Starr's report accuses Clinton of lying in portions of his Aug. 17 grand jury testimony as well as his Jan. 17 sworn testimony in the Paula Jones lawsuit, the sources said, speaking only on condition of anonymity.
The referral Starr sent on Wednesday lays out detailed evidence that prosecutors contend shows Clinton committed perjury, obstruction of justice, witness tampering and abuse of power, the sources said.
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| AP PHOTO President Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton walk outside the Oval office at the White House last night. |
White House spokesperson Joe Lockhart declined comment yesterday except to refer to Clinton lawyer David Kendall's statement Wednesday. Kendall said the report represents ''only the prosecutors' allegations'' and ''there is no basis for impeachment.''
The report, which lawmakers expect to make public today, will cite specific contacts the president had with Currie last December and January and with Lewinsky in July 1997 - both during critical periods in the Jones lawsuit - as evidence of efforts to thwart the litigation, the sources said.
The report details what prosecutors assert was a pattern of lying by Clinton and an effort to sustain such lies by using government employees and resources after Starr's criminal investigation expanded to the Lewinsky matter in January. The evidence ranges from a false statement Clinton approved for his press secretary to put out on the morning the Lewinsky story broke Jan. 21 to the legal battles he allowed his aides to fight to block access to witnesses, the sources said.
It will detail Clinton summoning Currie to the Oval Office the day after he gave his sworn deposition in the Jones case last January, testimony in which he denied sexual relations with Lewinsky and said she visited the White House frequently to see Currie.
The White House originally dismissed the Currie meeting as an effort by the president to ''refresh his recollection'' about Lewinsky's visits. But now that the president has admitted he did have a sexual relationship with Lewinsky, prosecutors portray the meeting as part of an effort to influence Currie as a potential witness, the sources said.
Starr's report also points to a nighttime Oval Office meeting on July 14, 1997, between Clinton and Lewinsky as an early encounter in a months-long pattern of trying to derail the Jones harassment lawsuit, sources said.
The meeting occurred around the time there were growing signs that Jones' lawyers were about to expand their case to other women, including former White House volunteer Kathleen Willey.
Willey would later go public with allegations that the president made an unwanted sexual advance in the Oval Office. She was subpoenaed by Jones' lawyers two weeks after Clinton met with Lewinsky.
In the July 14 meeting, about 9:30 p.m., Clinton initiated a discussion with Lewinsky about reaching out to her friend Linda Tripp, to whom Willey had confided the alleged episode, sources familiar with the meeting say.
The two noted that Tripp had been trying to reach presidential confidant Bruce Lindsey for some time to tell him a reporter was inquiring about Willey. Clinton suggested Lewinsky persuade Tripp to get in touch with Lindsey again, and over the next several days he made several follow-up phone calls to see where matters stood, the sources said.
About the same time, Clinton also acted on a long-standing request by Lewinsky that he help her get a job back at the White House. She had been transferred to the Pentagon in 1996 by aides suspicious of her behavior, and Clinton finally asked presidential personnel aide Marsha Scott in summer 1997 to see if there was a job she could find for the former intern, the sources said.
Lewinsky was never brought back to the White House, though.
The White House scoffed at any suggestions that the contacts had anything to do with obstructing justice.
09-11-98
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