Hubbell, in Tapes, Suggests First Lady Was Probe Target

WASHINGTON — In conversations taped while he was in prison, Webster L. Hubbell raised the possibility that Whitewater prosecutors were investigating Hillary Rodham Clinton for double billing on her legal work. “That’s kinda the theory,” Hubbell told a friend.

The former associate attorney general also suggested that it was “highly possible” that Hillary Clinton once drew up a controversial document in an Arkansas land deal that is now under investigation by prosecutors.

The tapes also show that Hubbell, even in his darkest days of incarceration, maintained unswerving loyalty to the first family. At one point, he asked his wife to make that clear to White House friends, even giving her the words to say.

In an interview with the AP, Hubbell decried the release of the tapes as illegal and said none of his comments to his wife were meant to imply he knew of any wrongdoing by Mrs. Clinton.

“I think I have said 100 times, maybe a thousand times now, I know of no wrongdoing by Hillary,” he said.

One taped Hubbell discussion, with his accountant and friend, Michael C. Schaufele, occurred in August 1996 at a time when Whitewater figure James B. McDougal had become a cooperating prosecution witness.

Hubbell also was a cooperating witness after pleading guilty to charges he had bilked his clients and the Rose Law Firm, where he and Hillary Clinton worked as lawyers in Arkansas.

Hubbell, apparently recounting a recent session with prosecutors, talks about their interest in a real estate deal involving his father-in-law, Seth Ward, that was under investigation by prosecutors. Hillary Clinton’s law firm records indicate that she also may have worked on the deal.

Hubbell suggests that prosecutors believe he did the legal work but that both he and Hillary Clinton billed the client for it.

David E. Kendall, the first lady’s private lawyer, said she never double-billed. “Mrs. Clinton billed her time for work she, and she alone, did,” Kendall said.

Hubbell; his wife, Suzy; his accountant, Schaufele, and Little Rock, Ark., lawyer Charles C. Owen were indicted Thursday on tax charges that included conspiracy, tax evasion, impeding the Internal Revenue Service and mail fraud.

Hubbell’s conversations were taped by prison authorities in 1996. The tapes were made available by the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee.