SCANDALS that have plagued the White House since President Clinton's arrival have swept away almost all his faithful Arkansas coterie, and one of his closest friends may be next.
Mr Bruce Lindsey, whom the Whitewater independent counsel has decided to name as a conspirator in a bank fraud trial, is considered Mr Clinton's last year after the withdrawal or disappearance of three other members of the "inner circle" of Arkansans who came to the White House with the Clintons in 1993.
One of them, Vince Foster, one of the administration's top lawyers, killed himself on July 21st, 1993, the circumstance's of his suicide have become yet another chapter in the convoluted, saga known as Whitewater.
In its final report on a 13 month investigation, published on Tuesday, the Republican majority on a Senate Whitewater panel accused Mrs Hillary Clinton - without, however, providing a scrap of evidence - of obstructing justice by preventing embarrassing documents from falling into the hands of investigators into Foster's death.
A second Clinton crony, Mr Webster Hubbell, the second most powerful official in the Justice Department, is currently serving a prison sentence for embezzling $500,000 in the 1980s in Arkansas.
The third insider, Mr William Kennedy, another deputy counsel at the White House, was forced to resign after a series of blunders and has returned to Little Rock.
All three men had been partners at the Rose Law Firm in Arkansas where Mrs Clinton was a senior partner.
Following the news on Wednesday that Mr Lindsey had been named a conspirator in a Whitewater related trial, according to one of the defence lawyers in the case, Mr Clinton promptly reiterated his confidence in his longtime friend.
And yesterday the White House spokesman, Mr Michael McCurry, dismissed the possibility of Mr Lindsey's resignation.
The so called Whitewater affair got its name from a real estate investment deal in Arkansas in which the Clintons participated in the late 1970s. Whitewater has since ballooned into a complex financial and political affair involving the Clintons in the 1980s and early 1990s and their link with local Arkansas matters.
The bank fraud trial in which Mr Lindsey will be named as an accomplice, which opened on Monday in Little Rock, is focused on Mr Clinton's 1990 gubernatorial re election campaign.
Mr Lindsey, who was the campaign treasurer, will be named as a conspirator accused of encouraging bank officials to hide from banking regulators a withdrawal of $30,000 by the Clinton campaign. He was not charged.
The 48 year old lawyer vehemently reiterated his innocence in the case on Wednesday. President Clinton is scheduled to testify for the defence.
The most recent polls, published yesterday, show President Clinton maintaining a strong lead over his Republican rival, Senator Bob Dole, 55 per cent to 35 per cent, respectively.