Clinton agrees to testify in Lewinsky case
WASHINGTON (AP)—President
Clinton agreed Wednesday to break six
months’ silence and provide video
taped testimony regarding his relation
ship with former White House intern
Monica Lewinsky. The session with
Whitewater prosecutors was set for
Aug. 17—with attorneys present
Clinton’s testimony seems likely to
conflict with Lewinsky’s. Legal
sources say she has told prosecutors
she had sexual relations with Clinton
and they discussed ways of concealing
it Clinton denied this last winter.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Ortin
Hatch, R-Utah, said it appears indepen
dent counsel Kenneth Starr is examin
ing Clinton for three possible crimes—
peijury, causing someone else to com
mit peijury, and obstruction of justice.
“We’re now in the closing throes of
this,” Hatch said. “... It’s in everybody’s
interest to get this over with.”
Clinton’s arrangement with Starr
averted an unprecedented presidential
appearance under subpoena before a
federal grand jury where witnesses
appear without counsel. Starr agreed to
withdraw the subpoena to accommo
date Clinton, and the president will
delay his Martha’s Vineyard vacation to
testify.
Among a drumbeat of develop
ments, new details about Lewinsky’s
potential testimony emeiged, including
suggestions that she will provide a
damaging account of the return of gifts
she had given the president.
At the U.S. courthouse, Linda
Tripp, the woman whose secret tape
recordings of Lewinsky prompted the
investigation, spoke publicly for the
first time, presenting herself as a com
mon citizen and lashing out at her crit
ics from the White House to
Hollywood.
“I have been vilified for having
taken the path of truth,” Tripp, visibly
shaking, said after wrapping up eight
days of grand jury testimony.
“I have been maligned by people
who have chosen not to tell the truth
and who know they are not telling the
truth,” she said.
Tripp, who worked inside the
Clinton White House and now works
for the Pentagon, said that between
1993 and 1997 she learned of “actions
by high government officials that may
have been against the law” and became
fearful.
“The things I witnessed concerning
several different subjects made me
increasingly fearful that this informa
tion was dangerous, very dangerous to
possess,” she said explaining why she
approached prosecutors in January
with 20 hours of telephone tapes she
secretly made of her conversations with
Lewinsky.
The announcement concerning
Clinton’s testimony came a day after
Lewinsky reached a deal to cooperate
with prosecutors. Legal sources say she
will reverse course from a sworn affi
davit in the Paula Jones case and testify
that she had a sexual relationship with
Clinton and discussed with the presi
dent ways they could conceal it.
Such an account would contradict
Clinton’s sworn testimony to Jones’
attorneys. Clinton has said little pub
licly since the controversy erupted in
January, except that he did not have a
sexual relationship with Lewinsky and
did not ask her to lie.
Senior officials said Clinton is pre
pared to stick by his denial of any sexu
al relationship with Lewinsky.
Meanwhile, a potential conflict
between Tripp and Lewinsky’s account
emerged. Sources familiar with
Lewinsky’s account say she is prepared
to testify that she authored the so-called
talking points she handed Tripp on Jan.
14 that suggested possible testimony in
the Jones lawsuit.
Lewinsky has told prosecutors, the
sources said, that no one from the
White House assisted the effort and the
document was mostly a compilation of
things she had previously discussed
with Tripp. But Tripp on Wednesday
adamantly denied any role in the talk
ing points.
“I have testified to the fact that I
had nothing, let me repeat, nothing to
do with preparing the so-called talking
points. Allegations to the effect that I
contributed to or assisted in any way
with the creation of the talking points
are as illogical and as they are patently
false,” Tripp said.
Legal sources told The Associated
Press on Wednesday that Lewinsky has
offered prosecutors testimony explain
ing why she returned gifts from Clinton
to the White House. Lewinsky’s testi
mony could be pertinent “to an issue of
obstruction of justice,” one source said,
declining to be more specific.
