Susan McDougal is the woman who went to jail rather than cooperate with the Independent Counsel (i.e., Ken Starr's office) in the Whitewater investigation. She was ultimately acquitted on some charges of obstructing justice, and the jury deadlocked on others, triggering a mistrial. She was also acquitted of a supposedly unrelated embezzlement charge in Santa Monica. The "supposedly" in that last sentence is because a lot of observers, including most of her jury, believed the case was bogus, and it was only brought to put pressure on her. A lot of those folks also think she was literally tortured with her jail time, treated worse than a mass murderer, in a manner shockingly disproportionate to her alleged offense.
Some people think she's a criminal who was financially and/or romantically involved with Bill Clinton, and that she deserved every day she spent in the cooler. Others hail her as a hero who lost years of her life and everything she owned, rather than confirm a couple of allegations against the Clintons that she knew to be false. She is not at all subtle about insisting that she was offered immunity and freedom if she would lie, and punished because she refused.
Last evening, I wandered into my nearby Barnes & Noble and found Susan McDougal speaking, signing books, and just chatting with people. A decent-sized crowd had assembled, which included two of her lawyers and two of the jurors from her embezzlement trial. One of the latter stood behind me in the autograph line and told everyone that the case against Susan was an utter sham from Day One, and that she was still horrified that our judicial system could be used that way.
Before that, Susan spoke, primarily about what she observed in the various jails in which she was incarcerated. It was a horrifying account of things you don't want to believe are done in our name, often to people who are only criminals on some technicality. She is now working to bring these conditions to public attention.
Everyone there, of course, believed her claims about Starr's office pressing her to lie about Bill and Hillary so, after years of fruitless investigation, they could indict them over something. I don't know if I buy every word she utters but I do believe her "crimes," if any, were grossly exaggerated by prosecutors with ulterior motives. And I also believe her when she says that, if she'd said what Starr's goons wanted her to say, she'd never have served a day behind bars, and she'd have right-wingers throwing millions of dollars at her for books and lectures. One of my great disappointments of the whole impeachment saga was in the way some people seemed to believe that there was no such thing as an immoral act if there was the chance of nailing the Clintons on anything.
Also, I definitely believe her about the jailhouse conditions, and I believe she is an extraordinarily brave lady who stayed the course in a situation where 90% of us would have crumbled. We got to talk a bit, and I found her to be very warm and friendly, and genuinely moved that so many had turned out to buy her book. I mentioned I'd been watching Bill Clinton on Larry King Live earlier and she asked me how he did. I said, "I'd forgotten what it's like to have a president who can get both a subject and a verb into every sentence," and she laughed. I always like people who laugh in a certain very real, honest manner, and that's how she laughed. So I liked her.
Like I said, I don't know if I completely buy the way she spins her story. Maybe I will after I get time to read the book, maybe not. Lately, I don't 100% believe anyone in public life. If you'd like to read the book and see if you do, this link will take you to the deepest Amazon where you can purchase a copy.