Cutler served as the
White House Counsel to President
Jimmy Carter, whom he had met first while both were serving on the
Trilateral Commission. Cutler served as a special counsel and consultant to the president on the ratification of
SALT II and other international matters. In 1994, President
Bill Clinton was looking for a new lawyer, as
Bernard Nussbaum had resigned, so Clinton decided to hire Cutler under unusual terms. Cutler was able to remain as counsel at his firm and to counsel private clients as long as their interests did not
conflict with those of the government—a first for a
White House Counsel. Thus, he also served as counsel in Clinton's administration. Cutler came into national news as a result of the
Whitewater investigations and
Lewinsky scandal. He went on PBS's News Hour on February 6, 1998, and defended President Clinton as the Lewinsky investigation started by denying that Lewinsky had visited 37 times. On his work in Washington, Cutler said, "This is an excitement to us, a feeling of being in on it, and whichever part of the Washington milieu we come from, we want to play a part. That's why we're here." ==Intelligence Commission==