Starr’s report on Clinton reaches Congress
WASHINGTON (AP) -
Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr
< on Wednesday sent Congress a report
and supporting evidence of possible
impeachable offenses by President
Clinton, posing the gravest threat to a
president since Watergate, a source
familiar with the investigation said.
The source, who spoke on condi
tion of anonymity, said the report was
being sent to House Speaker Newt
Gingrich along with numerous boxes
of supporting material.
The action came just hours after
four Judiciary Committee aides
spoke with Starr’s office, the first
contact between the prosecutor and
the panel since the Monica Lewinsky
inquiry began in late January.
The developments came on a
whirlwind day in which Gingrich met
with other leaders from parties to pre
pare for the report
Clinton, meanwhile, apologized
anew for his conduct, both in a pri
vate, emotional meeting with House
Democrats at the White House and
later during a trip to Orlando, Fla.
“I let you down. I let my family
down. I let this country down. But
I’m trying to make it right I'm deter
mined to never let anything like that
happen again," Clinton told the
Florida audience. “I’m determined to
redeem die trust of people."
Gingrich, Democratic leader
Dick Gephardt and other top lawmak
ers ordered the telephone call to
Starr. The source said the staffers
involved were House Judiciary
Committee staff chief Thomas
Mooney, top Republican investigator
David Schippers, chief Democratic
counsel Julian Epstein and top
Democratic investigator Abbe
Lowell
Gingrich, Gephardt and other top
leaders decided to contact the prose
cutor to aid in drafting legislation that '
will enable the House to receive and
review Starr’s anticipated report, the
source said.
Officials want to make sure that
much of the material is made public
while grand jury testimony and other
information that could damage inno
cent individuals is kept under wraps.
Clinton made a remarkable per
sonal apology in the White House
residence to a group of leading House
Clinton releases aid
WASHINGTON (AP) - President
| Clinton released $20 million in aid for
refugees in violence-tom Kosovo on
Wednesday.
The aid announcement came as
NATO’s Southern European comman
der said die alliance would need about
50,000 troops if it has to monitor a
peace agreement in the province Whose
\ ethnic Albanian majority seeks inde
pendence from Serbia.
1 White House officials with Clinton
in Oriando, Fla., announced that the $20
million in aid comes from the U.S.
Emergency Refugee and Migration
Assistance fund, which the president
may draw tqxm.
An estimated 265,000 refugees
have been displaced because of Serb
attacks on Kosovar Albanian villages,
and Western government and private
groups fear thousands could die without
assistance.
The money, added to an eariier con
tribution of $11 million, will go to U.N.
and private agencies providing food and
shelter for refugees in the province,
White House officials said. The United
Nations is seeking $54 million world
r
wide to help avert a humanitarian crisis
in Kosovo.
In another forum Wednesday, U.S.
Adm. T. Joseph Lopez said if a cease
fire agreement can be achieved in
Kosovo similar to the one in Bosnia,
about 50,000 NATO troops would be
needed to enforce the peace.
Lopez, NATO commander for the
region, emphasized that such a number
“is not firm,” because the situation in
the turbulent province remains so unset
tled, and a peace agreement is not yet in
sight “It’s a fluid situation,” he said.
The four-star admiral who also
leads U.S. naval forces in Europe said
the size of Washington’s contribution to
such a force would be up to the nation^
political leadership.
NATO military planners have been
considering a wide range of options for
Kosovo, where hundreds have died in
six months of battle between Serb-led
forces and Kosovo Albanian rebels.
Though NATO is striving for a
diplomatic solution to the turmoil, “we
will be prepared” for military action
should die diplomats come up empty
handed, Lopez said
Nrfw&bm
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THE DALY NEBRASKAN
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u-—
Many of the mistakes that
President Nixon made are being made
all over again.”
Robert C. Byrd
former Senate majority leader
Democrats, and on which a senior
Democrat compared Clinton’s han
dling of the current scandal to
Richard Nixon’s behavior during
Watergate a quarter-century ago.
“Many of the mistakes that
President Nixon made are being
made all over again,” declared former
Senate Majority Leader Robert C.
Byrd, D-W.Va., in a floor speech in
which he added that lawmakers
should be careful not to rush to judg
ment
Talking with reporters after the
meeting, Gingrich said the report
should be made available to
Americans as soon as possible. “The
public has a right to know,” he said.
Gephardt also said Clinton should
be permitted to fashion a formal
response to the report “before it is
made public.” Gingrich was noncom
mittal, but did not flatly reject the
suggestion.
Clinton’s attorney, David Kendall,
was rebuffed by Starr earlier this
week when he asked for a chance to
issue a rebuttal before Starr submits
his report to lawmakers.
“Next to declaring war, this may
be the most important thing we do so
we have to do it right,” Gephardt, D
Mo., said in a joint news conference.
“We have to do it objectively, fairly
and in a nonpartisan way. I think we
have a good start today ”
Ex-boxer LaMotta sues
Swissair for son’s death
■ The lawsuit states the
airline should have known
of wiring problems.
