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Politics : Clinton -- doomed & wagging, Japan collapses, Y2K bug, etc -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lucky Lady who wrote (174)	9/9/1998 9:11:00 AM
From: SOROS	Respond to of 1151

BBC - 09/09/98 President Clinton's first day back at work has brought more bad news to an administration already dogged by scandal. First, the president's request to see a preview of independent prosecutor Kenneth Starr's probe into the White House sex-and-perjury scandal has been rejected. This disappointment was followed by the announcement that a formal investigation has been opened into whether the president violated campaign spending laws during his 1996 re-election effort. With mounting criticism over his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, the president was trying to pursue business as normal with a visit to a school in Maryland. But the growing sense of crisis over his presidency refused to leave him. The Maryland's Democratic governor Parris Glendening would not attend the event, sending his deputy along instead. The governor - who is up for election in November - has also cancelled a fund-raising appearance with Mr Clinton. Request for copy rejected On Monday Mr Clinton's personal lawyer, David Kendall, requested to see a preview of Mr Starr's report in order to give the White House sufficient time to prepare a point-by-point response. Mr Starr's report is expected in the next two weeks. It is thought to be up to 1,000 pages, and depending on its findings, could force Clinton to resign or face impeachment by Congress. But Mr Starr rejected the request, saying that laws passed by Congress after Watergate were intended to ensure that "no barrier should intervene between the House of Representatives and its prompt receipt of impeachment-related information." Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott earlier suggested the president's lawyers may have made the request to stall any inquiry on Capitol Hill. "I wouldn't be surprised if they go to court to try to block it," he said. Leaders of the House of Representatives are to meet on Wednesday to discuss the procedures for dealing with the Starr report. According to some reports from Washington, Mr Starr may hand it over as early as this Friday. Campaign finance scandal In a further setback for President Clinton, the United States Attorney-General, Janet Reno, has announced a three-month investigation into whether advertising in his 1996 re-election campaign broke election rules. The inquiry could lead to the appointment of another independent counsel to examine the issue fully. At issue is whether the president tried to exceed campaign spending limits through more than $40m in advertising that was paid for by the Democratic Party, but was designed to promote Mr Clinton's re-election. White House Counsel Charles Ruff said the advertisements in question had been carefully reviewed by lawyers for the Democratic Party and for the Clinton re-election campaign. "In short, these ads were not only lawful, they were completely appropriate," said Mr Ruff. "We are hopeful that once the department has reviewed this matter fully, it will conclude that these ads were proper."

To: Lucky Lady who wrote (174)	9/9/1998 9:12:00 AM
From: SOROS	Respond to of 1151

USA Today - 09/09/98 WASHINGTON - While official Washington waits nervously for prosecutor Kenneth Starr's impeachment report, President Clinton is attempting some bridge-building with restive House Democrats. To that end, Clinton invited Minority Leader Dick Gephardt and other House Democrats to the White House Wednesday as members of Clinton's party continued to blister him with criticism for his extramarital affair with a former intern half his age. Starr's report, expected to focus on perjury, obstruction of justice and abuse of power, should land in Congress ''this week or next,'' Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott said Tuesday. The specter of a report that could gravely affect the Clinton presidency and hurt Democrats in the fall elections hovered like a dark cloud over the House's return Wednesday from a summer recess. House GOP leaders, meanwhile, were trying to forge a bipartisan spirit for handling a Starr report. Responding to a request from Gephardt, Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., was hosting an impeachment planning meeting that included leaders of the Judiciary Committee. Gephardt had expressed concern that his party would be shut out of the planning process. In the Senate, GOP presidential aspirant John Ashcroft, R-Mo., scheduled a hearing on whether a president could be indicted as well as impeached. Gephardt's spokeswoman, Laura Nichols, said the Missouri Democrat ''called the speaker last week and told him ... this was one of most important tasks Congress was about to take on.'' ''The process is going to determine whether or not this is going to be done in a way that follows our constitutional rules or follows the edict of partisan politics,'' Nichols added. Gingrich spokeswoman Christina Martin commented that the speaker ''has said since the beginning of discussions of the issue that we would proceed in a bipartisan manner.'' She said that while impeachment could be discussed at a GOP leadership session, ''I don't see it hijacking the elected leadership meeting.'' In contrast to the House leaders' efforts at harmony, there was only renewed bitterness Tuesday between Starr and Clinton lawyer David Kendall. Kendall had asked for an advance copy of the report so he could rebut its findings, but Starr rejected the request. ''You are mistaken in your views as to ... your right to review a report before it is transmitted to Congress,'' Starr wrote Kendall. The prosecutor, responding to Kendall's letter asking for access to the report a week early, wrote, ''I suggest you address your concerns to the House'' after any report is delivered under seal there. Politically, Gingrich could afford to avoid partisan statements while Democrats blasted Clinton's admitted sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky. ''We're fed up,'' said Sen. Ernest Hollings, D-S.C. ''The behavior, the dishonesty of the president is unacceptable and we'll see with the report what course the Congress will take.'' Sen. Barbara Boxer, the California Democrat whose daughter married Hillary Rodham Clinton's younger brother at the White House in 1994, called the president's behavior ''wrong,'' ''indefensible'' and ''immoral'' in her most extensive comments on the Lewinsky matter since Clinton's Aug. 17 admission of an inappropriate relationship with the former intern. ''He should have taken responsibility earlier,'' she said on the Senate floor. However, she went on to praise Clinton's agenda and accomplishments. Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle urged Clinton to elaborate on his recent apology, saying, ''I think that it's important that he continue to find appropriate forums in which to add to the comment that he's already made.'' Daschle commented after a meeting with fellow Democrats. ''There's not much that anyone could say about this that he has not said to himself,'' White House spokesman Mike McCurry said of the criticism from Democrats. ''I think he respects and understands people who are expressing themselves on the matter.''