Politics Updated 6:46 AM ET April 22, 1998
Lewinsky, Lawyer To Skip White House Dinner
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Neither Monica Lewinsky nor her attorney will attend Saturday's annual White House correspondent's dinner, William Ginsburg says, adding that it would be "tasteless" to do so.
Paula Jones will attend the dinner as a guest of the conservative magazine Insight, according to the Rutherford Institute, which has arranged Jones' legal representation in her sexual harassment suit against President Clinton.
Ginsburg, appearing on CNN's "Larry King Live," said Tuesday that he was not taking a "pot shot" at Jones and respected her decision to attend the annual event.
But he added, "Neither Monica Lewinsky nor I are going to attend that dinner. That's between the White House correspondents and the president of the United States and his staff. And it's tasteless for us to attend."
"Paula Jones has made her own decision with her lawyers and I respect her decision, but we will not be there because we don't think its appropriate for us to be there."
Ginsburg repeated his criticism of independent counsel Kenneth Starr's investigation of allegations that Clinton had an affair with Lewinsky and urged her to lie about it.
Both Clinton and Lewinsky have denied the allegations.
He said he doubted Lewinsky would be indicted in the case anytime soon, but declined to discuss any details of the case.
Lewinsky, he said, would assert her Fifth Amendment right to avoid incriminating herself if she was called before the grand jury.
Ginsburg blasted Starr's office for calling Lewinsky's mother to testify, and attempting to subpoena the records of Washington area bookstores in an attempt to find out which books the former White House intern may have given the president as gifts.
Starr's actions amounted to an assault on Americans' right to privacy, and threatened to prevent children from being able to confide in their parents.
"The day the children cannot communicate with the parents is the day the fabric of this democracy is so badly torn that we may not be able to repair it," Ginsburg told CNN.
He also launched another attack on the integrity of Lewinsky's friend Linda Tripp who taped over 20 hours of conversations in which Lewinsky talked of an intimate relationship with Clinton.
"For 30 pieces of silver, this woman betrayed her best friend. She had a pending book deal at the time she began pursuing Monica Lewinsky," Ginsburg said, noting that Tripp began tape recording conversations with Lewinsky long before Lewinsky had been subpoenaed in the Jones case.
A federal judge has since thrown out Jones' case against Clinton, but Jones has vowed to appeal.
"Where was her friendship, her honor, her sense of responsibility and friendship when she pushed that button," he said. "A friend doesn't betray a friend." |
