Susan Carol McDougal (née Henley; born June 27, 1955) is a real estate investor who served prison time as a result of the Whitewater controversy.

Her refusal to answer "three questions" for a grand jury, on whether President Bill Clinton lied in his testimony during her Whitewater trial, led her to receive a jail sentence of 18 months for contempt of court.

[4] Her federal trial began in 1996, in which the government's star witness, Arkansas banker and former municipal judge David Hale, claimed that President Bill Clinton had discussed an illegal $300,000 loan with him and McDougal years earlier, while Clinton was Governor of Arkansas.

[6] Ewing denied to reporters, during a break in the proceedings, that he had ever heard of such a plan: "I never talked to Jim McDougal about that, and I wouldn't.

After the judge levied a sentence of two years in federal prison but before she left the courtroom, Starr had her served with a subpoena for another Whitewater grand jury, to begin two weeks later.

She also writes that she feared the same fate as Julie Hiatt Steele,[8] who had contradicted the testimony of White House aide Kathleen Willey: "Simply telling the truth cost Steele everything she had, almost landed her in jail [for perjury], and jeopardized her custody of her adopted son.

"[10] She was publicly rebuked for refusing to answer "three questions"[11] about whether President Clinton had lied in his testimony during her Whitewater trial, particularly when he denied any knowledge of an illegal $300,000 loan.

[14] Following her release on March 7, 1998, for civil contempt of court, McDougal began serving the two-year sentence for her 1996 conviction.

[15] Soon afterward, the Independent Counsel indicted McDougal on criminal charges of contempt of court and obstruction of justice.