As the Whitewater probe heads toward conclusion, 26 Arkansas state troopers who guarded Clinton when he was governor are being closely questioned about his personal life.
FBI agents attached to Starr's investigation are conducting the interviews. Some of the troopers have been questioned -- one for six hours -- and the rest of the chats could be finished by this week.
People in Arkansas familiar with the investigation say the interviews look like a prelude to grand-jury testimony.
None of the questions is about Hillary Rodham Clinton, leading knowledgeable sources to believe the case against her -- probably for fraud, obstruction of justice, perjury, conspiracy and a number of other felonies -- is ready to go before the grand jury.
Starr seems to be developing a case against President Clinton under federal racketeering laws. If Starr proceeds with that indictment, the trial could be held anywhere in the country. There is a concern in the Starr camp that the prosecution won't get a fair hearing by a jury in Washington or Little Rock.
"Kenneth Starr is pursuing all of this stuff under the guidelines of RICO laws," says a source who has seen parts of an enormous memo put together by Starr's office outlining the case against the Clintons.
"The best way for Starr to deal with what he has in Arkansas is under the RICO law. It's not one crime. It's a network of crimes that all have one common denominator -- Bill Clinton. They all touch Bill Clinton."
The first trooper was questioned Wednesday, by FBI agents attached to the Starr investigation, for some five hours. A source says the questions mainly involved who came and went at the governor's mansion -- information culled from visitors logs.
The trooper reportedly told the investigators that not all visitors were recorded, because the system was haphazard and depended a lot on how busy the troopers were.
Some of the questions FBI agents reportedly are asking are shocking.
The troopers were asked for their opinions about which of their colleagues might perjure themselves. They also were asked about conversations they might have overheard between Gov. Clinton and Webster Hubbell, who would go on to become associate attorney general.
Most of the troopers being interviewed gave prior statements to Starr's office. And at least a few have testified before a grand jury.
The troopers virtually lived with the Clintons. They have testified about collecting campaign contributions for Clinton, about personal liaisons and about overhearing questionable business transactions.
The main case against Clinton is likely to be financial. Prosecutors are likely to argue that he ran Arkansas for financial gain in a conspiracy with others. In recent months, Starr's office has taken control of records from the Arkansas Development Finance Authority, the agency that raised money for construction projects.
Starr recently has appointed two new associate independent counsels, including one who specializes in financial crimes and who'll be headquartered in Washington.
The investigators have been spending an inordinate amount of time discussing who came into the governor's mansion, a matter that would be vital if prosecutors were trying to come up with a list of accomplices in a racketeering conspiracy.
A source who has been helping investigators say he was shown part of a draft indictment against Mrs. Clinton last summer. Another source, also with connections to Starr's office, says there was a 17-count indictment against the First Lady.
But he says that Starr's team backed off presenting it to a grand jury before last summer's Democratic National Convention because they were uncertain whether the charges -- including conspiracy, fraud, obstruction of justice and perjury -- were too esoteric and too old to win a conviction.
That fear was apparently borne out by mock trials, which failed to convict.
A source says that the cooperation of Jim McDougal, the Clintons' former business partner in the Whitewater land deal, has strengthened the government's case and made Starr's office more confident.
Last week, the sentencing of McDougal, who was convicted last year of fraud, was put off for a second time because Starr's's office said McDougal was providing valuable information that still needed to be evaluated.
Sources say Starr's office was surprised when McDougal ended up having numerous documents on financial dealings with the Clintons, most of them hidden in the basement of the First Union Bank in Little Rock.
The betting here is that Starr, when he moves, will first lodge indictments against some lesser White House aides -- perhaps including hitting Hubbell with additional charges before moving on to the Oval Office.
(John Crudele is a financial columnist with the New York Post. His mailing address is P.O. Box 610, Lincroft, N.J. 07738. Click here to send him e-mail).