosecution team to oversee politically sensitive investigations into a federally backed investment company and a failed Arkansas savings and loan that had ties to prominent figures in the state, including President Clinton. ( Washington Post Nov 10.)

Seventh Washington Post story. Deliberately misleading. DEALINGS OF CLINTON PARTNERS WERE REFERRED TO JUSTICE DEPT. IN 1992 By Susan Schmidt and Michael Isikoff Resolution Trust Corp. investigators [L.Jean Lewis] examining the mid-1980s affairs of a failed Arkansas savings and loan found a series of irregular transactions involving Whitewater Development Corp., a company then half-owned by President Clinton and his wife, that suggested it was used by the Clintons' business partners in a check-kiting scheme to drain funds from the thrift. ( Washington Post Nov 11.)

FEDS PROBED FIRM CO-OWNED BY CLINTON Federal investigators [L.Jean Lewis] looked into the possibility more than a year ago that a land development firm half-owned by President Clinton and his wife was used in a check-kiting scheme to drain money from a troubled savings and loan, according to a published report. The Washington Post reports in today's editions that the Resolution Trust Corp. [L.Jean Lewis] told federal prosecutors last October - before the election - that a series of irregular transactions involving Whitewater Development Corp. could ( PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS , 373 words.) Nov 11

November 1993 Story 13 -WHITEWATER (AP/WP-Lewis) - These were the twelve referral concocted by Lewis and other members of her cell in the Kansas City RTC. PROSECUTIONS POSSIBLE IN THRIFT FAILURE. CLINTONS HAVE TIES TO ARKANSAS SAVINGS AND LOAN. Federal regulators [L.Jean Lewis] have prepared nine reports recommending possible criminal prosecutions in the failure of an Arkansas savings and loan with ties to the first family, government officials said Thursday. The Justice Department, citing a lack of evidence, has already rejected one of the reports that alleged a real estate venture once partly owned by President Clinton and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, was used in a check-kiting scheme, the officials said,speaking on condition of anonymity. (ASSOCIATED PRESS, Nov 12)

PROBE [L.Jean Lewis] OF S&L TIED TO CLINTON YIELDS 9 REPORTS FOR PROSECUTORS (THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER , 288 words.) Nov 12

December 1993 Story 1 -WHITEWATER (WP-Lewis) IN OTHER ACTION Republicans on the House Banking Committee are going ahead with their probe of Madison Guaranty, a failed Arkansas savings and loan with ties to the Clinton family, after panel Chairman Henry Gonzalez,D-Texas, refused to look at it. ( SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS , 131 words.) Dec 11

December 1993 Story 2 -WHITEWATER (NYT -Lewis) Phase Two of the New York Times effort to keep smear going. HEAD OF FAILING S&L HELPED CLINTON PAY A $50,000 PERSONAL DEBT IN 1985 by Jeff Gerth and Stephen Engelberg The owner of a failing Arkansas savings and loan association raised money for Gov. Bill Clinton in 1985 to help relieve the Clinton family of a $50,000 personal debt that the Clintons would otherwise have had trouble repaying, newly discovered documents show. The disclosure that the money covered a heavy private debt, rather than a less personally onerous campaign obligation, shows that the savings and loan executive, James McDougal, performed a more valuable favor for Clinton than has been previously known. (New York Times, Dec 15)

S&L CHIEF'S FUND-RAISING FOR CLINTONS PUT IN NEW LIGHT by Jeff Gerth and Stephen Engelberg (THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER , 303 words.) Dec 15

December 1993 Story 3 -WHITEWATER (WP-Lewis) BUSINESSMAN DENIES GIVING DONATION AT '85 CLINTON FUND-RAISER By Susan Schmidt and Charles R. Babcock Thursday, December 16, 1993 An Arkansas businessman whose name is on a $3,000 cashier's check that was used to help retire Bill Clinton's 1984 gubernatorial campaign debt says he never made such a donation. (Washington Post Dec 16.)

