The Electronic Telegraph Sunday 13 March 1994 World News
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The so-called Whitewater/Madison scandal: The Clintons, along with their friend James McDougal, head of Madison Guaranty savings and loan, created a development company called Whitewater. It is alleged that they used Madison illegally to channel federal funds into the company, and that this money was used to finance gubernatorial election campaigns and other political shenanigans.
Jim Leach, the Republican vice-chairman of the House banking committee, has also raised the possibility that the Clintons enriched themselves through the scheme. In addition, it is claimed that many of the deals were not disclosed to the tax authorities. The Clintons said they lost $69,000 through the company's failed developments, but several newspapers have alleged that they made an undisclosed profit.
Abuses of power: The Clintons' ethics have been called into question. Most significantly, Mrs Clinton is said to have ignored rules on conflict of interest in defending Madison, with a retainer of $2,000 a month, before state regulators appointed by her husband.
Mr Clinton is accused of improperly shoring up Madison, allowing it to remain open long after it was viable and thereby magnifying the taxpayers' woes when it caved in, with debts of $60 million.
The Rose Law firm and Vince Foster: Vince Foster was a close friend of Mrs Clinton and, like her, a partner of the influential Rose Law firm in Little Rock. Appointed deputy White House counsel, he was found dead last July in a park after apparently committing suicide during a bout of depression.
No autopsy or police investigation has yet been published into the circumstances of the death, provoking suspicions that it was more complex than it first appeared and possibly, even, murder. Mr Foster was involved with the Whitewater venture and continued to handle the paperwork after he joined the White House.
Moreover, the Clintons have been hard put to account for the mysterious goings-on since his demise: Mr Foster's White House office was ransacked soon afterwards, and, in January, files relating to Whitewater were removed.
Cover-ups: On October 8 last year, the government agency assigned to sort out the collapse of many savings and loans banks, demanded a criminal investigation into Madison Guaranty. The White House heard about the request a week beforehand, however, on September 29. Mr Clinton acknowledged last week that he had been tipped off.
This month it has emerged that Bernard Nussbaum, the White House counsel, and others at the White House met senior Treasury officials to hear of the progress of investigations into Madison's collapse. By so doing, even vice-president Al Gore now admits, they breached the supposed Chinese Walls between the President's office and the independent operations of the US civil service. The suspicion is that improper pressure was put on the investigators. Four Treasury staff and six senior White House officials have been subpoenaed to give evidence to the inquiry. Mr Nussbaum, meanwhile, became the first head to roll on March 5 - bowing to Mr Clinton's request that he resign, while vowing that he had done nothing wrong.
Fresh allegations are emerging almost daily of documents being shredded at the Rose Law firm.
Miscellaneous murmurings: "Bimbo eruptions" loom menacing as ever. Gennifer Flowers has since been joined by a string of women claiming to have had affairs with Mr Clinton. One, Sally Perdue, has said she was threatened if she spoke out about her claimed relationship in 1983.
Four Arkansas state troopers alleged that Mr Clinton abused his office by using them to help arrange (and keep secret) his assignations.
In Little Rock, numerous individuals - many fearfully demanding anonymity - have charged that the Democratic Party and its allies are running a regime rife with corruption and intimidation.
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