White House Locates ‘Missing’ Documents Legal Billings From Mrs. Clinton Had Been Under Subpoena For 2 Years

The White House announced Friday it has belatedly located “missing” Rose Law Firm billing documents that have been under subpoena for two years. The documents detail first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton’s legal work for an Arkansas savings and loan that is the subject of numerous civil and criminal investigations.

The bills for Hillary Clinton’s legal work for the now-defunct Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan were discovered Thursday by the Clintons’ personal assistant, Carolyn Huber, in her White House East Wing office, according to the Clintons’ personal lawyer, David E. Kendall. Huber was custodian of the Clintons’ personal files that were taken from White House lawyer Vincent Foster’s office in the days after his July 1993 suicide. But the White House insisted Friday that the Rose billing records did not come from Foster’s office.

The bills show Hillary Clinton - who has repeatedly said she did little work for Madison - involved in a range of legal matters for the S&L, including a mid-1980s real estate deal that increasingly has become the focus of criminal investigation. She has said in written responses to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. that she did not recall working on the matter.

The sudden discovery of the billing records marked the second release of long-sought documents by the White House in the past three days, and posed potential new legal difficulties and escalating political problems for President and Hillary Clinton.

Kendall, in a briefing for reporters Friday night, could not explain why the records had not been discovered earlier, and said he had previously searched the office himself. He said he is trying to determine the chain of custody for the records. He said Huber found the records while sorting through the Clintons’ correspondence and other paperwork. Huber, he said, is consulting a lawyer and would speak for herself at a later time.

The White House Friday took the position that the billing records back up Hillary Clinton’s statement that her work for Madison was “very limited.” Kendall said the records show Hillary Clinton personally billed Madison about $6,000 - the firm’s top rate of $120 an hour - a relatively minimal amount.

The records, Kendall said, “confirm what we have said all along.”