Editing Whitewater controversy (section)

====David Hale====
The key witness against President Clinton in Starr's Whitewater investigation, was banker [[David Hale (Whitewater)|David Hale]] who alleged in November 1992 that Clinton, while governor of Arkansas, pressured him to provide an illegal $300,000 loan to Susan McDougal, the partner of the Clintons in the Whitewater deal.<ref name="salon031798"/>

Attorney Randy Coleman's defense strategy was to present Hale as the victim of high-powered politicians who forced him to give away all of the money.<ref name="salon03032000">{{cite news |title=Nabbing David Hale |first1=Joe |last1=Conason|author-link1=Joe Conason|first2=Gene|last2=Lyons|author-link2=Gene Lyons |url=http://www.salon.com/2000/03/03/hale_2/ |newspaper=[[Salon (website)|Salon]] |date=March 3, 2000 |access-date=August 8, 2013}}</ref> This characterization was undermined by testimony from November 1989, wherein FBI agents investigating the failure of Madison Guaranty had questioned Hale about his dealings with Jim and Susan McDougal, including the $300,000 loan. According to the agents' official memorandum of that interview, Hale described in some detail his dealings with Jim Guy Tucker (then an attorney in private practice, later Bill Clinton's [[Lieutenant governor (United States)|lieutenant governor]]), both McDougals, and several others, but never mentioned Governor Bill Clinton.

Clinton denied that he pressured Hale to approve the loan to Susan McDougal. By this time, Hale had already pleaded guilty to two felonies and secured a reduction in his sentence in exchange for his testimony against Bill Clinton. Charges were made by Clinton supporters that Hale had received numerous cash payments from representatives of the so-called [[Arkansas Project]], a $2.4 million campaign established to assist in Hale's defense strategy, and to investigate Clinton and his associates between 1993 and 1997.<ref name="salon031798"/>

These charges were the topic of a separate investigation by former Department of Justice investigator, Michael E. Shaheen Jr.<ref name="salon091198">{{cite news |title=Where's Whitewater? |first=Jonathan |last=Broder |url=http://www.salon.com/1998/08/30/newsd_3/ |newspaper=[[Salon (website)|Salon]] |date=August 30, 1998 |access-date=August 8, 2013}}</ref> Shaheen filed his report in July 1999 to Starr, who stated that the allegations that Hale had been paid in hopes of influencing his testimony were "unsubstantiated or, in some cases, untrue". No further charges were brought against Hale or the Arkansas Project outlet, ''[[The American Spectator]]'',<ref name="nyt072999">{{cite news |title=National News Briefs; Whitewater Report Finds No Proof of Tampering |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/29/us/national-news-briefs-whitewater-report-finds-no-proof-of-tampering.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=July 29, 1999 |access-date=August 8, 2013}}</ref> though Hale later pled guilty in the Whitewater case to two felonies and served 21 months of a 28-month sentence.<ref name="Hale Guilty of Lying About Firm">{{cite news | work = washingtonpost.com | date = March 26, 1999 | title = Hale Guilty of Lying About Firm | agency = Associated Press | url =  https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/hale032699.htm }}</ref> Writers from [[Salon (website)|''Salon'']] have complained that the full, 168-page report had not been made public, a complaint still being reiterated by ''Salon'' as of 2001.<ref name="salon051701">{{cite news |title=Why won't the government release the Shaheen Report? |first1=Joe |last1=Conason|author-link1=Joe Conason |url=http://www.salon.com/2001/05/17/shaheen_report/ |newspaper=[[Salon (website)|Salon]] |date=May 17, 2001 |access-date=August 8, 2013}}</ref>

State prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Hale in early July 1996, charging that Hale had misrepresented the solvency of his insurance company, [[National Savings Life]], to the state insurance commission. The prosecutors also alleged in court papers that Hale had made those misrepresentations to conceal the fact that he had looted the insurance company. Hale said that any infraction was a technicality and that no one had lost any money.<ref name="nyt032699">{{cite news |title=National News Briefs; Whitewater Figure Guilty in Insurance Case |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/26/us/national-news-briefs-whitewater-figure-guilty-in-insurance-case.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=March 26, 1999 |access-date=August 8, 2013}}</ref> In March 1999, Hale was convicted of the first charge, with the jury recommending a 21-day jail sentence.<ref name="nyt032699"/>

Starr drafted an impeachment referral to the House of Representatives in the fall of 1997, alleging that there was "substantial and credible evidence" that Bill Clinton had committed perjury regarding Hale's allegations. Hale pleaded guilty in the Whitewater case to two felonies and served 21 months of a 28-month sentence.<ref name="Hale Guilty of Lying About Firm"/>