Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's 22-month-long Leakgate probe may produce its first indictment later today, with speculation centering on a virtually unknown aide to Vice President Dick Cheney - which would be small potatoes compared to the results achieved by Independent Counsel Ken Starr's Whitewater probe over the same period of time.
Starr was appointed to investigate Bill and Hillary Clinton's involvement in the corrupt land deal on August 4, 1994 - and by that December, his office had already secured a guilty plea from the number two man at the Justice Department, longtime Clinton crony Webster Hubbell.
In August 1995 - just 12 months after his appointment - Starr secured indictments against the Clintons' Whitewater business partners - Jim and Susan McDougal - along with the sitting governor of Arkansas, Jim Guy Tucker.
In January 1996, Starr subpoenaed Hillary Clinton to testify before his Washington grand jury after her missing Rose Law billing records materialized in the White House without explanation. It was the first time in U.S. history that a first lady was required to testify in a criminal case.
In April 1996, Mr. Clinton testified from the White House in the trial of Tucker and the McDougals.
In May 1996 - just 21 months into Starr's probe - a Little Rock jury found the Clintons' business partners and Mr. Clinton's successor in office guilty of nearly all the charges brought against them.
Starr's office also secured convictions and/or guilty pleas from a number of less well-known figures in the scandal.
Over the same period, Mr. Fitzgerald's lagging probe has failed to secure even a single public indictment or guilty plea of anyone involved in the Leakgate scandal.
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