December 1993 Story 4 - FOSTERGATE (NYT-Unknown Source) Phase Three of New York Times effort to keep smear going. There is a possibility the information to the New York Times was leaked from an element of the Clinton (?) Justice Department. (See the web page How the SMEAR Began - FosterGATE FILES SOUGHT OF CLINTON AIDE WHO COMMITTED SUICIDE -- FEDERAL OFFICIALS SAY INFORMATION IS MISSING FROM FOSTER'S OFFICE. Federal investigators [Anonymous Investigators] are trying to determine whether a file relating to a failed Arkansas savings and loan owner and his investment firm was taken from the White House office of Vincent W. Foster Jr. after he committed suicide in July, law enforcement officials [Anonymous Law Enforcement Officials] said Saturday. The officials said investigators have been told that Foster, a deputy White House counsel who died of a single gunshot wound to the head on July 20, kept a file in his office on James McDougal, Clinton's former business associate, and on Whitewater Development Corp., a real estate investment firm under scrutiny in a separate Justice Department inquiry in Arkansas. (The New York Times Dec 19) -[Anonymous Source, Anonymous Investigators, Anonymous Law Enforcement Officials]

December 1993 Story 5 -WHITEWATER (WP-Lewis) CLINTONS' ARKANSAS LAND VENTURE LOSSES DISPUTED By Howard Schneider and Charles R. Babcock Sunday, December 19, 1993 The Arkansas real estate agent who managed then-Gov. Bill Clinton's Whitewater land development company throughout the 1980s says he does not believe the venture was a money loser that cost Clinton and his wife tens of thousands of dollars, as the president and his aides have said. ( Washington Post Dec 19.)

December 1993 Story 6 -WHITEWATER (NYT -Lewis) First PAYOFF! CLINTON'S LOAN - PUBLIC CONFIDENCE IS AT RISK; WE NEED AN ACCOUNTING The Clinton administration needs to move expeditiously to see that the public knows everything that can and should be known about President Bill Clinton's relations, when he was governor of Arkansas, with a failing savings and loan institution in that state. The then-governor was the beneficiary of a $50,000 loan from Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan that enabled him to pay off money he had borrowed and lent to one of his campaigns. It became public knowledge for the first time last ( DETROIT FREE PRESS , 328 words.) Dec 20

December 1993 Story 7 - FOSTERGATE (NYT-Unknown Source) CLINTON FILES TAKEN AFTER AIDE KILLED SELF - INVESTIGATORS WERE DENIED ACCESS TO RECORDS OF BUSINESS DEALS Records of business deals involving President Clinton and his wife were removed intentionally from the office of deputy counsel Vincent Foster after his suicide -- and investigators were not given an opportunity to review them, the White House said Monday. Mark Gearan, the president's communications director, said the files -- including documents relating to the Clintons' tax returns and their partnership in Whitewater Development Corp., an Arkansas real estate firm -- were sent to the president's ( SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS , 624 words.) Dec 21

December 1993 Story 8 TROOPERGATE (Peter W. Smith-American Spectator, Los Angeles Times) [See web page TrooperGATE Began Before Clinton Election in 1992.] TROOPERS SAY CLINTON SOUGHT SILENCE ON PERSONAL AFFAIRS; ARKANSAS: WHITE CALLS THEIR ALLEGATIONS ABOUT THE PRESIDENT'S PRIVATE LIFE 'RIDICULOUS' BY WILLIAM C. REMPEL and DOUGLAS FRANTZ Four Arkansas state troopers have revived allegations and offered new details about extramarital affairs that caused a crisis in Bill Clinton's campaign for the presidency. Two of the troopers say that Clinton, as President, sought to discourage them from speaking out by offering them federal jobs. (LOS ANGELES TIMES, 3,615 words, Tuesday, Dec 21)

FIRING BACK - FIRST LADY SAYS ALLEGATIONS AGAINST HUSBAND 'TERRIBLE' First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton launched a furious counterattack Tuesday against new allegations [Peter W. Smith-TrooperGATE] of her husband's marital infidelity. In year-end interviews with two wire services, she called the charges "outrageous" and said they were motivated by hope of financial and political gain by enemies of President Clinton. She said the allegations -- by two Arkansas state troopers, Larry Patterson and Roger Perry -- about the president's sexual activities before entering the White House were "sad and u ( THE STATE , 982 words.) Dec 22

