Starr Defends Probe, Says: ‘We Want the Truth’

WASHINGTON —  Independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr delivered an impassioned defense Thursday of his investigation into the nature of the president’s relationship with a former White House intern and declared, “We want the truth.”

Starr, speaking to reporters in Little Rock, Ark., rejected criticisms that his investigation has improperly gone beyond its original charter of reviewing Clinton’s participation in an Arkansas land deal known as Whitewater.

And he added that he is preparing for the possibility that top Clinton aides will invoke executive privilege to avoid answering questions from the grand jury.

“We are going by the book. We want the truth. We want all the truth,” Starr said, referring to his negotiations with lawyers for the former intern, Monica S. Lewinsky.

Starr, appearing relaxed and a bit jovial in a dark blue suit and red tie, faced reporters after absorbing more than a week’s worth of scathing accusations from Clinton’s defenders that he is part of an extremist fringe bent on destroying the president.

His comments also came amid polls showing a loss of public confidence in him, alongside surging, all-time-high approval ratings for Clinton.

Starr was in Little Rock for a hearing on an unrelated matter, the upcoming trial of former Arkansas Gov. Jim Guy Tucker, when he was peppered with questions about the crisis besetting the Clinton White House.

Starr said negotiations with the 24-year-old Lewinsky’s attorneys were focused on learning what she knew, “completely, accurately. And we will satisfy ourselves that we’re getting the truth. And that is the absolute, bedrock point.”

Starr added: “We want people to be accurate and truthful with us. That is the bottom line. There must be truthfulness. There must be accuracy. There must be completeness.”

Starr is investigating whether Lewinsky and Clinton were involved sexually, and if the president encouraged her to deny that they had such a relationship. On Jan. 7, Lewinsky signed a sworn affidavit denying any sexual relationship with the president.

Starr’s office is also investigating whether Lewinsky was promised help from Clinton and his advisor Vernon E. Jordan Jr. in securing a new job in exchange for her denial.

On Thursday, prosecutors and lawyers for Lewinsky appeared to harden in their differences. Investigators have wanted the opportunity to again question Lewinsky in person before finalizing any agreement that would fully immunize her from prosecution on charges of perjury.

Lewinsky’s lawyers have balked at that request. On Thursday night, Starr’s office in Washington issued a written statement, saying “department prosecutors routinely require a face-to-face interview with a witness in Ms. Lewinsky’s position before deciding on immunity.”

The statement continued: “There is no substitute for looking a witness in the eye, asking detailed questions, matching the answers against verifiable facts, and, if appropriate, giving a polygraph test.”

Lewinsky’s lead attorney, William Ginsburg, later issued a statement in response to Starr. “His continued insistence that he cannot have a face-to-face talk with Ms. Lewinsky has no basis in fact,” Ginsburg said. He would not elaborate.

Ginsburg has said previously that Lewinsky would consent to a polygraph test, but only after his client is granted full immunity.

Lewinksy, who grew up in Beverly Hills, earlier this week went home to Southern California to visit her father.

Ginsburg said he may return to Washington next week. But he held out little public hope that a deal could be struck to protect his client from the prospect of prosecution.

“I’m not going to be intimidated by a man with a mission,” Ginsburg said of Starr. “I’m really convinced now I’m going to have to defend her. No more games.”

Also Thursday, Clinton’s personal secretary reportedly told investigators Clinton gave her an account of his relationship with Lewinsky that mirrored his testimony in the Paula Corbin Jones lawsuit.

The New York Times, quoting lawyers familiar with her account and with Clinton’s testimony in Jones’ sexual-harassment lawsuit, said secretary Betty Currie told investigators Clinton said he had never been alone with Lewinsky and had “resisted her sexual advances.” Currie, however, reportedly told investigators the president and Lewinsky sometimes were alone and that she turned over gifts to investigators which she retrieved from Lewinsky.

Meanwhile, the president appeared to keep alive the prospect that he would authorize the assertion of executive privilege in connection with the grand jury testimony of certain top aides.

Clinton indicated to reporters at a brief photo session with British Prime Minister Tony Blair that he has not foreclosed the option.

“For four years we’ve been cooperating exhaustively,” Clinton said, referring to the now-expanded investigation of the Whitewater affair.

Clinton added: “Should it [the question of invoking executive privilege] arise, I will await a recommendation from the White House counsel about the institutional responsibilities of the presidency, and when I get it, then I’ll make a decision.”

White House lawyers have informed prosecutors they are considering whether to use this or other legal privileges, ostensibly to keep confidential certain conversations the aides may have had with the president.

One of those aides, Deputy White House Chief of Staff John D. Podesta, appeared for an hour or so Thursday before the grand jury that is reviewing evidence gathered in Starr’s investigation.

Podesta, who last fall encouraged United Nations Ambassador Bill Richardson to interview Lewinsky for a job, signaled after his appearance that he had not invoked any legal privileges.

“I did answer all of the questions put to me today,” Podesta said, adding that he is scheduled to return today for further questioning.

One person familiar with Podesta’s testimony said prosecutors questioned him about his conversations with Ambassador Richardson regarding Lewinsky, and also about the physical layout of the White House and its workings.

Officials have not yet identified when another senior White House aide who has been subpoenaed, Deputy Counsel Bruce R. Lindsey, will appear before the grand jury.

When asked Thursday about the possibility that the White House would assert executive privilege, Star said: “We have to do what we have to do to get out the facts. I have the utmost respect for the presidency and separation of powers. We will therefore of course assess any such issue as it might arise.”

Starr said “everyone recognizes that it is a serious matter indeed for there to be an invocation of executive privilege.”

He added that while the president’s right to confidentiality of some communications is a “recognized constitutional privilege,” the effect of invoking it in the Lewinsky case “would be to prevent the grand jury from getting specific information.”

Despite the difficulty of negotiating with Lewinsky’s lawyers for her cooperation, and the matter of executive privilege, Starr maintained that his investigation is “moving very quickly.”

“We have made very significant progress,” he said.

When asked if his office was responsible for “leaks” of information, Starr said:

“No. But I share the concern with any assault on the rule of law. It is something that we learn as schoolchildren in this country, that we are governed not by human will, we say a government of laws and not of men and women. It has to be that we abide by the rules.”

Clinton, during his photo session with Blair, again defended his conduct in matters relating to the Lewinsky controversy.

“I’ve already said that the charges are false,” Clinton said.

“But there is an ongoing investigation. And I think it’s important that I go back and do the work for the American people that I was hired to do. I think that’s what I have to do now.”

Blair, who met with Clinton to discuss the two nations’ posture toward Iraq, was not asked about the Lewinsky matter during the photo session, held in the Oval Office. However, Blair did address it in a piece he wrote for the Daily Telegraph in London on Thursday. He complained that the press, “on both sides of the Atlantic,” is sometimes “more interested in trivia than policy issues.”

In another development, attorneys for Jones filed legal papers urging the federal judge to deny a request from the president’s attorneys that the May 27 trial be moved up to March 23.

Jones’ lawyers argued that Clinton is trying to avoid facing, for a protracted time, both the Jones lawsuit and the allegations concerning Lewinsky.

Times staff writers Elizabeth Shogren and Glenn F. Bunting contributed to this story.

* DICEY DOCTRINE: Clinton considers invoking executive privilege. A14