XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT FLASH XXXXX 19:09:09 PST MON FEB 23 1998 XXXXX
BLUMENTHAL CALLED BEFORE LEWINSKY GRAND JURY; DRUDGE VS. BLUMENTHAL SET FOR MARCH 11
Independent counsel Starr has subpoenaed White House adviser Sidney Blumenthal to appear before a grand jury and turn over any information in his possession related to efforts to disseminate damaging information about Starr's staff, according to bulldog editions of Tuesday's WASHINGTON POST.
The Blumenthal subpoena, served Saturday, is particularly broad in scope, requiring him to turn over "any and all documents referring to the Office of Independent Counsel," including any referring to Starr staff members or "to any contact directly or indirectly with a member of the media which related or referred to the OIC or attorneys or other staff members of the OIC."
Starr is looking at White House attempts to illegally hinder his investigation.
Blumenthal has been ordered to appear before the grand jury investigating the Lewinsky matter at 9:15 a.m. on Tuesday.
"We view this as an attempt to stifle criticism of the independent counsel's office," Blumenthal attorney Jo Marsh tells the POST.
"Journalists certainly should be outraged and so should members of the general public." This kind of thing "doesn't happen in America." It recalls "the old star chamber or the Gestapo. Just outrageous."
Ironically, Blumenthal's grand jury session on Tuesday is set to take place in the same courthouse that will hold a preliminary court hearing in a separate matter: BLUMENTHAL vs. DRUDGE. A hearing that has been set for March 11.
It was the DRUDGE REPORT that first broke word of Lewinsky on the night on January 17, four days before the WASHINGTON POST and ABC NEWS.
Mr. Blumenthal is currently suing the DRUDGE REPORT for $30 million over a story that was published in this space and then immediately retracted within 18 hours last summer.
President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore approved of Blumenthal's decision to file the civil lawsuit against the DRUDGE REPORT, the White House has said.
"...Mr. Blumenthal did talk to the president and the vice president about this, who told them that they support him if he wanted to proceed along these lines," White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said at the time in an extraordinary admission.
The case marks the first time a sitting White House presidential adviser has sued a reporter in the history of America.
"Journalists certainly should be outraged and so should members of the general public," DRUDGE REPORT editor Matt Drudge said late Monday night from Hollywood. "This kind of thing doesn't happen in America. It recalls the old star chamber or the Gestapo. Just outrageous."
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