Shadow of Doubt

Bill Clinton has always modeled himself after John F. Kennedy. But as the Whitewater scandal continues to plague him, it is increasingly the fading memories of Richard Nixon that keep cropping up in the White House. The current scandal seems to lack any of the deep seriousness of Watergate, but the handling of the questions still hanging over the strange little land deal in Arkansas 16 years ago has produced an outsize shadow of doubt over the Administration -- and prompted the resignation of a member of the President's and First Lady's inner circle.

The latest problem arose late Friday afternoon, when the phone rang in the office of associate White House counsel William Kennedy III. On the other end was an FBI official, calling to tell him that subpoenas ordered by special counsel Robert Fiske were about to be served on six White House officials and three Treasury Department staff members. Kennedy brought the bad news to chief of staff Mack McLarty, who gathered five of the targeted aides in the counsel's office at 6 to await the subpoenas.

The documents bore some of the Administration's biggest names, including White House counsel Bernard Nussbaum, senior adviser Bruce Lindsey, communications director Mark Gearan and deputy chief of staff Harold Ickes. They were ordered to Federal District Court in Washington to provide testimony for a grand jury in Little Rock. At issue is a series of meetings between White House aides and Treasury Department officials connected to the Whitewater investigation. Another subpoena ordered the White House to preserve any evidence relating to the meetings. Deputy counsel Joel Klein immediately barred the destruction of computer records or the removal of any burn bags and trash containers.

The subpoenas were one of the most embarrassing developments yet. At a time when the President is losing ground on health-care reform, his Administration's bobbling of the investigation brought on a week of painful disclosures, the FBI at the White House door -- and Nussbaum's resignation.

His departure, effective April 5, became official in an exchange of letters with the President. Nussbaum blamed "those who do not understand, nor wish to understand the role and obligations of a lawyer . . ." Clinton more diplomatically noted, "We have worked together in Washington at a time when serving is hard."

Prodded by stories in the Washington Post, the White House had acknowledged a few days earlier that Treasury Department officials had met twice with Nussbaum and other Administration aides for the unusual purpose of discussing the progress of a federal investigation of the Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan. Madison Guaranty is the failed Arkansas thrift once owned by James McDougal, the Clintons' partner in the Whitewater real estate development. Deputy Treasury Secretary Roger Altman, acting head of the Resolution Trust Corporation, admitted to the Senate banking committee that he had briefed Nussbaum and other top aides on the probe.