Plan To Give Immunity To Clinton Accuser Ok’d

Sen. Alfonse D’Amato got the go-ahead from the Whitewater prosecutor Monday to offer immunity to David Hale so that President Clinton’s chief accuser can testify at Senate hearings next week.

On Wednesday, the Senate Whitewater Committee will consider whether to grant Hale immunity, D’Amato said. The New York Republican is chairman of the committee.

The Senate Whitewater hearings have been on hold for several weeks while D’Amato sought Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr’s consent to let Hale testify with immunity about an illegal $300,000 loan made by Hale’s government-backed lending company.

Hale, who testified recently at the Little Rock, Ark., trial of Clinton’s Whitewater partners, James and Susan McDougal, has said that then-Gov. Clinton pressured him in 1986 to make the loan to Mrs. McDougal - a claim Clinton denied in video-taped testimony.

“We heard some of the things (Hale) reportedly testified to with respect to the origins of the $300,000 loan,” D’Amato said. “The jury in Little Rock found that loan was illegal and was fraudulent. There are certain claims that possibly the thengovernor was responsible and put pressure on him to make that improper or illegal loan.”

Hale’s lawyers had said he would not appear before the committee without being assured his Senate testimony could not be used against him in other cases.

In a letter Monday, Starr said he had no objection to such a plan. “We do not believe that immunizing Mr. Hale … will interfere with our ability to prosecute criminal violations,” Starr wrote.

Immunity would have no bearing on the 28-month prison term Hale is serving for defrauding the government through his lending company. But he would still be subject to perjury charges if he lied.