NEW YORK (AP) - Former
boxing champion Jake LaMotta
sued Swissair and the Boeing Co.
on Wednesday for the death of his
son in last week’s jet crash off
Nova Scotia.
The $50 million lawsuit, filed
in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn,
claims that both Swissair and
Boeing should have known about
wiring problems on the MD-11
aircraft and did little or nothing to
correct them.
“There were three airworthi
ness directives issued by the FAA
pointing out problems with
'wiring, chafing, short-circuiting
and causing smoke and fires in the
aircraft, most importantly from
behind the control panel in the
cockpit,” said Mitch Baumeister,
an aviation attorney representing
LaMotta.
A 11 AAA ««« • « .
/ui i.L'j people on poara rngni
111, including LaMotta’s 49-year
old son, Joseph, were killed when
the plane plunged into the Atlantic
on Sept. 2, about one hour after
taking off from New York for
Geneva. The elder LaMotta’s loss
was all the more painful because
his only other son, Jake Jr., died of
cancer earlier this year at age 51.
Minutes before the crash, the
pilot reported smoke in the cock
pit from an apparent mechanical
or electrical Mure and requested
an emergency landing. The plane
crashed about 15 minutes later.
The cause of the crash is under
investigation.
LaMotta’s lawsuit charges that
Swissair and Boeing, which owns
McDonnell Douglas, the manu
facturer of the MD-11, were aware
of three directives issued by die
«
There needs to be
focus on the growing
problem of defective
wiring in all air
carrierfleets,
especially the
MD-11 ”
Mitch Baumeister
LaMotta’s attorney
FAA between 1996 and 1997. The
directives advised and warned of
possible in-flight fires and smoke
in an MD-11 due to wiring prob
ICTUS.
The FAA mandates required
that any damaged wiring be
replaced and that anti-chafing
sleeving on the wire bundles be
installed.
While FAA mandates do not
apply to foreign carriers, Swissair
officials have said that they volun
tarily complied with the direc
tives.
“There needs to be focus on
die growing problem of defective
wiring in all air carrier fleets,
especially the MD-11,” said
Baumeister. “We have had a
Band-Aid approach to a specific
defect that gets uncovered when
something like this happens.”
LaMotta, 76, held the mid
dleweight tide from 1949 to 1951
and was portrayed by Robert
DeNiro in Martin Scorsese's 1980
film, “Raging Bulk” Son Joseph
helped run his father's tomato
sauce and boxing memorabilia
businesses.
Daily Nebraskan. I
flnlliM
www.unl.edu/DailyNeb
Russia deadlock continues
MOSCOW (AP) - Russia spent
another day without a fully function
ing government Wednesday, its
economy unraveling while President
Boris Yeltsin pondered the next move
in his political chess game with par
liament
Yeltsin apparently was consider
ing alternatives to acting Prime
Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin,
including a Communist whose nom
ination undoubtedly would sail
through die leftist-dominated parlia
ment. But there were signs that
Yeltsin might insist on
Chernomyrdin after all.
The political stalemate is exacer
bating Russia’s economic collapse,
which was reflected Wednesday by
rising prices and a spread of emer
gency measures, such as price con
trols, in some regions of the country.
Surprisingly, however, the coun
try’s tattered currency, the ruble,
bounced back a bit Rubles, which
were selling at about 20 to die U.S.
dollar Ttiesday, rose in street sales to
as strong as 10 to the dollar, although
rates varied widely. The official rate
was 15.77 rubles to the dollar.
Unrest plagues Cambodia
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia
(AP)- Police used guns, chibs and a
water cannon Wednesday to scatter
rock-throwing demonstrators
demanding the ouster of Cambodian
leader Hun Sen.
Anger rippled through die streets
on an unconfirmed report that a
Buddhist monk was killed in the
clash.
The unrest in Cambodia, in its
third day, is die most serious since
last year’s bloody coup, in which
Hun Sen ousted his co-premier,
Prince Norodom Ranariddh, the son
of Cambodia’s constitutional
monarch.
Hun Sen held parliamentary
elections in July in a bid to lend legit
imacy to his rule, but opponents say
he won by massive fraud.
They have threatened to with
hold die support Hun Sen needs in
die National Assembly to form a new
government
About 1,000 protesters were dis
persed in the clashes Wednesday
morning, which occurred near the
U.S. Embassy and Ranariddhh resi
dence, a new focal point of discon
tent since riot police broke up a
protest camp Tuesday at the National
Assembly.
4,000 minks given freedom
HELSINKI, Finland (AP) -
Thousands of scampering minks
< caused havoc on roads in southern
Finland after being freed from a fur
farm early Wednesday.
No one immediately claimed
responsibility for the prendawn raid,
but police blamed it on animal rights
activists.
“Many of the freed minks were
run over by cars, or killed each other
because they are predatory animals,”
Police Chief Inspector Rune Swahn
said. “Many won’t survive because
they are used to being fed.”
No other damage was reported at
the farm in Kirkkonummi, 20 miles
west of Helsinki. Officials feared
similar attacks in the future, saying
that several fur farms had received
threatening letters from animal rights
activists. r N
