WHITEWATER JOSTLING

The long-awaited second round of the Senate Whitewater hearings began this morning with emotional testimony from former Associate Attorney General Webster Hubbell, who told the Senate Banking Committee that the day his friend Vincent Foster committed suicide in 1993 was "the worst day of my life." He also said that he and Justice Department colleagues were concerned when White House aides refused to allow investigators immediate access to documents in Foster's office. Senate Republicans maintain the White House obstructed police attempts to investigate Foster's death. Senator Connie Mack (R-Fla.) said today that newly-released documents from Foster's office, which have raised some questions about the Clinton tax returns, would underscore the argument that "the White House certainly had reason to worry about the Department of Justice search of Vincent Foster's office." Banking Committee member Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.) countered that any mistakes by administration officials in the aftermath of Foster's death were due to the "emotional shock they had experienced." TIME's Suneel Ratan notes that in his testimony today, Hubbell made "a calculated effort to support the White House line. What they're trying to show is that, at worst, they were bumbling, but that it does not amount to a conspiracy to obstruct."