Sources: Starr Trying To Compel Secret Service Lawyer To Talk
By Pierre Thomas and Bob Franken/CNN
WASHINGTON (April 20) -- Independent Counsel Ken Starr is attempting to compel a Secret Service lawyer to give information about conversations he might have had with officers and agents concerning what they witnessed inside the White House, sources tell CNN.
Starr has filed a motion in his continuing effort to get Secret Service personnel to testify about their knowledge of President Bill Clinton's relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
These sources say Starr is utilizing a "novel" approach, in seeking the testimony of Secret Service lawyer John Kelleher.
Sources say Starr contends that Kelleher's conversations with the agents and officers are not covered by attorney-client privilege. Starr is relying on a Supreme Court ruling last year that government attorneys work for the people and not public officials.
That was the effect of a high court decision ordering White House lawyers to turn over their notes of conversations with first lady Hillary Clinton following her Washington grand jury appearance.
The motion in the Secret Service matter has caused some of the attorneys at the Justice Department and Treasury Department -- of which the Secret Service is part -- to question the legal wisdom of resisting Starr as he tries to question Secret Service officials in his Lewinsky investigation, sources tell CNN.
Starr has filed his motion in response to administration claims that some Secret Service information about the activities of the president should be off-limits to prosecutors because security of the chief executive could be compromised.
|
News
Lewinsky