Would you care to document Ken Starr's "bitching"?
Sure. From the Post:
The swirl of activity came against a backdrop of bitter and harsh
denunciations from the White House and its allies of Starr's decision to
investigate who has been spreading negative information about some
members of his staff. The prosecutor defended his tactics yesterday, saying
he wants to figure out whether Clinton allies were trying to bully his office.
"This office has received repeated press inquiries indicating that
misinformation is being spread about personnel involved in this investigation,"
Starr said. "We are using traditional and appropriate techniques to find out
who is responsible and whether their actions are intended to intimidate
prosecutors and investigators, impede the work of the grand jury, or
otherwise obstruct justice."
The White House shot back that Starr should be spending his time looking
into alleged grand jury leaks from his office. "He promised the American
people he'd be investigating the leaks from his organization," said White
House press secretary Michael McCurry. "He's now apparently more
interested in how we conduct press relations here at the White House."
Called to the courthouse to explain whether they had any involvement in
disseminating damaging information about Starr's staff were Sidney
Blumenthal, a senior White House aide, and Terry F. Lenzner, a private
investigator working for Clinton's legal team. The president's lawyers
confirmed yesterday that they have employed Lenzner and his firm,
Investigative Group Inc. (IGI), since April 1994 to assist in defending Clinton
on a variety of fronts, including the Whitewater probe and the Paula Jones
sexual harassment lawsuit.
In a joint statement, attorneys David E. Kendall and Robert S. Bennett said it
is common for lawyers to hire investigators "to perform legal and appropriate
tasks" to assist their work. They said they endorsed a weekend White House
statement denying televised charges by Republican former prosecutor
Joseph E. diGenova that Clinton investigators were looking into him and his
wife, former prosecutor Victoria Toensing.
"There is public information available, which, of course, it is our duty as
counsel to research and gather," the Kendall-Bennett statement said. "But
we have not investigated, and are not investigating, the personal lives of Ms.
Toensing, Mr. diGenova, prosecutors, investigators, or members of the
press."
Yet McCurry acknowledged that the White House has disseminated negative
news reports about the public records of Starr's deputies and defended that
as proper scrutiny of public officials.
"Someone found the Atlanta Constitution article, and the [New York] Daily
News stuff has presumably been faxed to everyone in this room," he told
reporters at his daily briefing, referring to critical articles about the
professional pasts of Starr deputies Michael Emmick and Bruce Udolf. "If not,
I know who you can call if you want to get it."
Lenzner testified briefly before the grand jury yesterday, but Blumenthal
spent most of his day waiting around and ultimately was sent home and told
to return Thursday.
During a closed-door hearing before a judge, Blumenthal's attorney
successfully sought to limit the scope of the subpoena to cover only his
White House service starting last summer, not his years as a journalist
before then. Starr's prosecutors said during the hearing that they believe they
can subpoena people believed to be spreading misinformation and possibly
charge them with obstruction of justice, according to a source familiar with
the session.
This is UNREAL. Certainly I haven't seen any "misinformation", only confirmed reports of action taken in the past against some overenthusiastic members of Starr's staff. These guys, uh, tended to lean a little on witnesses, you know... |
