ad info

CNN.com
 MAIN PAGE
 WORLD
 ASIANOW
 U.S.
 U.S. LOCAL
 ALLPOLITICS
  TIME
  analysis
  community
 WEATHER
 BUSINESS
 SPORTS
 TECHNOLOGY
 NATURE
 ENTERTAINMENT
 BOOKS
 TRAVEL
 FOOD
 HEALTH
 STYLE
 IN-DEPTH

 custom news
 Headline News brief
 daily almanac
 CNN networks
 on-air transcripts
 news quiz

 CNN WEB SITES:
CNN Websites
 TIME INC. SITES:
 MORE SERVICES:
 video on demand
 video archive
 audio on demand
 news email services
 free email accounts
 desktop headlines
 pointcast
 pagenet

 DISCUSSION:
 message boards
 chat
 feedback

 SITE GUIDES:
 help
 contents
 search

 FASTER ACCESS:
 europe
 japan

 WEB SERVICES:
 TIME on politics Congressional Quarterly CNN/AllPolitics CNN/AllPolitics - Storypage, with TIME and Congressional Quarterly

Starr quietly continues White House investigation

By Pierre Thomas/CNN

February 19, 1999
Web posted at: 6:03 p.m. EST (2303 GMT)

WASHINGTON (February 19) -- Independent Counsel Ken Starr's grand jury quietly convened here this week, a clear sign that his investigation is not over despite President Bill Clinton's acquittal by the Senate last week.

What is Starr looking at now?

One area is the Kathleen Willey matter. Willey, a former White House volunteer, claims Clinton groped her at the White House in 1993. Clinton flatly denies the charge.

But Starr's investigators continue to pursue allegations of a White House plan to intimidate Willey once the story became public.

Starr's office has been talking with private investigator Jared Stern. Sources say he was hired by an associate of prominent Democratic donor Nate Landow after Willey repeated her accusations on CBS last March.

"My client was instructed by his then-employer to conduct an investigation of Kathleen Willey," Stern attorney Edouard Bouquet said. "He wasn't necessarily given the reasons why."

CNN has learned part of Stern's investigation involved reviewing Willey's telephone records.

"There was some indication from his employer that this had 'come from the White House,' but my client has no independent knowledge of that," Bouquet said.

Stern's employer has since died.

Stern is now cooperating with Starr. He has been granted immunity and made two grand jury appearances last year. Stern also talked with the independent counsel's investigators within the last month.

"I think that he (Starr) believes that my client was involved in some attempt to obstruct justice in the Kathleen Willey investigation," Bouquet said.

Landow and Willey were friends at the time but he told CNN he "never pressured Willey in any way." And he said he had nothing to do with hiring a private investigator.

On the allegation of a White House role in the hiring of Stern, Landow attorney Joe Caldwell said "at no time did Landow or anybody on his behalf have any connection with the White House concerning Kathleen Willey."

And White House spokesman Joe Lockhart told CNN any suggestion of White House involvement is "purely baseless and ridiculous."


Investigating the President

MORE STORIES:

Friday, February 19, 1999

Search CNN/AllPolitics
          Enter keyword(s)       go    help


© 1999 Cable News Network, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.
Who we are.