Whitewater Trials and Impeachment of a President: 1994-99

On August 20, 1996, Susan McDougal was sentenced to two years in prison for obtaining the illegal loan. Within two weeks, however, after saying she didn't trust her prosecutors because "they always wanted something on the Clintons," she was jailed for civil contempt of court for refusing to testify before yet another grand jury. For seven months, she languished 23 hours a day in a windowless cell. Then, after the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed suit alleging that Starr's office was keeping her in barbaric conditions to coerce her testimony, she was moved to a federal detention facility.

Meanwhile, on April 14, 1997, James McDougal was sentenced to three years in prison for his conviction on 18 counts of fraud and conspiracy. While the sentence could have been as many as 84 years, Starr had requested a reduced sentence because McDougal had helped the prosecution by offering information "on a wide range of matters, including matters previously unknown to us," leading to additional witnesses and documents. Starr also told the press that he had given Judge George Howard, Jr., under seal, information that influenced the judge's decision to reduce the sentence. The independent counsel refused to disclose what the evidence was. Less than a year later, McDougal died in prison of a heart attack.