CLINTONS PUT UNDER MICROSCOPE : WHITEWATER PROBE LIKELY TO INTENSIFY.

Byline: David Jackson Chicago Tribune 

Despite statements by Whitewater jurors that they found President Clinton believable, the sweeping convictions of his onetime friends and business partners offer fresh stimulus to the Whitewater investigation as it moves into potentially troubling areas for the president and first lady.

In the wake of the verdicts, independent counsel Kenneth Starr is focusing on matters such as the 1993 firing of White House travel office staffers and the handling of papers taken from the office of White House aide Vince Foster after his suicide that year.

Legal observers say the convictions could alter the legal landscape for the Clintons by increasing the likelihood that minor figures may step forward with fresh information, as well as by re-energizing the federal agents handling the case.

``An early victory always encourages prosecutors and agents to follow through and expand on whatever evidence developed during their investigation and trial,'' said Chicago criminal defense attorney Howard Pearl, a member of the team that handled prosecutions stemming from the 1990 Iran-Contra investigation.

``Successful convictions demonstrate that there is something there and that prosecutors have the capacity to find it,'' Pearl said.

Clinton's former White House counsel, Lloyd Cutler, told reporters that the convictions indicate ``the investigation will be with us right through the election. And that is unfortunate.''

The verdicts come as Starr prepares for the June trial of Arkansas bank executives Herbert Branscum Jr. and Robert Hill, who are accused of illegally diverting contributions to Clinton's gubernatorial re-election campaign.

That trial, at which Clinton again may be forced to testify as a defense witness, could highlight questions of cronyism in Clinton's Arkansas administration and the funding of his 1990 campaign.

The jury found two of the Clintons' former business partners, James McDougal and his ex-wife, Susan, as well as Arkansas Gov. Jim Guy Tucker guilty of fraud and conspiracy Tuesday in the trial stemming from Starr's investigation into the failed Ozark Mountains real estate development. Tucker announced he would step down by July 15.

White House aides were heartened by statements from several of the Little Rock, Ark., federal court jurors, who told reporters and talk show hosts that Clinton's videotaped testimony was credible and showed he had little knowledge of a fraudulent $300,000 loan at the center of the 12-week trial.

But armed with Tuesday's convictions, Starr's investigators are preparing for the upcoming Branscum-Hill trial and pursuing several unresolved questions raised by the original investigation of the Whitewater real estate deal.