Hillary Clinton Bogged Down by Whitewater Bills

WASHINGTON – Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., is still weighed down by costly legal bills dating back to the Whitewater investigation. However, she also has substantial holdings in a blind trust, according to financial disclosure reports filed with the Senate.

The disclosure is Clinton's first as a lawmaker. It covers the year 2000 and does not include any income from her $8 million book deal with Simon & Schuster, which was negotiated last year but only signed in January.

Clinton reported a government-approved blind trust worth between $500,001 and $1 million. That joint trust with husband Bill dates from the Clintons' White House days and was approved by the executive branch's Office of Government Ethics. It earned between $100,001 and $1 million in 2000.

Clinton's outstanding legal fees total between $2.3 million and $10.6 million, the report said. They are owed to five law firms, two in Little Rock Ark. and three in Washington D.C.

The Clintons ran up hefty legal bills during their eight years in the White House because of Whitewater and other investigations. They have a separate legal expense fund to help defray those costs.

Members of Congress must file disclosure forms annually that outline in the broadest terms their personal fortunes, investments and income beyond their congressional salary of $134,113.

Clinton reported overall assets of between $682,000 and $1.5 million. She listed stock for daughter Chelsea in AT&T, Verizon, BellSouth and Lucent Technologies.

New York's junior senator received $8,534 in royalties from her book "It Takes a Village," which was donated to charity, the form said.

Neither Clinton or Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.,reported accepting any gifts, travel or honoraria.

Clinton came under fire for $190,027 in furniture, china and other gifts she and the president took with them from the White House. But none of those had to be reported on her Senate disclosure form because she was not yet a senator, aides said.

Schumer and his wife Iris listed assets worth between $274,014 and $985,000. The only liability they reported was a mortgage worth between $15,001 and $50,000 on their home in Brooklyn.