HILLARY CLINTON CALLS SEX CLAIMS `GARBAGE'//FIRST LADY SAYS PRESIDENT'S ENEMIES SEEKING FINANCIAL, POLITICAL GAINS Hillary Rodham Clinton assailed new allegations [Peter W. Smith-TrooperGATE] of her husband's marital infidelity as ``outrageous'' Tuesday and charged that they were motivated by hope of financial and political gains by enemies of the president. In year-end interviews with two wire services, the first lady called accounts by two Arkansas state troopers of President Clinton's sexual activities before entering the White House ``sad and unfortunate,'' especially coming shortly before Christmas. (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS , 915 words.) Dec 22

HILLARY CLINTON DEFENDS HUSBAND - REACTION: THE FIRST LADY DENOUNCES 'OUTRAGEOUS, TERRIBLE' STORIES OF MARITAL INFIDELITY. The White House rolled out its second-biggest gun Tuesday as Hillary Rodham Clinton rose to defend her husband against new accusations of marital infidelity. In interviews with wire service reporters, the first lady denounced "outrageous, terrible stories" [Peter W. Smith-TrooperGATE] accusing President Clinton of using Arkansas state troopers to facilitate extramarital affairs. She said they were a politically motivated effort to harm the president at a time when his political fortunes seemed to be on the rebound. ( SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS , 966 words.) Dec 22

HILLARY REFLECTS ON YEAR - PUZZLED BY FOCUS ON FINANCE, BLASTS 'STORIES' ABOUT AFFAIRS Pulling her straight-backed chair up to a roaring fire, Hillary Rodham Clinton reflected yesterday on her first year as first lady: Her husband, her daughter, her hair, her power - and her anger. In an interview, Clinton firmly denounced the people behind "outrageous, terrible stories" accusing President Clinton of extramarital sex and said she was "bewildered" by a controversy involving the couple's personal finances. ( PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS , 568 words.) Dec 22

December 1993 Story 10 TROOPERGATE (Peter W. Smith-American Spectator, Los Angeles Times) The Second Denials of TrooperGATE 'WE DID NOT DO ANYTHING WRONG,' CLINTON SAYS President Clinton today denied that as governor of Arkansas he improperly used members of his security detail in connection with his personal life. "We did not do anything wrong," Clinton declared in an Oval Office interview. Clinton shrugged off allegations by two state troopers who have said they helped arrange extramarital affairs for him. (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 818 words.) Dec 22

December 1993 Story 11 FOSTERGATE (NYT-Unknown Source) INVESTIGATORS SEEK LATE AIDE'S FILES ON CLINTON LAND DEALINGS Federal law-enforcement officials said yesterday that they would seek to examine files removed from the office of White House aide Vincent Foster Jr. shortly after he killed himself last summer. The files allegedly contained information on Arkansas land dealings of President Clinton and his wife, Hillary. ( LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER , 504 words.) Dec 22

December 1993 Story 12 - FOSTERGATE (NYT-Unknown Source) CLINTONS WON'T RELEASE FOSTER OFFICE RECORDS President Clinton and his wife do not intend to release personal business records removed from the office of White House deputy counsel Vincent Foster after his suicide. ``I think we've done what we should have done and don't feel the need to do any more than we've done,'' Hillary Rodham Clinton said in an Associated Press interview Tuesday. (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS , 392 words.) Dec 22

December 1993 Story 13 - WHITEWATER (Lewis) DOLE PUSHES FOR CLINTON, S&L PROBE Senate Minority Leader Robert Dole today joined Republican efforts to force Senate hearings on an Arkansas savings and loan tied to President Clinton that is now under federal investigation. Dole said he wrote to Senate Banking Committee Chairman Donald Riegle, D- Michigan, Tuesday seeking a hearing. The idea was first broached by New York Senator Alfonse D'Amato, ranking Republican on the panel. ( SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS , 228 words.) Dec 22

