Busy Or Just Stalling?

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

September 21, 1998 / 11:11 AM EDT / CBS

President Clinton's lawyer cited crises in Iraq and Asia, the legality of Linda Tripp's tape recordings, and concerns about grand jury leaks as he declined a half-dozen invitations from prosecutors for the president to testify about Monica Lewinsky.

The repeated refusals made prosecutors in independent counsel Kenneth Starr's office increasingly angry, according to letters that detail a previously secret war of words between Clinton lawyer David Kendall and the prosecutors.

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"This exercise...makes clear that the president has no intention and never has had any intention of cooperating with this grand jury or this investigation," deputy counsel Robert Bittman wrote in one April letter.

The letters also disclose that in his early attempts to keep Mr. Clinton from the grand jury, Kendall suggested to prosecutors that the president's January testimony in the Paula Jones case about Lewinsky was accurate and all prosecutors needed.

The president last month admitted that that testimony was misleading and that he misled his own advisers about it. Starr has accused Mr. Clinton of perjury.

Mr. Clinton's deposition in the Jones lawsuit "allows you to obtain the president's information on the Lewinsky matter," Kendall wrote prosecutors on March 18.

"We continue to believe that the forty deposition pages of testimony...on this topic set forth the essentials of this matter," Kendall wrote.

The letters, released Monday by the House, detail an eight-month effort to get Mr. Clinton before the grand jury, an effort that resulted in a historic subpoena to the president in July, an agreement in August to withdraw the subpoena and, finally, Mr. Clinton's videotaped testimony Aug. 17 to the grand jury.

The letters show that when Mr. Clinton received his first invitation from prosecutors to volunteer testimony just a week into the Lewinsky matter, Kendall cited the president's busy schedule as the reason not to testify.

"The situation in Iraq continues to be dangerously volatile," Kendall wrote. "The continuing Southeast Asian economic crisis, and the Bosnian situation also demand a great deal of the president's time," he added.

Prosecutors scoffed.

"Since this matter arose, the president has -- with all respect -- found time to play golf, attend basketball games and political fund-raisers, and enjoy a ski vacation," Bittman wrote in early March.

A month later, Bittman went even further, accusing Kendall of "backpedaling and misdirection."

Kendall refused to give ground, turning his attacks on the crdibility and integrity of Starr's investigation in a series of letters that:

Accused Starr of a possible conflict of interest since Starr considered, before becoming independent counsel, filing a legal brief for Paula Jones' lawyers.
Raised concerns about alleged grand jury leaks.
Questioned the legality of the tapes that Tripp made of her conversations with Lewinsky and turned over to prosecutors, prompting the investigation.

"We remain concerned about some of the well-publicized and questionable investigative techniques used by your office," Kendall wrote.