Reprinted from The Washington Times , 5am -- May 7, 1998
Starr expected to call Clinton aides to testify
By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Whitewater prosecutors are expected to move soon to take advantage of a judge's ruling denying President Clinton the use of executive privilege, which paves the way for testimony of White House aides in the Monica Lewinsky probe.
The aides are Deputy Counsel Bruce Lindsey, the president's closest adviser, and presidential aide Sidney Blumenthal, who has led the internal White House attack on independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr and other Clinton critics. Both have refused to answer questions in prior grand jury appearances.
Among several conversations at issue are those Mr. Blumenthal had with first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Mr. Clinton declined yesterday to say if an appeal on the decision was in the offing, but some White House sources believe that an appeal in the case will be sought. But the president said his claim of executive privilege and that of President Nixon "are quite different in this case."
"But let me remind you, I have asked for the release of the briefs and the pleadings in the case so that you and the American people can evaluate my position and any differences that exist between that which we have asserted in previous assertions of executive privilege," he said.
If Mr. Clinton appeals, the similarities would multiply. Mr. Nixon appealed the rejection of his 1974 claim of executive privilege to an appeals court, and after it was rejected there, to the Supreme Court, where it also was rejected.
Meanwhile, Mr. Clinton's personal secretary, Betty Currie, testified for the second time yesterday before the grand jury at U.S. District Court in Washington. She was the first witness called in the Lewinsky investigation, testifying Jan. 27.
The grand jury wants to know if Miss Lewinsky was telling the truth when she boasted on 20 hours of secretly recorded audiotapes that she had an 18-month affair with the president and that Mr. Clinton and Washington lawyer Vernon E. Jordan Jr. told her to lie about it in the Paula Jones sexual misconduct lawsuit.
"She is not finished testifying. She will be back tomorrow morning," Mrs. Currie's attorney, Lawrence Wechsler, told reporters.
Also yesterday, the president's attorneys wrote Mr. Starr for the second time this year to accuse his office of "flagrant leaks" of grand jury materials -- in this case the executive privilege decision.
"It is disappointing that your commitment to your secrecy obligations ... is only verbal," Mr. Kendall wrote, citing a Fox News report Tuesday claiming the independent counsel's office as the source of its report on the decision.
Mr. Starr's spokesman, Charles Bakaly, denied the allegation, saying Fox has since reported that its attribution was in error.
"The allegations that this office improperly provided grand jury information are categorically false," Mr. Bakaly said.
- Warren P. Strobel contributed to this article, which is based in part on wire service reports.
Copyright 1998 News World Communications, Inc.
Reprinted with permission of
The Washington Times.
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