Ickes Called Before Starr Grand Jury
Lewinsky's lawyers meet with Starr
WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, June 10) -- Former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Harold Ickes appeared before Independent Counsel Ken Starr's Alexandria, Va., grand jury Wednesday.
Ickes is now working as a volunteer at the White House, helping President Bill Clinton deal with the various investigations that are underway.
The presidential adviser was expected to be questioned on what role, if any, he played in the allegedly illegal release of information about Linda Tripp, the woman who secretly taped her conversations with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. In those tapes, Lewinsky reportedly said she had had a sexual relationship with the president.
The controversy over Tripp's personnel records began in March while Tripp's allegations that Lewinsky confessed an affair with Clinton to her were still front-page news. The New Yorker magazine came to the Pentagon with a story that Tripp, a Pentagon employee, had been arrested as a teenager and may have failed to volunteer that on her security clearance form.
The Pentagon's chief spokesman, Ken Bacon, has admitted he released information from Tripp's personnel file. Bacon insists the White House was not behind the decision.
Starr's office is investigating whether Clinton had an affair with Lewinsky and asked her to lie about it, and whether Clinton friend Vernon Jordan played any role in trying to keep her from telling the truth. Clinton and Jordan have denied the allegations.
Meanwhile, Lewinsky's new lawyers, Plato Cacheris and Jacob Stein, met Tuesday with Starr in an attempt to revive immunity negotiations for their client, sources told The Associated Press.
Source: Secret Service employees have responded to some of Starr's questions
An unspecified number of Secret Service personnel have responded to limited questioning by Starr's staff, according to a source familiar with the Secret Service's negotiations with Starr.
Over the past several weeks, Secret Service personnel have been providing Starr some information concerning Lewinsky's visits to the White House.
The depositions relate to information the agency does not consider privileged, such as information about Lewinsky's general comings and goings.
For example, Secret Service officials have discussed giving Lewinsky clearance to enter White House grounds.
But agents and officers are refusing to answer questions dealing with specific observations involving the president, and the issue remains in litigation.
CNN's Bob Franken and Pierre Thomas contributed to this report.
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