Newspaper Article

First Lady Denies Hush Money Paid; Probe `Reminds Me of Some People's Obsession with UFOs'

Baker, Peter

1997

Overview

Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday ridiculed allegations that the White House arranged hush money for her former law partner Webster L. Hubbell, likening them to the spaceship fantasies of the California cult whose members committed mass suicide last month. During an interview on WAMU-FM's \"Diane Rehm Show,\" the first lady said she was duped by Hubbell and lost money as a result of his bilking scheme at the Arkansas law firm where they once worked. Senior administration officials, she said, were merely trying to help a friend through \"a rough patch\" when they helped him find lucrative employment before he went to prison. The White House recently acknowledged that senior aides to the president -- including Chief of Staff Erskine B. Bowles and counselor Thomas F. \"Mack\" McLarty -- tried to line up work for Hubbell after he resigned as associate attorney general in 1994. Hubbell was paid more than $500,000 during this period while he was under investigation, including $100,000 from the Indonesia-based Lippo Group that later emerged as a central player in campaign fund-raising investigations.

• Publisher: WP Company LLC d/b/a The Washington Post
• Subject: Clinton, Hillary / Hillary Rodham Clinton / Hubbell, Webster L / Kenneth W. Starr / Webster L. Hubbell / Whitewater case