December 1993 Story 14 Version a TROOPERGATE (Smith-American Spectator, LA Times) Why was he avoiding questions about sexual misdeeds? DID NOTHING WRONG, CLINTON SAYS, BUT HE AVOIDS SPECIFICS; PRESIDENCY: LAWYER FOR TROOPER DENIES EXPLICIT OFFER OF JOBS FOR SILENCE. TROOPER LATER TALKS OF JOB DISCUSSION. By JOHN M. BRODER and WILLIAM C. REMPEL TIMES STAFF WRITERS President Clinton, responding for the first time to new allegations of misconduct leveled by Arkansas state troopers, insisted Wednesday that "we did not do anything wrong," but he declined to respond to specific questions about sexual misdeeds. (LOS ANGELES TIMES, 1,115 words, Thursday, Dec 23)

December 1993 Story 14 Version b TROOPERGATE (Smith-American Spectator, LA Times) NOTHING TO ADD TO DENIALS, CLINTON SAYS - ONE TROOPER REBUTS ALLEGATION ABOUT JOBS President Clinton, responding for the first time to new allegations of misconduct levied by Arkansas state troopers, insisted Wednesday that ``we did not do anything wrong.'' He declined to respond to specific questions about allegations of sexual misdeeds. But one of the Arkansas troopers denied Wednesday that Clinton offered him or his colleagues federal jobs, calling into question a key allegation by two of Clinton's ex-bodyguards who say they helped arrange extramarital affairs for their(THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER , 793 words.) Dec 23

December 1993 Story 15 RENO SAYS SHE IS UNLIKELY TO NAME SPECIAL COUNSEL TO CLINTON S&L PROBE Attorney General Janet Reno today indicated she was unlikely to appoint a special counsel to probe President Clinton's involvement in an Arkansas real estate partnership linked to a failed S&L under federal investigation. Reno, asked at a news briefing about a Republican congressman's call for an outside counsel, said such action wouldn't assure a fairer investigation. ( SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS , 463 words.) Dec 23

December 1993 Story 16 - WHITEWATER (WP-Lewis) ///// FOSTERGATE (NYT-Unknown Source) First conflation of WHITEWATER and FOSTERGATE matters by the Washington Post. HILL SEEKS PROBE OF LAND DEAL By Susan Schmidt Pressure mounted in Congress yesterday for further investigation into dealings by President Clinton and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, with a now-defunct Arkansas savings and loan, and circumstances surrounding the suicide last summer of former deputy White House counsel Vincent Foster. ( Washington Post Dec 23)

December 1993 Story 17 - WHITEWATER (Lewis) CLINTON RELEASES KEY DOCUMENTS ON ARK. LAND DEAL PAPERS HAD BEEN TAKEN AFTER AIDE'S SUICIDE; RENO REJECTS CALL FOR SPECIAL PROSECUTOR President Clinton, under increasing scrutiny over an Arkansas land deal, instructed his attorney yesterday to give all pertinent documents to the Justice Department, including those found in the office of Vincent Foster, an aide who committed suicide earlier this year. The move is an attempt to head off what White House officials said could become a political thunderstorm. ( LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER , 685 words.) Dec 24

December 1993 Story 19 WHITEWATER (Lewis) ////FOSTERGATE (NYT-Unknown Source) Second Conflation of Whitewater and FosterGATE )CLINTONS EXPECT TO SURRENDER FILES NEXT WEEK The papers detailing President and Hillary Rodham Clinton's involvement in an Arkansas land deal before Clinton became president will be turned over to federal investigators next week, administration officials said Friday. The papers, which the White House agreed Thursday to release, were found in the White House office of Vincent Foster after he committed suicide last July. Foster, the deputy White House counsel at the time of his death, was a lawyer in private practice in Little Rock ( SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS , 190 words.) Dec 25

