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Politics : Clinton's Scandals: Is this corruption the worst ever? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Zoltan! who wrote (8429)	10/17/1998 2:17:00 PM
From: Who, me?	Respond to of 13994

10/17/98 -- 1:42 PM Starr probes Landow in Willey matter using Virginia grand jury WASHINGTON (AP) - Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr is using a federal grand jury in Virginia to investigate the activities of a prominent land developer and Democratic fund-raiser who had contacts with presidential accuser Kathleen Willey, legal sources say. Starr's prosecutors are looking into whether Nate Landow tried to influence or discourage Mrs. Willey's testimony against the president. They also have been reviewing his involvement in a land controversy that was a subject of Senate hearings into alleged campaign fund-raising abuses, the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Friday. A grand jury in Alexandria, Va., questioned Democratic political consultant Michael Copperthite for four hours Thursday about his contacts with Landow and his alleged threats against an attorney for the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indian tribes of Oklahoma, the sources said. Copperthite had taken the Indians to Landow for help in re-claiming tribal land. The sources who described Copperthite's testimony are in the legal profession but outside Starr's office. Mrs. Willey has accused President Clinton of making an unwanted and crude sexual advance inside the Oval Office in 1993 and she became a witness in Paula Jones' sexual harassment lawsuit against him. Prosecutors have been investigating Landow for months since Mrs. Willey amended her testimony in the Jones lawsuit in February to say that ''Nate Landow discussed my upcoming deposition testimony with me.'' Landow invoked his constitutional rights and declined to answer questions when Starr's prosecutors sought to question him early in the probe. Mrs. Willey testified to the grand jury in Washington that investigated the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Starr's prosecutors subsequently moved the probe of Landow to the grand jury in Alexandria, across the Potomac River from Washington. A lawyer for Landow, who has been a major figure in Democratic politics for years, acknowledged Starr's interest in his client but predicted he would be cleared of any wrongdoing. ''We won't predict the direction of the independent counsel's investigation, but we know it will prove that Nate Landow did nothing wrong,'' attorney Joe Caldwell said Friday. Landow had Mrs. Willey to his home in Maryland late last year around the time a judge ordered her to testify in the Jones case. As part of Starr's probe, prosecutors are investigating alleged harassment of Mrs. Willey last November. Someone put nails in her car tires at her home near Richmond, Va., and an unknown jogger made threatening remarks to her, she has said. Starr is investigating whether those incidents were part of an effort to dissuade her testimony in the Jones case. A former White House volunteer, Mrs. Willey drew national headlines in March when she detailed her allegations against Clinton in a CBS ''60 Minutes'' interview. The White House has questioned her allegations, at one point releasing letters she wrote after the alleged incident. The letters speak of the president in glowing terms. Copperthite introduced Landow to tribal representatives of the Cheyenne and Arapahos. They said Landow declared that in order to get help with a longstanding tribal land claim they were making, the Indians must pay $100,000 plus $10,000 a month to the law firm of former Clinton campaign manager and fund-raiser Peter Knight. Earlier, the tribes had donated $107,000 to the Democratic National Committee in 1996 in an effort to win the Clinton administration's support for the claim. Landow, the tribal leaders alleged, touted Knight's close relationship with Vice President Al Gore. The tribal leaders said Landow also solicited them for a contribution to a Gore 2000 Committee. Landow denies marketing Knight's close relationship with Gore. Copperthite testified in the Senate campaign fund-raising investigation in 1997 that Landow made threats, telling him and a lawyer for the tribes that they had to do business with him or he would make sure they never got the land back. Landow denied making the threats and Democratic committee investigators attacked Copperthite's credibility as a witness by alleging he had falsified job resumes. Under terms of proposed business arrangements that never came about, Landow was to get 10 percent of any settlement price for development of the land the tribes were trying to get and 10 percent of any revenue from gas or oil extraction. The tribes never got the land. In his grand jury testimony, Copperthite also described telephone calls he got from Landow after the news media found out about the proposed business arrangements, the legal sources said. ''Mr. Copperthite's testimony is likely to be as suspect before the grand jury as his testimony was last year before the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs,'' said Caldwell, Landow's lawyer. tampabayonline.net