IN A PREVIOUSLY scheduled interview with Jim Lehrer, anchor of the PBS show "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," Clinton said he was surprised to learn earlier in the day that Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr apparently has expanded his investigation to look into the claim.
"The allegations I have read are not true. .You know about this right now as I do," Clinton said.
He sidestepped when asked by Lehrer whether he knew the former White House intern, Monica Lewinsky, instead repeating, "I didn't ask anybody not to tell the truth."
In responding to questions about whether he had a sexual relationship with Lewinsky, Clinton responded in the present tense, which some observers saw as a possible attempt to dance around the question.
"There is no improper relationship. ... There is not a sexual relationship," he said.
A three-judge appeals court panel Friday authorized the formal expansion of Starr's investigation to examine allegations of induced perjury, false statements and obstruction of justice involving the president.
The allegations, first reported by the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and ABC News, involve Lewinsky, who was 21 when she was went to work at the White House in 1995. She has been subpoenaed by lawyers for Paula Jones, who is suing Clinton for sexual harassment.
Starr is focusing on charges that Clinton and his close friend, Vernon Jordan, directed Lewinsky to lie about an alleged sexual relationship with the president.
Lewinsky signed a declaration denying she ever had a sexual relationship with the president and stands by that assertion, her lawyer, William Ginsburg of Los Angeles, told The Associated Press.
NBC News has learned that FBI agents, acting on a request from Starr, interviewed Lewinsky for six hours on Saturday in the Watergate complex in Washington - the same day Clinton was being deposed by lawyers for Paula Jones, who is suing him for sexual harassment.
Ginsburg said Lewinsky was scheduled to be deposed on Friday by Jones' attorneys.
The allegations involving Lewinsky, who was 21 when she was went to work at the White House in 1995, were first reported by the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and ABC News.
Starr is focusing on charges that Clinton and his close friend, Vernon Jordan, directed Lewinsky to lie about an alleged sexual relationship with the president.
Lewinsky signed a declaration denying she ever had a sexual relationship with the president and stands by that assertion, her lawyer, William Ginsburg of Los Angeles, told The Associated Press. He said Lewinsky was scheduled to be deposed on Friday by Jones' attorneys.
White House spokesman Mike McCurry blasted the reports at a news briefing Wednesday morning, saying the president is "outraged" by the charge.
"He's never had any improper relationship with this woman," McCurry said. "He's made it clear from the beginning that he wants people to tell the truth in all matters."
In a later news briefing, McCurry declined to elaborate on the statement. He said Clinton would respond to the accusation later in the day in previously scheduled interviews with National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting System.
Clinton's attorney, Robert Bennett, also rejected the allegations. "The president adamantly denies it. I smell a rat," Bennett told reporters as he arrived at the White House. Asked about reports of tape-recorded conversations about the alleged affair and purported efforts to conceal it, Bennett said, "I know nothing about that. Before I comment on it, I want to investigate it."
Jordan, reached by NBC News overnight at a New York hotel, declined to comment on the reports.
Starr's office also had no comment. Deputy Whitewater prosecutor Hickman Ewing said as he entered grand jury proceedings in Little Rock, Ark., "I won't deny that we have an expansion" of the investigation, but "I'm not going to say what it is."
The Post reported that Starr's office had received a tip from a former associate of Lewinsky, Linda Tripp, that prompted the investigation.
CONVERSATIONS ALLEGEDLY TAPED
The Washington Post and ABC reported that Tripp provided Starr with audiotapes that she recorded of conversations she had with Lewinsky in which the former intern recounted details of a 1 1/2-year affair she said she had with Clinton.
Both newspapers and ABC said that, according to sources, Lewinsky said in one of the taped conversations that Clinton and Jordan had asked her to deny to Jones' lawyers that she had had a relationship with the president.
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The Post quoted sources saying that in the tape recordings made by Tripp, Lewinsky described her sexual relationship with Clinton and said the president advised her not to worry about the Jones case because Jones' lawyers would not find out about the relationship. When she was notified by Jones' lawyers in mid-December that they wanted her testimony, Lewinsky said she called the president and he told her to deny the affair, according to the sources. She said Clinton also told her that Jordan would help her figure out what to say, the sources said.