December 1993 Story 20 TROOPERGATE (Smith-American Spectator, LA Times) LITTLE ROCK A BATTLEGROUND OF CREDIBILITY IN CLINTON FLAP; ARKANSAS: PRESIDENT'S FORMER LONGTIME AIDE FLEW TO STATE CAPITAL IN EFFORT TO GET A TROOPER TO PARTLY RECANT. Byline: WILLIAM C. REMPEL and DOUGLAS FRANTZ TIMES STAFF WRITERS Credibility has become the battleground after a weeklong furor over allegations that President Clinton, as governor of Arkansas, used state troopers to conceal and carry out extramarital affairs and then offered federal jobs to discourage the troopers from speaking out. (LOS ANGELES TIMES, 1,515 words, Sunday, Dec 26)

December 1993 Story 21 TROOPERGATE (Smith-American Spectator, LA Times) PAYOFF !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ON TrooperGATE !!!!!!!!!!!!! PUBLIC CONCERNED ABOUT CLINTON'S MORALITY Bob Levey, a local Washington, D.C., radio talk show host, tried his best to defend President Clinton against charges by two Arkansas state troopers that they helped him arrange clandestine sexual encounters and then assisted in concealing them until the day he left Little Rock for his Inauguration. On his program early in the week, Levey denounced the troopers and their motives for coming forward to talk to The American Spectator and the networks. "They're writing a book," he said (thoug ( LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER , 679 words.) Dec 26

December 1993 Story 22 WHITEWATER (Lewis) ///// TROOPERGATE (Smith-American Spectator, LA Times) Third conflation. CLINTON - TWO SETS OF ALLEGATIONS REQUIRE DIFFERENT RESPONSES It's too late to wish that the sex life of presidents or candidates had never been raised as a topic for public discussion. For better or worse, the operating principle now seems to be that public figures have no aspect of their lives that is truly private, and that allegations of hanky-panky are to be aired and debated much the way the republic would debate, say, a president's position on civil rights or the North American Free Trade Agreement. Leaving aside the deeply messy question ( DETROIT FREE PRESS , 316 words.) Dec 27

December 1993 Story 23 WHITEWATER (Lewis) ////// TROOPERGATE (Smith-American Spectator, LA Times) FORGET THE SEX SCANDAL: LET'S HEAR MORE - ABOUT THE CLINTONS' BUSINESS DEALS Investigative reporters with a touch of paranoia start to believe in what's known as the Octopus. It's the granddaddy of all conspiracy theories, the one that connects the assassination of President John F. Kennedy to Watergate to the killing of Martin Luther King with, maybe, the bombing of Pan Am 103 thrown in. ( DETROIT FREE PRESS , 764 words.) Dec 28

December 1993 Story 24 TROOPERGATE (Smith-American Spectator, LA Times) DANGEROUS LIAISONS? - CHARGES OF CLINTON SEX TRYSTS HAVE THE PUNDITS TALKING Here's what some national columnists are saying about allegations by two Arkansas state troopers that they helped arrange sexual liaisons for President Bill Clinton while he was governor of Arkansas. Americans say 'So what?' ( DETROIT FREE PRESS , 947 words.) Dec 29

December 1993 Story 25- WHITEWATER (Lewis) PAYOFF !!!!!! ON WHITEWATER !!!!! INDEPENDENT PROBE NEEDED - CLINTON S&L DEAL RAISES SUBSTANTIAL QUESTIONS Questions about Clinton's business deal. WE SUGGEST: Independent investigation is needed. (THE BRADENTON HERALD , 352 words.) Dec 29

December 1993 Story 26 - TROOPERGATE (Smith-American Spectator, LA Times) CLINTON SEX ALLEGATIONS: THE UNMAKING OF A PRESIDENT ( PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS , 640 words.) Dec 30

December 1993 Story 25- WHITEWATER (Lewis) MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!! CLOUD FROM S&L LINGERS FOR CLINTON More than the $200 haircut or tales of marital infidelity, recurring allegations that President Clinton's former business partner used a failed Arkansas thrift as a ``private piggy bank'' could prove to be the most politically damaging to the president. (THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER , 1176 words.) Dec 31

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