BY DAVID ESPO
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON -- President Clinton's defenders braced Saturday for the release of a mountain of new detail from the Starr investigation, including, congressional sources said, transcripts of messages the chief executive left on Monica Lewinsky's telephone answering machine.
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Where to see, read Clinton's testimony after Monday's release |
Those transcripts -- along with Ms. Lewinsky's grand jury testimony and numerous interviews with prosecutors and the FBI -- were among the 2,800 pages set for release on Monday. A videotape of Clinton's four-hour grand jury testimony and an accompanying transcript will also be made public.
Several officials have said in recent days that the videotape shows Clinton evasive and sometimes angry when questioned about various sex acts with Ms. Lewinsky, frequently referring prosecutors back to a prepared statement he read at the beginning of his questioning.
Even before the video's release, broadcast outlets were making plans for an unprecedented airing of images of a president being questioned under oath about sexual relations with a young aide.
A lawyer familiar with the grand jury testimony said Saturday night that Clinton acknowledged "inappropriate intimate contact" and "sexual banter" with Ms. Lewinsky early during the session, responding to a question with a prepared statement that he returned to over and over again.
"What began as a friendship came to include this conduct," the president said in the statement.
The president went on to portray himself as a friend, who after their sexual contact ended, still tried to help find Ms. Lewinsky a new job and to help her avoid having to testify in a sexual harassment lawsuit against him. But the president said he took these actions out of concern for her and not because he was trying to silence her, said the lawyer, who disscussed the Clinton testimony only on condition of not being identified by name.
In addition to the tape and the grand jury testimony, congressional sources said, the material to be released includes an inventory of the items taken from Ms. Lewinsky's apartment by the FBI. The material also include the text of unsent letters to the president and files removed from her computer hard drive. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity.
The public also will get a look at lab reports on Clinton's blood and on a blue dress owned by Ms. Lewinsky, results that Starr says confirmed a sexual encounter between the two.
Legal memoranda and letters that testify to a long, hard-fought battle between the White House and Kenneth Starr's office also will be made public, these sources said. The material includes correspondence in which the two sides negotiated over the president's grand jury testimony and pleadings related to Starr's attempt to force testimony by presidential aides and Secret Service employees.
The only grand jury testimony to be released on Monday is that of Clinton and Ms. Lewinsky. Distribution of testimony by other key players, including presidential secretary Betty Currie, Clinton friend Vernon Jordan and onetime Lewinsky friend Linda Tripp, will remain under seal, at least for the time being.
Nor will the tape of Clinton messages on Ms. Lewinsky's answering machine be made public; only the written transcripts are to be released, according to sources.
Clinton himself made no mention of the scandal surrounding his presidency as he delivered his weekly radio address Saturday, seeking to focus attention, instead, on a coming tax-cut battle in Congress.
White House spokesman James Kennedy complained that Clinton was being denied an advance review of the material "that would allow us to respond to these allegations in the proper manner." The Clinton videotape has been the focus of continuing debate in Congress.
"Playboy would not be allowed to put that kind of pornography on the airwaves," Democratic Rep. W.G. Hefner of North Carolina said after visiting the White House.
"And I don't know what it does to build a case because the case is already there. It's been admitted to," he added. "That, in my opinion, is just to embarrass the president."
Republicans counter the tape is important evidence in Kenneth Starr's report, which cited 11 potentially impeachable offenses, some involving perjury.
"The president himself has admitted he lied, but he doesn't admit to perjury," Rep. Bob Livingston, R-La., said in an interview on CNN's "Evans, Novak, Hunt & Shields."
"I think that the jury, in essence the Congress, has to look at the evidence. The American people are effectively the jury as well, and they have to look at the evidence."
Clinton testified in a deposition in the Paula Jones lawsuit last winter that he had not had "sexual relations" with Ms. Lewinsky. In his grand jury testimony last month, he said he had been truthful in his earlier deposition but also acknowledged an "inappropriate" relationship with Ms. Lewinsky.
The Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee voted along partisan lines on Friday to release the written evidence and videotape, the next installment from 18 boxes of material submitted by Starr. The balance of the material, minus anything withheld by the committee, will be made public by Sept. 28 under the terms of legislation passed by the full House.
Some Judiciary Committee members have said they expect the panel will likely meet in early October to decide whether to recommend a formal impeachment inquiry to the House.
There was no indication of what the scope of such an inquiry would be. Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., chairman of the committee, and other Republicans have suggested in recent days that it could be expanded beyond the issue of Clinton's relationship with Ms. Lewinsky and his efforts to hide it.
Much of the congressional attention to Starr's evidence has focused on the videotape, being released in the shadow of midterm elections.
Livingston, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, was asked in his interview whether he thought a candidate who made use of images from the tape would be out of bounds.
"I would think they would be," he replied. Some Democrats fear an image of Clinton flashing anger at questions, or appearing evasive, could prove harmful to him.
In bipartisan response to an article this week about a long-ago extramarital affair by Hyde, the leaders of the Republican and Democratic House and Senate campaign committees announced agreement that they would not finance candidates who make purely personal attacks on their opponents. There was no mention, though, of candidates who make use of the videotape.
Hyde telephoned Speaker Newt Gingrich before the story appeared on the Internet and offered to resign as chairman, according to congressional sources. These sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Gingrich turned aside Hyde's offer.