The sources familiar with
Lewinsky’s account, who spoke only
f
66
This is not a discussion about sexual
propensities or sexual peccadilloes.
Obstruction is a very serious thing.”
Orrin Hatch !
Senate Judiciary Chairman
_
on condition of anonymity, said the for
mer intern’s account will explain why
the gifts were returned to presidential
secretary Betty Currie shortly after
Lewinsky was subpoenaed last
December to testify in die Jones’ case.
The sources stopped short of say
ing if Lewinsky would directly impli
cate Clinton in some way. But the one
source said Lewinsky’s testimony
would make clear that only Clinton,
Lewinsky and Currie knew about the
gifts and before they “somehow got
back to the White House, somebody
had to say something.”
The announcement of the deal for
Clinton’s testimony unfolded in theatri
cal fashion as the president’s private
attorney, David Kendall, emerged from
the White House to provide first word.
“In an effort to achieve a prompt
resolution of this entire matter, the
president will voluntarily provide his
testimony on Aug. 17, 1998 to the
Office of Independent Counsel, as he
has on prior occasions,” Kendall said.
On Capitol Hill, anticipation grew
that a possible impeachment report
may soon be sent by Independent
Counsel Kenneth Starr.
“This is not a discussion about sex
ual propensities or sexual peccadil
loes,” Hatch said. “Obstruction is a
very serious thing.”
Noting that Starr’s investigation
already has cost $40 million, Sen.*
Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the senior
Democrat on Hatch’s committee, was
more blunt: “Wrap this sucker up!”
While publicly insisting Clinton
wanted to testify, presidential aides pri
vately cheered an agreement that elim
inated the political specter of Clinton
becoming the first chief executive ever
to be compelled to testify to a grand
jury investigating his conduct.
Under the deal described by White
House officials, prosecutors withdrew
a grand jury subpoena they had issued
to Clinton on July 17, agreed to let the
president have his lawyers present dur
ing questioning and spared him from
having to go to the courthouse like
other grand jury witnesses.
In return, Clinton’s legal team
agreed to the August date instead of
waiting until September — after the
president’s summer vacation and trip to
Russia f— as they had suggested previ
ously, officials said.
University fires Hibler,
denies chance to retire
By Jennifer Walker
Co-editor
After six months of lawsuits,
press conferences and hearings,
English professor David Hibler
has been removed from his posi
tion at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln.
The NU Board of Regents met
Saturday and fired Hibler, stat
ing he was guilty of sexual
harassment and unprofessional
conduct.
The Academic Rights and
Respopsibilities Committee
began investigating sexaul
harassment claims made by two
students, Valerie Giunca and
Rania Schlien, earlier this year.
Giunca alleged Hibler came
to her apartment and forced her
to lie on the floor while he fon
dled her. Schlien alleged Hibler
published her writing on the
internet without her permission.
, Regent Charles Wilson of
Lincoln stressed that it was
these, and other incidents, that
led to Hibler’s termination, and
not an e-mail message he sent
over a UNL listserv in February.
“This act was taken because
of a rather long list of inappro
priate, unprofessional conduct
by professor Hibler.
“I strongly emphasize that it
has nothing to do with the email
controversy.”
Wilson noted that the investi
gation into Hibler’s conduct
began before the emailing..
“This process was underway
before that event occurred,” he
said. “It is not a free speech
issue. It is unprofessional con
duct, repeated unprofessional
conduct.”
According to the Lincoln
Journal-Star, on July 23, Hibler
sent a letter to Regents Chairman
Robert Allen of Hastings
requesting an unpaid leave of
absence until Nov. 22, in the
hopes he could receive early
retirement. Hibler turns 55 that
day, the minimum age for retire
ment. ’
Wilson said that request was
not taken into consideration at
the Regents meeting.
“That request was denied.
Hibler’s tenure was revoked and
his employment terminated,”
Wilson said. >
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