Webster L. Hubbell, 1999 News

presidential friend and former associate attorney general, reached a plea bargain with independent counsel Kenneth Starr in June, agreeing to plead guilty to a felony charge of lying about the role he and Hillary Clinton played as attorneys in a failed land deal, Castle Grande, that contributed to the collapse of a savings and loan institution, Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan. By reaching the agreement and avoiding a trial, Hubbell, who was sentenced to probation, insured that Hillary Clinton would not have to testify in court, which would have coincided with her likely run for the U.S. Senate. Hubbell's guilty plea marked the end of Kenneth Starr's five-year investigation that began as an inquiry into the Clintons' role in Whitewater and broadened in scope to include President Clinton's infamous affair with intern Monica Lewinsky.