ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Tuesday, April 15, 1997                TAG: 9704150071
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A-1  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: LITTLE ROCK, ARK.
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

CLINTONS' EX-PARTNER GETS 3 YEARSMCDOUGAL SAYS HE'S SPEAKING AGAINST THE PRESIDENT AFTER HIS WIFE DIDN'T GET A PARDON

In addition to prison, James McDougal was sentenced to three years of probation, including a year of house arrest, a $10,000 fine and $4.27 million in restitution, after agreeing to help Whitewater prosecutors.

James McDougal, the Clintons' former business partner, drew a three-year prison sentence Monday in exchange for his extensive cooperation with Whitewater prosecutors. And for the first time, he publicly disputed the president's sworn testimony about an illegal loan.

Asked why he was changing his story now about President Clinton, McDougal said in an interview with NBC, ``I just got sick and tired of lying for the fellow. ... Yes, I was trying to protect him.''

He also says President Clinton's failure to pardon his ex-wife was ``a big factor'' in his decision to cooperate with prosecutors.

In a television interview, McDougal says he believes his former wife, Susan, was ``totally innocent'' of the Whitewater-related charges she was convicted of last year.

As for the president, McDougal told ``Dateline NBC'' in the interview to be aired today: ``I wasn't so much concerned he had abandoned me. I felt he had abandoned Susan.''

``I really thought he would pardon her. That was a big factor in my decision.''

Susan McDougal remains in prison for refusing to answer questions before a grand jury about the president and Hillary Rodham Clinton. Her husband agreed to cooperate with the investigation of the land venture last summer.

McDougal said he did not believe he had betrayed the Clintons.

``I think the Clintons are really sort of like tornadoes moving through people's lives. ... I'm just one of the people left in the wake of their passing by.''

McDougal could have gotten up to 84 years in prison for 18 felony counts.

In urging leniency, prosecutors told the court that McDougal's cooperation had led them to information ``previously unknown to us'' - much of which they have been able to corroborate independently.

In the television interview to be aired today, McDougal reversed his own story and insisted that Clinton was present for a 1986 meeting during which a $300,000 illegal loan was discussed.

In sworn testimony videotaped and played at McDougal's trial last year, Clinton insisted he had nothing to do with the loan and was not present for the meeting as alleged by another participant, convicted felon David Hale.

McDougal said at the time of the meeting he knew the loan was illegal but he had ``no idea'' whether Clinton, then Arkansas governor, thought the same thing. Asked what his changed story means for the president now, McDougal said, ``I think that they should be deeply concerned.''

Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr said McDougal's help has led to a ``fuller, broader, deeper understanding'' of the evidence that led to the wide-ranging investigation of the Clintons' finances.

``It has led us to both documents and it has led us to witnesses,'' Starr said. He added that much of information has been independently corroborated. What McDougal had to say ``was previously unknown to us ... and is known to a very few people,'' Starr said.

He declined to discuss anything about Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton, citing the secrecy requirements of an ongoing grand jury investigation.

U.S. District Judge George Howard ordered McDougal to pay a $10,000 fine and $4.27 million in restitution to the federal government and serve three years of probation, including one year of house arrest.

James McDougal's doctor told the court that McDougal suffered from many infirmities.

``He is much more comparable, I would say, to a 76-year-old man than a 56-year-old man,'' Dr. Noland Hagood testified.

McDougal suffers from a bipolar disorder that causes mood swings, and he suffered a stroke in 1986. He has had surgery to clear blockages in his carotid arteries and has arterial sclerosis in his legs.

Hagood said McDougal takes seven medications and has a complete blockage of an artery that leads to the right side of the brain. He said the conditions affect McDougal's memory.

LENGTH: Medium:   84 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  ASSOCIATED PRESS. When asked if the Clintons will be 
          absolved of wrongdoing, James McDougal said, ``I wouldn't go to the 
          bank on that.'' color.