Report's Sweeping Charges
Starr preparing detailed, graphic account on Clinton
By William Douglas
Washington Bureau
Washington -- Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr is preparing to submit to the House a report laden with sweeping allegations against President Bill Clinton, including charges of abuse of power, perjury, obstruction of justice and witness tampering, sources close to the prosecutor said.
Starr is taking a "kitchen sink" approach to the long-awaited report to the House, outlining a variety of crimes by Clinton that stem from his 18-month relationship with a former White House intern.
The report is still being drafted and could be shipped to the House within weeks. It also is expected to include graphic and potentially embarrassing details of Clinton's sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky, including specifics about a half-dozen sex acts. Prosecutors are preparing to argue that the acts meet the definition of sex as outlined by U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright, the federal judge who presided over Clinton's deposition in the separate Paula Jones
sexual harassment civil suit against the president.
Lewinsky provided some of the graphic detail about the sex acts during an unusual two-hour session Aug. 26 in which Lewinsky gave sworn testimony in Starr's downtown office, not before the grand jury. In deference to Lewinsky and the explicit nature of her testimony, all the prosecutors, defense lawyers and stenographers in the room during the session were women.
Among the allegations Starr's team is now contemplating including in its report are that Clinton perjured himself in denying a sexual relationship with Lewinsky in the now-dismissed Jones civil suit; obstructed justice by seeking the return of gifts he and Lewinsky exchanged and by helping her find a job; and abused the power of the Oval Office by rallying the institutional powers of the presidency to delay Starr's investigation, sources said.
Jim Kennedy, a spokesman for the White House Counsel's Office, declined to comment.
"We're not going to be in a position of commenting on something that does not yet exist," he said.
In sworn depositions in the Jones case, Clinton and Lewinsky both denied a sexual relationship. With an immunity deal from Starr, Lewinsky later admitted to having had a sexual relationship with Clinton.
On Aug. 17, Clinton testified voluntarily via closed-circuit television and changed his story, admitting to an inappropriate relationship with Lewinsky.
Later that night, Clinton addressed the nation and maintained that his answer in the Jones case was "legally accurate."
In that case, Judge Wright had established a definition of sexual relations that included "contact with genitalia, anus, groin, breast, inner thigh or buttocks of any person with the intent to arouse or
gratify the sexual desire of any person."
Lewinsky's sworn testimony Aug. 26 provided specifics of sex acts to allow prosecutors to try to prove Clinton committed perjury.
Starr's office is preparing to brand as abuse of power Clinton's robust legal challenges of Starr's requests for evidence and testimony, including assertions of executive privilege and a protective privilege function, to shield his aides, Secret Service agents and White House lawyers from testifying.
In the report, Starr's prosecutors also are weighing allegations of witness tampering, apparently stemming from Clinton's alleged efforts to coach Betty Currie, his private secretary, about her recollections concerning Lewinsky.
On Jan. 18, a Sunday, when Clinton sometimes works in the Oval Office but Currie rarely does, Clinton summoned Currie to work to review his testimony and reportedly asked her several questions about his relationship with Lewinsky, including whether he had ever been alone with the intern. The meeting came the day after Clinton gave the deposition in the Jones case.
White House officials and lawmakers are nervously awaiting Starr's report. Some of Clinton's advisers expect the report to focus narrowly on the Lewinsky matter, and they do not believe Clinton's behavior in it constitutes impeachable offenses.
But lawmakers, particularly Democrats, are worried that the details in the report could hamper Clinton's ability to lead the country and could be used as an issue against Democrats in upcoming midterm elections.
The anxiety over the report escalated yesterday when Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), a frequent Clinton ally, assailed the president for "disgraceful behavior."
Despite requests by White House officials and Democratic leaders for him to hold his remarks until Clinton returned from Europe, Lieberman took to the Senate floor yesterday and professed his anger at the president.
"It is hard to ignore the impact of the misconduct the president has admitted to on our culture, on our character, and on our children," Lieberman said in a 25-minute address. "In this case, the president apparently had an extramarital relationship with an employee half his age . . . This is not just inappropriate. It is immoral." |
