Washington - President Clinton's legal defence fund in six months has netted over $2 million, more than anybody expected, the Washington Post said yesterday.
Created independently of the Clintons in late February after the current sex-and-perjury scandal broke, the fund has benefited from a direct-mail effort that blames the independent counsel, Mr Kenneth Starr, for the Clintons' huge legal bill, Clinton supporters told the newspaper.
Since Mr Starr began investigating the Whitewater property deal and more recently the relationship between the President and the former White House intern, Ms Monica Lewinsky, the Clintons' legal bill is estimated at between $6 million and $10 million.
"If you are disturbed by the way politics is conducted today, then what better response than to make your own gesture of decency and generosity," the fund's manager, a former senator, Mr David Pryor of Arkansas - Mr Clinton's home state - says in the letter.
Top donors included the singer, Barbra Streisand; the actor, Tom Hanks; the film director, Steven Spielberg; the film executives, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Harvey Weinstein; and Gail Zappa, widow of the rock star, Frank Zappa.