Starr Asks Supreme Court For Fast Executive Privilege Ruling

Lewinsky gives fingerprints, handwriting samples

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, May 28) -- Independent Counsel Ken Starr asked the Supreme Court Thursday for a fast ruling in his tug of war with the White House over executive privilege for President Bill Clinton's closest aides, whose testimony Starr is seeking in the Monica Lewinsky investigation.

Starr's latest move came just hours after Lewinsky, a former White House intern, complied with an order to provide fingerprint and handwriting samples to the FBI. And in still another development, sources told CNN a federal judge has ruled in favor of Starr in a dispute with booksellers over Lewinsky's book purchase records.

Starr petitioned for an "expedited response" by the Supreme Court just one day after the release of a federal judge's decision rejecting Clinton's executive privilege claims for two of his top aides.

"This case is of high moment," Starr declared in his filing. "It is strongly in the nation's interest that the case be resolved quickly so that the grand jury's investigation can move forward at the earliest practicable date."

If the justices agree, it could mean they would hear Starr's case before the end of the current term, set to end June 30.

White House officials say they always knew a request for expedited review was an option for Starr, but officials conceded they were caught by surprise as far as the timing of Thursday's motion.

In an order filed Tuesday and released Wednesday, Judge Norma Holloway Johnson formally ordered White House Deputy Counsel Bruce Lindsey and communications adviser Sidney Blumenthal to testify before Starr's grand jury investigating the Lewinsky matter. The grand jury is looking into reports that Clinton had a sexual relationship with Lewinsky and encouraged her to lie about it under oath. Clinton has denied both accusations.

Judge Johnson said the White House aides must testify about their discussions with the president and first lady Hillary Clinton about Lewinsky, calling it "some of the most relevant and important evidence" in the investigation.

In a 34-page decision, the judge concluded a president's conversations with aides about such a matter can be covered by executive privilege, but Starr had successfully argued that the information "cannot feasibly be obtained elsewhere."

The order can be appealed by the White House, which already has filed a notice to the court that preserves that option. Starr's motion to the high court is trying to preempt such an appeal, which would drag out the investigation.

The Supreme Court already is scheduled to hear Starr's appeal for a waiver of attorney-client privilege so that he can gain access to deceased White House Deputy Counsel Vince Foster's lawyer's notes. Those arguments will be heard June 8.

Lewinsky gives fingerprints, handwriting samples

Lewinsky, 24, left the FBI's Los Angeles field office after a 2 1/2-hour visit without commenting to the press. But she remains ready to return to the FBI office if Starr orders more fingerprint and handwriting samples, according to a statement Thursday by her spokeswoman, Judy Smith.

"She complied with the court order directing her to appear for handwriting and fingerprint samples and spent approximately two-and-a-half hours doing so," Smith's statement said. "She complied fully pursuant to the directives of the Office of the Independent Counsel. If any additional samples are necessary, she remains ready to provide them."

Experts say the samples are necessary to corroborate evidence that Starr has been gathering and prove whether it was Lewinsky's fingerprints on the so-called "talking points" paper she gave her former friend Linda Tripp and on the gifts the president reportedly gave Lewinsky. Starr also wants to determine whether Lewinsky's handwriting is on letters to friends in which she reportedly described her relationship with Clinton.

Her supporters and some legal experts say Starr's pursuit of the samples is a prosecutorial squeeze play designed to get her to change her story denying a sexual relationship with the president. They argue Starr easily could have gotten the samples from the Pentagon, where she had a security clearance.

Accompanying his daughter to the FBI offices, Bernard Lewinsky called his daughter a pawn in a scheme to "get" Clinton.

"I would like the American people to know that my daughter is a pawn, that Kenneth Starr is trying to use her as a pawn to get the presidency. This is unfair. It is totally un-American," he said in a brief statement.

In the letter, Ginsburg calls on Clinton to fire Starr, whom he brands "an anti-constitutional monster" and a "dangerous creature." Starr refused to comment on the letter.

But the letter raised eyebrows because it seems to suggest Clinton and Lewinsky may have had a consenting sexual relationship. Ginsburg writes, "Congratulations, Mr. Starr! As a result of your callous disregard for cherished constitutional rights, you may have succeeded in unmasking a sexual relationship between two consenting adults."

But in a subsequent phone interview with CNN, Ginsburg denied he was referring to his client or was confirming any specific sexual relationship.

"I cannot believe that Mr. Starr has spent over $40 million in taxpayer money to look into the president's personal life," Ginsburg told CNN. "That's all I meant. That's all my letter says. I am not saying anything about Monica."

Clinton's testimony under negotiation

Meanwhile, sources tell CNN that Clinton, through his personal attorneys, has been in ongoing negotiations with Starr's office about the possibility of testifying "in some form" in the Lewinsky investigation.

Clinton, through his attorneys, has so far declined several requests to appear for testimony, a source confirmed. The source did not give a specific number to indicate how many times Clinton has declined to testify.

The Associated Press reported that Clinton has, since February, turned down four or five invitations to testify.

Explanations for the continued refusals range from Clinton's busy schedule to the White House's distrust of Starr and his prosecution team, The Associated Press reported.

In the months since the allegations first surfaced about Clinton and Lewinsky's possible ties, Clinton has repeatedly denied the accusations, and he has vowed to present the facts to the public.

Judge rules in favor of Starr in bookstore dispute

In another apparent legal victory for Starr, sources connected to booksellers tell CNN Judge Johnson has issued a still-sealed opinion against them and in support of Starr.

The special prosecutor has subpoenaed records of purchases by Lewinsky from two Washington, D.C., bookstores, Kramerbooks and Barnes & Noble. The booksellers argued Starr was violating First Amendment rights.

The judge, according to the sources, has disagreed.

The booksellers say they will hold a news conference in Washington at 11 a.m. EDT Friday to announce plans to appeal.

Vernon Jordan once again before the grand jury

Vernon Jordan, a close confidant and golfing partner of the president, testified again Thursday morning before the Lewinsky grand jury.

"For the fourth time I have answered every question over and over and over again," Jordan said afterward. "I will return for a fifth visit with this grand jury on June 9 where again, I suspect, I will have to answer the same questions over and over and over again and I am quite prepared to do that."

Jordan previously testified for two days in March and another time earlier this month, presumably about why he sought to find Lewinsky a job in the private sector.

After his March testimony, Jordan told reporters he helped Lewinsky search for private employment in New York and introduced her to her first attorney. He also said he "kept the president of the United States informed about my activities."

But Jordan insisted that he "did not in any way tell her, encourage her, to lie, and secondly, that my efforts to find her a job were not a quid pro quo for the affidavit that she signed" in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case, denying an affair with the president.

CNN's Wolf Blitzer and Bob Franken and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Thursday, May 28, 1998

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