-Caveat Lector- Published in Washington, D.C. 5am -- March 11, 1999 www.washtimes.com Clintons to figure greatly in case ASSOCIATED PRESS LITTLE ROCK One of Kenneth W. Starr's prosecutors opened the latest trial of Susan McDougal yesterday by charging that her refusal to testify before a grand jury has kept investigators from determining whether President Clinton lied under oath about his business dealings. Associate independent counsel Mark Barrett mentioned the president and Hillary Rodham Clinton 10 times during a 35-minute opening statement that signaled the first family's conduct will be a key focus of the latest Whitewater trial. In the absence of Mrs. McDougal's testimony, "the other two people who might know about these events ... reside in the White House," Mr. Barrett told the jurors. But the attorney for Mrs. McDougal told the jurors that Mr. Starr's tactics will also be on trial and that he will show his client is being "used as a pawn ... to get the president or the first lady." "She was not going to cooperate with an investigation that was totally flawed and corrupt," attorney Mark Geragos said, adding his client will testify in her own defense and make clear she is concealing no crimes. Mrs. McDougal, 44, who along with her late former husband, James, formed the Whitewater land venture with the Clintons two decades ago, is charged with obstruction of justice and contempt for defying a judge's order that she answer Mr. Starr's questions before a federal grand jury investigating Whitewater. It is the third trial for Mrs. McDougal in three years. She was convicted of fraud charges brought by Mr. Starr in 1996 and sentenced to prison and more recently was acquitted of embezzlement in a California state trial. Mr. Barrett told the jurors that Mrs. McDougal refused to testify about financial transactions that he charged undercut Mr. Clinton's sworn testimony at the 1996 trial of Mrs. McDougal, her former husband and then-Arkansas Gov. Jim Guy Tucker. "Bill Clinton said, 'I never received a loan from'" the McDougals' failing savings and loan, Mr. Barrett told the jury. In fact, prosecutors now have a $27,600 cashier's check from the McDougals' S&L made payable to "William Jefferson Clinton," he charged. The prosecutor pointed to a $5,081 check bearing the words "payoff Clinton" and said the money had been partial payment of the $27,600 check, which was used to pay off a Whitewater debt. The $5,081 came from an account under Mrs. McDougal's control, Mr. Barrett said. Prosecutors plan to call as witnesses some of the grand jurors who wanted to question Mrs. McDougal as part of their investigation of the Clintons. Mr. Geragos called Mr. Barrett's theory "nonsense," and said Mrs. McDougal will describe the treatment she received from Mr. Starr's office. In a 1996 conversation with Mrs. McDougal, Mr. Starr's prosecutors told her: "You know who we want, and you know what we want," Mr. Geragos told the jury. "These are sophisticated lawyers," Mr. Geragos said of Mr. Starr's office. Sitting at the table behind Geragos, Mrs. McDougal repeatedly nodded in agreement at her attorney's comments and periodically shook her head in disagreement with Mr. Barrett's accusations. Prosecutors wanted Mrs. McDougal to testify in September 1996 and again in April 1998, after the original $27,600 cashier's check made payable to Mr. Clinton turned up in the trunk of an abandoned car struck by a tornado south of Little Rock. Mr. Barrett said "we vigorously and categorically deny that" Mr. Starr's office had sought perjured testimony to force Mrs. McDougal to lie just to implicate the Clintons. During a hearing on two motions under seal, attorneys alluded to the pending issue of what the defense can introduce regarding prosecutorial misconduct. U.S. District Judge George Howard Jr. made it clear that he would consider the issue later in the trial. Judge Howard said last week that any evidence of "prosecutorial vindictiveness" is irrelevant. The judge's order left it uncertain to what extent, if any, others critical of Mr. Starr, such as former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, could testify. Mrs. McDougal served 18 months for civil contempt after her September 1996 refusal to testify. That came after she was convicted of four counts of fraud in May 1996 regarding a fraudulent $300,000 loan. She served 3-and-a-half months of a 24-month term before Judge Howard, the same judge presiding at this case, freed her because of a bad back. Copyright © 1999 News World Communications, Inc. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. 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