Acquiescing to a historic, risky interrogation, President Clinton reached an agreement with Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr on Wednesday under which Clinton will testify about the Monica Lewinsky matter on Aug. 17.
Clinton’s private lawyer, David Kendall, announced what seemed to be important concessions by Starr: The testimony will be videotaped at the White House, meaning Clinton will not be questioned live before the grand jury, and the president will have attorneys present.
But there was no indication that prosecutors would be limited in the scope of their questions.
As a result of the agreement, Starr is withdrawing the subpoena he issued to Clinton on July 17, said a senior administration official. It was the first time a sitting president had been subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury.
Meanwhile, Linda Tripp, Lewinsky’s former friend who secretly recorded their conversations, completed her testimony and in an emotional public statement defended her role in the Clinton-Lewinsky drama. She also vigorously denied authorship of a controversial piece of evidence.
Kendall, in a two-sentence statement to reporters outside the White House, sought to play down the unprecedented nature of the president’s submitting to what is likely to be a harsh, embarrassing examination.
“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. “The president’s testimony will be videotaped at the White House with lawyers present.”
No other president has given testimony to a grand jury in a criminal investigation in which he is the prime target. Clinton has been questioned by Starr’s prosecutors several times in the past, before the Lewinsky matter erupted, and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton appeared before the grand jury in January 1996.
But none of those occasions arose in response to the issuance of a subpoena, and none occurred, as this session will, with formal allegations seeming imminent.
The agreement comes one day after Lewinsky received immunity in exchange for cooperating with prosecutors and two days after Clinton’s closest adviser, Bruce Lindsey, was ordered by a court to testify.
“Every day becomes more historical,” said Stephen Hess, a presidential scholar at the Brookings Institution who worked for President Richard Nixon. “Each day we have something that we can call a first. The first testimony by a president in a case of a criminal nature, in a case in which he is a target, is unquestionably historic.”
White House staffers, who had been on edge ever since news of the subpoena emerged over the weekend, were cheered by the announcement that Clinton would testify. “Any day you can get facts into the ether is a good day around here,” said White House press secretary Mike McCurry.
Clinton had planned a two-week vacation to Martha’s Vineyard the week he is now scheduled to testify. Instead, he will spend the preceding weekend preparing for his testimony and will join Hillary Clinton and their daughter, Chelsea, after the questioning concludes.
This week’s rapid-fire sequence of events seems to confirm that Starr is on the verge of wrapping up his six-month investigation into allegations that Clinton lied under oath about an alleged affair with Lewinsky or encouraged others to do so.
The independent counsel also is investigating allegations related to a 20-year-old Arkansas land deal in which the Clintons were involved, as well as accusations surrounding alleged White House misuse of FBI files and the 1993 firing of the White House travel office staff.
Members of Congress, who must decide whether to initiate impeachment proceedings based on Starr’s findings, expressed relief at the news that Clinton will testify rather than fight the subpoena and prolong the investigation.
“This is the only way to bring the matter to a conclusion,” said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), echoing the sentiments of many Democrats as well as Republicans. “The president has to tell his side of the story under oath.”
Key House Republicans said Congress could conceivably press ahead with possible impeachment proceedings before the November election.
Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.), who heads the House Judiciary Committee, which will receive Starr’s report, said the speed of Congress’ inquiry will depend on the complexity of Starr’s evidence. It could take many weeks, or–if the evidence is straightforward–his committee could take up the impeachment question “bang, bang, bang,” Hyde said.
Tripp, who has been mostly quiet throughout the controversy, spoke to reporters outside the courthouse.
“There has been a great deal of speculation about just who I am and how I got here,” said Tripp, visibly uncomfortable in the spotlight. “Well, the answer is simple. I’m you. I’m just like you. I’m an average American who found herself in a situation not of her own making.”
Tripp, who worked in the White House and Pentagon, has been perhaps the most vilified figure in the Lewinsky controversy. She responded Wednesday to her frequent portrayal as a monster who secretly taped the anguished confidences of a young, vulnerable woman.
“I ask you to imagine how you would feel if someone you thought was a friend urged you to commit a felony that could jeopardize your job, potentially put you in jail and endanger the well-being of your children,” Tripp said, a reference to allegedly being asked to lie about Lewinsky’s purported affair with Clinton.
A mini-furor flared up over what had originally been depicted as one of the most damaging pieces of evidence Starr had: “talking points” Lewinsky gave Tripp that suggested ways to fudge the truth.
If the document had come from Clinton or his allies, it was suggested, that would provide tangible proof of obstruction of justice.
But news reports suggested Wednesday that Lewinsky is now telling prosecutors that she wrote the talking points with Tripp’s help. Tripp reacted angrily.
“I had nothing–let me repeat, nothing–to do with preparing the so-called talking points,” Tripp said.
Although reports on how Lewinsky will testify are unconfirmed, any disagreement on key facts between Tripp and Lewinsky, Starr’s prize witnesses, would present difficulties for the independent counsel.
White House spokesman James Kennedy seized on the talking points turnabout to warn the press not to jump to conclusions about the evidence against the president.
“For the past six months, Starr and his allies have promoted the talking points as the smoking gun of the investigation, despite the lack of any evidence of the White House being responsible for them,” Kennedy said. “This shows the danger of having rumors turn into conventional wisdom.”
Clinton’s Aug. 17 session with prosecutors is likely to be a hard-hitting interrogation. When Starr’s lawyers have questioned Clinton in the past, the sessions have been attended not only by Clinton’s private lawyers, but also by representatives of the White House counsel’s office.
History suggests, Hess said, that Clinton will continue to deny any affair with Lewinsky.
“Presidents, when they get in trouble, always do what’s worked for them before,” Hess said. “Nixon always gave a `Checkers’ speech. Clinton gives denials. In this case, I think it would be a mistake. The American people may not believe it.”
An alternate view is that the American people simply do not care much, or at least not as much as those in the nation’s capital.
Durbin said that’s what his experience suggests. “I just spent a weekend in Southern Illinois, going from town to town, and not a single person raised the issue,” Durbin said. “Then I came back to Washington, and that’s all anyone was talking about.”
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