<<<<FORMER JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
WATCHDOG MICHAEL J.
SHAHEEN WILL PROBE ALLEGED
PAYMENTS TO KEY
WHITEWATER WITNESS DAVID
HALE.
BY MURRAY WAAS | A
former senior Justice
Department official,
Michael J. Shaheen, has
been named to probe allegations that David Hale,
the central witness in independent counsel Kenneth
Starr's Whitewater investigation, received cash
payments and other gratuities from conservative
opponents of President Clinton.
Shaheen, who previously headed the Justice
Department's Office of Professional Responsibility,
will investigate allegations that Hale received the
payments during the period he was cooperating
with Starr's Whitewater investigation, and also
whether the alleged payments affected his
testimony, according to federal law enforcement
sources.
Shaheen's appointment was recommended by Starr,
but the former Justice Department internal
watchdog will report to a panel of retired judges
instead of Starr or Attorney General Janet Reno,
the sources said.
The panel includes Charles Renfrew, a former
federal judge and deputy attorney general during
the Carter administration, and Arlin Adams, a
former independent counsel who investigated
corruption at the Department of Housing and Urban
Development during the Reagan administration.
Renfrew will select a third former judge to serve on
the panel.
Officials said it was the first time in history that an
outside investigator has been named to examine any
aspect of an independent counsel's probe. >>>>
The first time in history....I suspect this is just the beginning. |
