Copyright © 1995 The Telegraph plc. All Rights Reserved. Reproduced with permission.
The Electronic Telegraph   Saturday 6 May 1995   World News
[World News]

President's aide is Whitewater target
By Hugh Davies

A WHITE House lawyer, Bruce Lindsey, 46, President Clinton's most trusted aide, has been told that he is in imminent danger of being indicted over the Whitewater affair.

He has been told that he is a "target" of Kenneth Starr, the Whitewater prosecutor, as well as of grand juries investigating his actions during Mr Clinton's 1990 campaign for the governorship of Arkansas.

A friend of the President for 25 years, he is an enigmatic figure, always at the elbow of Mr Clinton, offering advice.

His behind-the-scenes role has earned him the nickname of "The Consiglieri", the underworld term for a Mafia don's closest counsellor. His influence at the White House is said to be second only to that of Hillary Clinton.

White House sources said Mr Lindsey would not be asked to resign and he would vigorously defend himself. Democratic adviser Mr Ted Van Dyk was quoted as saying that a "nightmare secnario" was building up. Party members feared the scandal would spill over into the 1996 election, affecting Mr Clinton's campaign.

Adding to the panic at the White House is the spectre of new Whitewater hearings in the Senate next month. These will focus on the death of Vincent Foster, another White House lawyer, said by US Park Police to have shot himself in July, 1993.

But independent crime-scene experts concluded that he was probably murdered.

Documents, possibly relating to Whitewater, were removed from his office hours after his death.

Republican Senator Alfonse D'Amato, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said questions at his hearings would include: Who took the papers? Where did they go? Were any destroyed?

Mr Lindsey is the highest-ranking administration official to be ensnared in the inquiry into a land deal by Mr Clinton and his wife.


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