Reprinted from The Washington Times , 5am -- May 8, 1998
Starr aide insists leaks motion be pulled
By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Whitewater prosecutors Thursday told President Clinton's personal attorney to withdraw a motion accusing independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr's office of leaking secret grand jury information -- or face the consequences.
In a terse letter, deputy independent counsel Jackie M. Bennett Jr. told David E. Kendall that his motion was "not only wrong, but reckless."
"Although we understand your keen desire to once again change the subject when you receive bad news, we demand that you withdraw the motion ... by noon on Friday, May 8, 1998," Mr. Bennett said.
"Otherwise, we will take appropriate action. ... We owe you no courtesy after [Wednesday's] abusive filing."
Lawyers and others close to the Monica Lewinsky sex-and-lies grand jury probe said appropriate action could include a motion by Mr. Starr to Chief Judge Norma Holloway Johnson to find Mr. Kendall in contempt for filing a motion he knew was false, or to have the Washington lawyer sanctioned for filing a frivolous motion.
"If they were playing hardball before, this would be called death ray now," said one lawyer familiar with the Starr-Kendall flap.
Mr. Kendall filed a motion Wednesday with the U.S. District Court in Washington accusing the office of leaking still-sealed grand jury information on a judge's ruling denying the president's claim of executive privilege.
The sources said Mr. Starr's office was livid over what it perceived as untrue and unwarranted threats by Mr. Kendall to seek a court order to hold the independent counsel in contempt "for these latest flagrant leaks" concerning the judge's executive privilege ruling.
Mr. Bennett labeled as "categorically false" accusations that the independent counsel's office leaked information on Judge Johnson's ruling to Fox News, as claimed by Mr. Kendall. Fox News said its attribution that Mr. Starr's office was the source of the executive-privilege ruling was a "mischaracterization" and the erroneous attribution was due to a miscommunication between reporters.
"We have been advised that you now have perfect knowledge of the source of the reports," Mr. Bennett said in his letter.
The sources said the independent counsel's office has decided that it is going to respond immediately when inaccurate or incorrect statements are made.
Mr. Kendall did not return calls to his office for comment but said in a letter to Mr. Starr on Wednesday that it was "disappointing that your commitment to your secrecy obligations ... is only verbal."
Under federal law, it is illegal for a court officer to leak grand jury materials or sealed documents.
This week's attack by Mr. Kendall is not the first time he has accused Mr. Starr of leaking grand jury information. Last year, in an unusually accusatory letter, he said Mr. Starr violated grand jury secrecy rules in a "leak-and-smear" campaign aimed at discrediting first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The letter, which had been approved by Mr. Clinton, accused Mr. Starr of conducting a "public-relations offensive" he called "unprecedented and profoundly ill-advised," saying the independent counsel had embraced tactics "wholly inconsistent with your professional obligations as a prosecutor."
White House Press Secretary Michael McCurry acknowledged at the time that Mr. Kendall had discussed the letter with the president after he became "somewhat provoked" by an article in the New York Times Magazine and "just felt enough was enough and it was time to say some things publicly."
Mr. Starr rejected the accusations, denying any suggestion of impropriety. He said that neither he nor his staff had violated grand jury secrecy rules and that information in the article came from public court records.
The White House has continued a campaign to discredit Mr. Starr over the past several months, much of it led by adviser Sidney Blumenthal. Mr. Blumenthal has strongly attacked Whitewater prosecutors, labeling Mr. Starr as a "zealot on a mission divined from a higher authority" and describing deputy independent counsel W. Hickman Ewing Jr. as a "religious fanatic."
Mr. Blumenthal attacked the two prosecutors mercilessly in a speech at Harvard, saying, "Ken Starr is on an endless quest, if not for vindication, then of vindictiveness. But I am certain that in historical retrospect this perverse episode will be viewed in its proper perspective, as Jefferson viewed the Alien and Sedition Acts, in his words, 'a reign of witches.'"
Meanwhile, Mr. Clinton's personal secretary, Betty Currie, testified for three hours Thursday before the sex-and-lies grand jury, followed by a White House steward, Glen Maes, the fourth White House steward to be called.
Mrs. Currie, who testified for six hours on Wednesday, is expected to be called again, according to her attorney, Lawrence Wechsler. "We will be back. I'm not sure when," he said. She was the first witness called when the grand jury convened on Jan. 17.
Mrs. Currie and the White House stewards, who also act as valets to the president, are in a position to observe the comings and goings of those who visit the White House Oval Office.
The grand jury is investigating accusations on 20 hours of secretly recorded audiotapes of Miss Lewinsky that she had an 18-month sexual relationship with Mr. Clinton and that the president and White House insider Vernon E. Jordan Jr. told her to lie about it in the Paula Jones sexual misconduct lawsuit.
Mr. Clinton and Mr. Jordan have denied the accusations.
The president told Mrs. Jones' attorneys in a Jan. 17 deposition that he talked with Mr. Jordan about helping Miss Lewinsky find a job, but he said the search was initiated by Mrs. Currie. Mr. Jordan's attorney, William Hundley, said there was "no question" Mrs. Currie acted on Mr. Clinton's behalf.Copyright 1998 News World Communications, Inc.
Reprinted with permission of
The Washington Times.
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