Reno to Pursue Alleged Money Trail in a Whitewater Case

WASHINGTON — Atty. Gen. Janet Reno on Thursday said allegations that Whitewater witness David Hale got financial assistance from conservative activists while he was cooperating with independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr “must be pursued.”

“I think it must be pursued, and I want to make a determination as to how it should be pursued,” Reno said at a news conference.

Reno is considering whether the allegations should be investigated by the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility; by Starr, who has authority to probe obstruction of his investigation; or by the federal judge in Arkansas who heard Hale’s testimony in the Whitewater case, said a Justice Department official who requested anonymity.

Hale’s testimony before U.S. District Judge George Howard in Little Rock, Ark., helped convict President Clinton’s former business partners and then-Arkansas Gov. Jim Guy Tucker.

FBI agents in Arkansas have interviewed one witness who alleges that Hale received money and other assistance from people being paid by American Spectator magazine.

One of those people, Hot Springs bait shop owner Parker Dozhier, acknowledged last month that he was paid about $35,000 by officials working for American Spectator in exchange for being the magazine’s “eyes and ears” on the Whitewater case.

But he denied ever giving any money to Hale or discussing the case with him. Magazine officials also said no money went to Hale.