Syndicated articles written by New York Post reporter John Crudele are reproduced via the Colts Neck (NJ) Reporter with permission of the author. Copyright © 1995 - All Rights Reserved.

MOTHERLODE OF WHITEWATER FILES -
FBI STAKES OUT LITTLE ROCK WAREHOUSE
- by John Crudele, October 30, 1995

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Federal investigators apparently believe they've located a stash of Whitewater-related documents that could shed a bright light on whatever financial shenanigans were going on in Arkansas.

Trouble is, the documents aren't in the government's possession - yet.

Sources tell me FBI agents have recently been staking out a storage facility in Little Rock that is believed to have been used by former (convicted felon) Associate Attorney General Webster Hubbell; Jim Guy Tucker the (indicted) governor of Arkansas, and maybe even the Rose Law Firm.

Investigators for Special Whitewater Prosecutor Kenneth Starr have been stymied somewhat because documents on many of the financial dealings between prominent people in Arkansas - including Bill and Hillary Clinton - have not been located.

But because the scope of Starr's investigation is so massive, the loss of a few documents hasn't yet kept investigators from moving forward. In fact, sources tell me there are file cabinets along one wall of the special prosecutor's office in Little Rock that investigators haven't even had a chance to look at. The cabinets are stacked four drawers high.

One source says that approximately 125 documents a week are being sent to Starr's investigators from various sources. Most end up in the untouched file cabinet.

Sources tell me that while the Whitewater investigation is going slower than many journalists had hoped, it is making good progress.

Investigators seem particularly interested in whatever files are being kept at The Space Place, which is located on Cantrell Road, also known as Highway 10, in Little Rock.

They've been told by a source that Hubbell, a (convicted felon) friend of Bill Clinton who was prominent in Arkansas politics made a bee-line for the storage facility after one morning meeting with Starr's people.

But Hubbell apparently never informed Starr's probers about the storage facility, even though Hubbell is supposed to be cooperating with prosecutors. FBI agents attached to Starr were following Hubbell, who has pleaded guilty to numerous felony counts for bilking clients and partners at the Rose Law Firm (where he worked with Hillary Clinton).

Hubbell's storage space is a 10-foot-by-25 foot room, one of the smaller spots at the facility. (The indicted) Gov. Jim Tucker and his wife also have a slightly smaller storage facility at The Space Place.

A source who is monitoring the facility said Hillary Clinton also visited one of the storage lockers in the summer of 1993. The source didn't remember the exact date, but others say it was around the time of Presidential aide Vincent Foster's [mysterious death].

The source also says that during the first week of August, 1995, a car sporting a parking sticker from the Rose Law Firm was spotted in The Space Place's parking lot.

The source says Tucker's locker contains boxes of documents. But he's never looked at the documents closely enough to determine their contents. Gov. Tucker is also under indictment for numerous felonies.

Two sources say someone had been monitoring the comings and goings of people at The Space Place. The surveillance was being conducted first by telescope from a perch in a beige building up a hill and about a mile away from The Space Place.

The second source says he has seen a white van parked in a shopping center across the street from the storage facility. The van had a video camera sticking out the window.

Nobody knows exactly who is keeping a watch on the place, but the betting is that it is FBI agents attached to Starr.

The source says that nobody official has yet attempted to enter the locker, or, to the best of his knowledge, even come into the management office. My guess is that investigators need to make sure that a warrant to enter the facility will yield pertinent documents before they make such a request.

Meanwhile, the word around Little Rock recently was that Starr's investigation is winding down. That, I believe, is wishful thinking on the part of Arkansans who would wish the investigation would go away.

In fact, sources say Starr has requested even more assistance in his investigation - hardly the thing you'd do if the probe was ending.

I'm told by a reliable source with knowledge of the investigation that Starr has asked to be assigned four more assistant U.S. Attorneys, who specialize in fraud and tax matters.

And he has requested that an additional 10 FBI agents be assigned to his force.

Meanwhile, Congressional probes of the Whitewater case also seem to be accelerating.

(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).