A powerful Democratic senator called Sunday for the appointment of a special prosecutor to probe President Clinton's tangled dealings with a failed Arkansas land deal - and suggested the White House was stonewalling the investigation.
The remarks by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., stunned White House officials, who had hoped the issue would temporarily recede with Clinton's trip to Europe.
Before Moynihan's remarks, the push for an independent special prosecutor was led by Republicans and editorialists.
Moynihan's decision to jump on what had been a GOP bandwagon - and on a day when the White House hoped news stories would focus on Clinton's arrival in Brussels - seemed sure to elevate pressure for an independent probe.
The Clintons' role in the failed Whitewater Development Corp. land deal, and its links to a failed Arkansas savings and loan run by a Clinton contributor, are being probed.
Attorney General Janet Reno, who has resisted appointment of a special prosecutor, said the case has been turned over to a career Justice Department investigator who is a Republican.
A new White House offensive to refute allegations of wrongdoing could include selective public release of documents turned over to the Justice Department under subpoena last week, The Washington Post reports today.
At question is whether S&L funds were used to retire Clinton political debts, and whether Clinton used the governor's office to inhibit state regulation of the thrift, run by James McDougal, a Clinton friend.
McDougal told The Associated Press Friday the Clintons did nothing wrong in their dealings with him. He said he had long sought to purchase their share of Whitewater to take advantage of tax losses.
Moynihan is known for both his unpredictability and his often testy relations with Clinton.
On NBC's Meet the Press Sunday, Moynihan never even let his questioner finish before endorsing, with gusto, a special prosecutor: "Yep. Yep. Nothing to hide. Do it. Come on."
And when a questioner suggested Moynihan seemed to be saying the White House was stonewalling, he responded:
"I would have to say that, you know, not knowing any details, just reading, going by it in the newspapers - yeah, what's going on here?"
But Clinton senior adviser George Stephanopoulos rejected the call and said the White House had been fully cooperative. Stephanopoulos, who has been trying to smooth strained relations between the president and the senator, was careful not to criticize Moynihan.
"The special prosecutor standard has not been met, in terms of there being a specific allegation from a credible source," Stephanopoulos said.
Vice President Gore denounced the clamor for a prosecutor as politically motivated.
"This is a political attack . . . because the opposition is a little bit scared that everything is beginning to go right with the economy," Gore said Sunday on CBS's Face the Nation.
