July 18, 1995 - Part 3
July 18, 1995 - Part 3
(12:25:50) Mr. HUBBELL. All the records were transferred to me. I've never made an independent inventory of which are privileged and which are not. 49 Mr. CHERTOFF. Then they were again picked up in their entirety and sent over to Williams & Connolly? Mr. HUBBELL. That's correct, except for a couple of files. Mr. CHERTOFF. So the material that was sent to Williams & Connolly may, in fact, include documents that are not the subject of attorney-client privilege? Mr. HUBBELL. I really have never made that determination, Mike, so I couldn't say one way or the other. Mr. CHERTOFF. Now, at the end of 1992, were you aware of any steps being taken by the Clintons to wind up their investment in Whitewater? Mr. HUBBELL. Yes. Mr. CHERTOFF. What do you know about that? Mr. HUBBELL. I know that on a checklist of things to do, that Vince was working on and I worked on and other members of the transition worked on, one of the items was to end the relationship with the McDougals and Whitewater and try to get out of Whitewater. Mr. CHERTOFF. Do you know whether that involved the sale of whatever ownership interest the Clintons had in Whitewater? Mr. HUBBELL. I think ultimately that's how it was resolved, yes. Mr. CHERTOFF. Apart from Mr. Foster, do you know anybody else who was involved in that transaction? Mr. HUBBELL. I believe the person who was supposed to negotiate with the McDougals' lawyer was Mr. Jim Blair. Mr. CHERTOFF. Who was Mr. Jim Blair? Mr. HUBBELL. He is a close friend of the Clintons and is also General Counsel of Tyson Foods. Mr. CHERTOFF. How long has he been General Counsel of Tyson Foods? Mr. HUBBELL. For a number of years. Mr. CHERTOFF. At the time that he was assisting in this process of transferring the ownership interest in Whitewater, was he involved also in the private practice of law? Mr. HUBBELL. I really couldn't tell you about Jim's private practice. I believe he still maintained a private practice while he was General Counsel for a long time, because I was actually in some lawsuits involving Jim, but I couldn't tell you by 1992 whether he had totally eliminated his private practice or not. Mr. CHERTOFF. Now, just to complete the picture of what we've been asking questions about in terms of documents at the firm, am I correct that there was a point in time a long while ago that Mr. ]Foster himself represented Mr. McDougal? Mr. HUBBELL. A long time ago, back in the early 1980's, Mr. Foster was a counsel in a lawsuit where Mr. McDougal was one of the Parties he represented. Mr. CHERTOFF. Can you tell us what the nature of the lawsuit was? Mr. HUBBELL. It involved the Bank of Kingston, Arkansas. Mr. McDougal was one of the owners, as well as others, and they were attempting to branch to the county seat in that county. The people Who had sold the bank to Mr. McDougal were claiming that he had Promised not to move a branch to the county seat. 50 Mr. CHERTOFF. Let me ask you whether the Rose Law Firm itself has ever represented either Madison Guaranty or Mr. and Mrs. McDougal? Mr. HUBBELL. We represented Madison Guaranty for a period ill the mid- 1980's. Mr. CHERTOFF. Who was the partner billing on that account? Mr. HUBBELL. The billing partner was Hillary Clinton. Mr. CHERTOFF. Was that a client she brought into the firm? Mr. HUBBELL. She and an associate in the firm. Mr. CHERTOFF. Did there come a point in time you stopped that representation? Mr. HUBBELL. Yes, I believe that was in 1986. Mr. CHERTOFF. Do you know why that was? Mr. HUBBEL I think there were several reasons. One, the work had not been as significant as anybody thought. We had started to pick up work for the FSLIC, and the FSLIC was telling us that they were going to take the position that we could have no representation of any savings and loan if we wanted to do work for the FSLIC, So one of the reasons that we discontinued Mr. CHERTOFF. Can we get the mike? I'm sorry, I don't want to cut your answer off. Maybe we can get another mike. Mr. HUBBELL. One of the reasons we discontinued doing the work was because the firm was making a decision not to do any work for any S&L. Mr. CHERTOFF. Finally, to complete the picture, was there ever a time that the Rose Law Firm represented Whitewater Development? Mr. HUBBELL. I really can't answer that question. I know that one of my partners was doing some bankruptcy work in connection with that, but I don't know the nature of that work, Mr. CHERTOFF. Did some of that work involve what you've previously described as trying to assemble the documents and clean up the mess of the late 1980's?