Death of American Virtue - Ken Gormley [132]
McDaniel would later say, still distressed over the experience, “She did not believe in attacking people that she loved, and she did love Jim. So she didn’t [let] me go after him.”
Jahn and his fellow OIC prosecutors at counsel table—Jackie Bennett and Amy St. Eve—were feeling bullish about their chances of conviction. They did not exactly “trust” David Hale. Yet in over a year’s worth of meetings in the woods, Hale had supplied valuable information. Much of this was then authenticated with documents, because “we had a lot of his records, we had checks, we had checkbooks.”
OIC had also hired a jury consultant to run several mock jury trials. Each time, the hypothetical jurors “wanted to physically lay their hands on something other than Hale’s testimony. They wanted to see documents; they wanted to see Jim Guy’s signature.” So that’s what OIC had produced, in superabundance, linking both Jim McDougal and Governor Tucker to the fraudulent Castle Grande deal. As Jahn told the jury in opening and closing arguments, it was a case of “lies told and truths concealed.”
Susan had been involved in many of the “hiring and firing decisions” at Madison Guaranty. She had been named Businesswoman of the Year by the local Chamber of Commerce. There was no glossing over the fact that portions of the $300,000 loan were not used for Susan’s advertising business, as stated on the loan papers, but for purchasing health-club memberships, home furnishings, and other personal expenses. As Jahn would put it, her only defense to the charge that she had misapplied $300,000 of funds was “I didn’t read it. You know, I just came in and signed it, and giggled a little bit and skipped out the door.” In Jahn’s professional judgment, the chances of her being acquitted were “slim to none.”
Although Susan McDougal and her attorney would forever believe that Jim McDougal “dropped Susan in the grease,” this was not the full extent of her problems. OIC prosecutors later revealed that during their mock trial exercises, the jurors had not bought Susan’s “innocent bystander” story. Hale’s testimony and the documents bearing Susan’s signature were just as responsible for her hopeless situation. “In every instance,” Jahn later stated, “Susan McDougal was the first person they convicted.”
Moreover, as much as the defendants and their lawyers were sure that they were victims of a political persecution, the suspicions and distrust were a two-way street. Starr’s prosecutors were convinced that the Clinton White House had been in cahoots with the Arkansas defendants from the start. The White House (in the person of Clinton aide Bruce Lindsey) was receiving a copy of the daily transcript of the proceedings from an inside source.
There was also evidence that the Clinton team was providing a “steady stream of assistance” to the alleged felons. Ken Starr would later say, not trying to hide his suspicions: “Why would the president of the United States have his lawyers working with the defense team openly? Isn’t that interesting? Wow. Some might call that a conflict of interest.”
The files of Jim McDougal’s own lawyer do reveal an exchange of faxes and information with the Clinton forces, including newspaper clippings, press kits, and talking points prepared by the White House. Before President Clinton’s testimony at the White House, for instance, documents show that Heuer faxed a summary of his direct examination to Clinton’s lawyer, David Kendall, to prepare the president for his questioning.
Starr’s prosecution team was increasingly frustrated by this unholy alliance. So prosecutor Ray Jahn turned the tables on his opponents, by casting President Clinton as a victim in the case.
During closing arguments, Jahn strolled up and down in front of the jury, telling them, “The President of the United States is not on trial. Why isn’t the President on trial?… Because he didn’t set up any phony corporations to get employees to