The Associated Press quoted lawyers familiar with the matter as saying that the tapes also suggest Jordan offered to arrange a new job for Lewinsky in New York.
In an interview with CNN, Ginsburg, Lewinsky's attorney, confirmed that Jordan had helped arrange a job interview for Lewinsky at a New York public relations firm. He said he did not consider the favor "unusual."
The reports said Tripp began recording Lewinsky's conversations last summer.
Linda Tripp, a Department of Defense employee who formerly worked at the White House, reportedly wore a "wire" provided by Starr's office to record conversations with Monica Lewinsky.
NBC Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert reported that sources with knowledge of the case said that after Tripp contacted Starr's office, investigators equipped her with a "wire" - a tiny, hidden microphone linked to a tape recorder - to record further conversations with Lewinsky.
NBC News was told by sources close to the investigation that Starr's team is working with 20 hours of tape-recorded conversations.
Lewinsky, who began working as an intern at the White House in 1995, later worked with Tripp in the press office of the Defense Department. She left her $33,000 a year job as an aide to Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon late last year and moved to New York City, where she is believed to be living with her mother, department officials said.
The Post said repeated attempts to reach her for comment were unsuccessful.
EX-INTERN DENIED AFFAIR
Ginsburg said Wednesday his client had signed a declaration in the Jones lawsuit denying she ever had a sexual relationship with the president and still stands by that assertion. "At this time, she stands by her declaration," the lawyer said.
In comments to the Post, Gibson called his client an innocent victim of the political system.
"If the president of the United States did this - and I'm not saying that he did - with this young lady, I think he's a misogynist," he said. "If he didn't, then I think Ken Starr and his crew have ravaged the life of a youngster."
Clinton gave a deposition to Jones' lawyers Saturday. A gag order prohibits lawyers from discussing the proceedings, but the Post quoted a source saying Jones' lawyers asked him about a number of women with whom he has been linked.
Jones' lawyers have also subpoenaed Tripp, her lawyer, Jim Moody, told the Post. He declined to comment on the case when contacted Wednesday.
ACCUSER IS FORMER BUSH AIDE
Tripp, who had also worked in the Bush White House, first made news last summer when Newsweek reported she had seen another White House aide shortly after alleged sexual contact with Clinton.
According to Tripp, Kathleen Willey's clothes and makeup were in disarray and she told Tripp she had just had an encounter with Clinton.
At the time of the report, Bennett denied Tripp's account. According to the Post, Bennett was vocal in shedding doubt on Tripp's credibility and it was some time afterward that Tripp began taping Lewinsky.
Like Lewinsky, Willey was subpoenaed in the Jones suit. The Post quoted a source as saying Willey testified that Clinton groped and kissed her.
Lewinsky, who started at the White House as an unpaid intern in the office of then-Chief of Staff Leon Panetta in the summer of 1995, was hired in December 1995 as a staff assistant in the Office of Legislative Affairs, where she sometimes delivered correspondence to the Oval Office.
The Post quoted a Justice Department official saying that there was no question about approving Starr's request. "Starr made it clear that he needed this. We did not want to look like we were slowing down the process," the official said.
The source also told the newspaper that Justice Department officials were shocked by the allegations. "It was really a situation where people were floored," the source said.
FROM LAND DEAL TO ALLEGED LIAISON
Starr has been investigating the president and first lady Hillary Clinton since 1994 in connection with a failed Arkansas land deal in 1978 involving the Clintons and several associates.
The initial focus of the investigation has been whether Clinton, who was then governor of Arkansas, pressured a bank to loan money to the Clintons' investment partners in the deal.
The investigation has been criticized by Democrats for "mission creep," having expanded to include numerous other situations and allegations involving the president. They include the White House's May 1993 firings of its travel office staff, how the White House obtained hundreds of confidential FBI files on former Republican administration officials and employees, and whether any laws were broken in connection with the handling of Vincent Foster's documents after he committed suicide in July 1993.
The Associated Press and Reuter contributed to this report. |
