BY HOWARD KURTZ
The Washington Post
WASHINGTON -- A Democratic senator who is consulting regularly with President Clinton during the impeachment trial said Sunday that if the Senate insists on calling witnesses, the White House would seek to cross-examine independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr.
The remarks by Sen. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., came as 19 senators -- nearly one-fifth of the jury -- blitzed the Sunday talk shows, dividing sharply along party lines on the strength of the case House managers made against Mr. Clinton for perjury and obstruction of justice last week and the need for witnesses after the president's lawyers complete their opening arguments this week.
If the required 51 senators vote to allow witnesses "front and center is going to be Kenneth Starr, and we will go through prosecutorial abuse, how he came by information, who he talked to; and we're going to put the system of justice on trial," Mr. Torricelli said on CBS' Face the Nation.
"I'd be very interested in having Linda Tripp . . . and Ken Starr," Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said on NBC's Meet the Press, referring to the former friend of Monica Lewinsky whose secret tape recordings triggered the Starr investigation.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, offering a view echoed by several Republicans, said on NBC: "I think it's going to be pretty tough under these circumstances not to have witnesses, and I think the House made a fairly good case that it would be helpful."
The White House has strongly argued against the need for witnesses on grounds that such a move could drag out the trial. Clinton strategists are privately concerned that extensive questioning of such witnesses as Ms. Lewinsky, the president's secretary Betty Currie and his longtime friend Vernon E. Jordan Jr. could change the dynamics of the case. But administration officials are in the uncomfortable position of warning that they, too, might be compelled to call witnesses, thus adding to the length of a trial they now insist should be brought to a swift conclusion.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., noted on CBS that if the White House wants to summon Mr. Starr, "we'd like to know why. We still have to vote. . . . We're not going to let this spin out of control." But Mr. Torricelli said he "cannot imagine circumstances" in which the House Republican prosecutors are allowed to call witnesses and senators would then "tell the president of the United States you cannot bring Kenneth Starr."
Assessments of the three days of presentations by the House managers split along party lines. Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, called it "a very strong, very persuasive case," while Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., said he believed "that the House has not made its case." Lawmakers of both parties agreed, however, that a majority of the Senate is unlikely to vote to dismiss the trial after the opening arguments. And a Republican senator, Larry Craig of Idaho, said on Fox News Sunday that while Mr. Clinton would be invited to testify he would oppose any attempt to subpoena the president.
Whether by design or not, GOP lawmakers sounded similar themes Sunday, as did their Democratic counterparts. Some Republicans compared Mr. Clinton's situation to those of impeached judges who have been convicted. "The Senate has been very consistent over the years -- when federal judges perjured themselves . . . they were consistently voted out," Mr. Craig said. Mr. Hatch noted that "Judge (Walter) Nixon was removed for perjury."
Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla., one of the House managers, said on NBC that key witnesses must be "tested" for "credibility," adding: "If you believe Monica Lewinsky, you can't believe the president. If you believe Monica Lewinsky, the crimes of perjury and obstruction were committed."
But Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said on ABC's This Week that because of the grand-jury proceedings "the witnesses have already been heard in this case. Monica Lewinsky, 22 times; I think Mrs. Currie, nine times; Vernon Jordan, five times." Mr. Torricelli said Ms. Lewinsky had testified "22 times, Betty Currie nine times, Vernon Jordan five times."
Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said on Fox News Sunday: "This is the most thoroughly investigated, widely reported scandal in history. We've sat for three days and haven't heard anything new. . . . And I don't want to see us for the next three or four months in a trial in the Senate bringing Monica Lewinsky to the well of the Senate."
