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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 23, 1998)
Clinton stands by denial WASHINGTON (AP) - President Clinton sought to calm the firestorm over his alleged affair with a White House intern Thursday as his friend Vernon Jordan acknowledged that he tried to get the young woman a job when she left Washington - and took her to see a lawyer after she came under scrutiny. Monica Lewinsky remained out of sight as she prepared for a deposition Friday in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case. Clinton made his firmest denial yet to Lewinsky’s claims that she had an affair with Clinton and that he and Jordan asked her to deny it to Jones’ attorneys. “The allegations are false, and I would never ask anybody to do anything other than tell the truth,” Clinton said.‘Lewinsky herself has denied the claims she made in tape-recorded conversations with her friend Linda Tripp. Jordan added to the denials at a press conference Thursday afternoon in remarks the White House hoped would dampen political specula tion in Washington. “I want to say to you absolute ly and unequivocally that Ms. Lewinsky told me in no uncertain terms that she did not have a sexu al relationship with the presi dent,” Jordan told reporters. He would not answer any questions. Jones’ attorneys had a wide ranging subpoena served on the White House Thursday seeking all documents and evidence concern ing Lewinsky’s employment there, her contacts with the president and others and other information sought in a similar subpoena issued by Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr a day earlier, offi cials said; The fresh denials from Clinton and Jordan came as details emerged about Lewinsky’s entries to the White House and gifts she got from the president. Clinton sought to avoid any defensiveness as he faced ques tions about the Lewinsky matter during a photo session with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. “You and the American people have a right to get answers,” he told reporters. “We will give you as many answers as we can, as soon as we can, at the appropriate time ... and that’s not a dodge.” Lewinsky was scheduled to be deposed m Washington by lawyers for Jones, and was said to be con sidering declining to testify and invoking her Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination. She has sworn in an affidavit that she did not have an affair with Clinton, a declaration apparently at odds with what investigators heard on Tripp’s tapes. White House aides, speaking on condition of anonymity, made a point of raising questions about Lewinsky. One described her as “totally infatuated” and “getting too close” to the president. The officials said they did not suspect an affair but felt she was spending too much time around the presi dent. The investigation was prompt ed when Tripp, a former White « You and the American people have a right to get answers” Bill Clinton president House staffer, provided Starr with tapes of almost 20 hours of con versations she had with Lewinsky. The tape recordings of Lewinsky began last summer, after Clinton attorney Robert Bennett suggested Tripp wasn’t telling the truth about another allegation regarding Clinton and another White House staffer, Kathleen E. Willey. In one tape obtained by Newsweek, Lewinsky is heard saying she had an affair with Clinton and that later both the president and Jordan asked her to lie about it. Newsweek reported that the tapes show Lewinsky soured on the president and refers to him as “the big he” and “the creep.” But she also said on the tapes, “I have lied my entire life,” the magazine said. Newsweek report ed Starr’s office arranged a sting operation with Tripp and tried unsuccessfully to get Lewinsky to participate in a sting against Jordan. Roe decision could still be overturned ABORTION from page 1 contraceptives. Seven years later, the court overturned a similar law involving unmarried people. The Griswold deci sion laid the groundwork for the right to-privacy basis of the Roe decision, Duncan said. The last opportunity the court had to overturn Roe vs. Wade was with 1992’s Planned Parenthood vs. Casey, in which the court imposed a new standard to determine the validity of laws restrict ing abortion, Duncan said. In the 5-4 decision, the court said it was unconsti tutional for any law to impose an “undue burden” or a “substantial obsta cle” in the path of a woman’s right to abortion. However, while maintaining Roe, the court also upheld waiting periods before having an abortion, informed consent, and laws requiring minors to receive parental consent before an abor tion. Funk said those laws made it more difficult for women - especially those living in rural areas - to get an abortion. Kriss and Funk said serious ramifi cations would result if the court over turned the decision, including a higher health risk for women, deaths from ille gal abortions, more children born in poverty or non-nurturing environments, and die restricting of women’s rights of privacy. “Abortion is never a decision that a woman wants to make,” Kriss said. “But if the option is taken away, it only causes more desperation.” Norma McCorvey, known as “Jane Roe” in the Roe vs. Wade case, had questioned the validity of a Texas law that made abortion a crime unless the mother’s life was at stake. McCorvey gave her child up for adoption while fighting the law. In 1995, McCorvey announced die had reversed her posi tion on abortion and became a volunteer for Operation Rescue, an active anti abortion group. When: January 25,1998 ; Where: Ross Film Theatre-Sheldon Times: 3:00,5:00,7:00, 9:00 PM Cost: $4.00 Students, $6.00 Non Students s_ I - • I te$no&a iim bns 9u§i tef <«(! rrnv ‘ *xftr S6", ; bf*. 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