Clinton Case 'Far From Over'

The independent counsel wrapping up the investigation of President Clinton says he has not ruled out filing criminal charges and is bringing in investigators from the FBI and
other agencies to help him decide.

In a television interview Sunday, Robert Ray said he has not determined Mr. Clinton's possible criminal liability. It was the first time he publicly discussed the possibility that the president might be prosecuted in the Monica Lewinsky matter.

A federal judge in Little Rock, Ark., has held Mr. Clinton in civil contempt for 10 alleged lies in a sworn deposition that "no reasonable person would seriously dispute." The president's affair with Lewinsky, a former White House intern, led to perjury and obstruction of justice charges on which he was impeached in 1998. The Senate voted not to remove him from office.

Ray announced last week that he found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing by White House officials or first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in the 1996 "Filegate" episode.

Ray said Sunday on ABC's "This Week" that he made that decision after finding no evidence of "dissemination for partisan political purposes" of hundreds of files of Republican former White House employees that the FBI was ordered to deliver to Clinton staff members.

Despite that decision, Ray said the five-year, $50 million investigation that began with former Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's look at the Clintons' Whitewater real estate dealings is far from over.

Ray has sworn in two new attorneys, will be hiring others and is bringing in investigators from the FBI and other agencies.

"I am anticipating making judgments about whether or not it is appropriate to bring prosecutions," he said. "I intend to have the assistance of experienced people, experienced prosecutors, to help me make those judgments."

"There is - as the public is well aware - a matter involving the president of the United States in connection with the Lewinsky investigation," Ray continued.

"The country went through the matter of impeachment. The judgment was made by the country that it was not appropriate to remove the president from office," he said. "It is now my task as a prosecutor, with a very limited and narrow focus, to determine
again whether crimes have been committed and whether ... it is appropriate to bring charges."

Ray promised that his investigation will be fair and thorough, adding: "There is a bigger issue here, and the bigger issue is yet to be vindicated. And the issue to be vindicated is that no person, including the president of the United States, is above the law."

White House spokesman Jim Kennedy referred a request for comment to Mr. Clinton's personal counsel. Presidential lawyer David Kendall did not return a message left at his office Sunday.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., told ABC he does not think Ray is conducting a partisan investigation, but he said many Americans fee enough is enough.

"My basic view is that the common-sense view of the American people is the right view, which is the president has been punished. He has the mark of Cain on his forehead he could never erase," Schumer said. "And that we ought to ... go on to other things."

Ray said the Lewinsky investigation is not the only one left on his agenda.

"It is my judgment based upon the several mandates that we have ... to arrive at reasoned and considered judgments with respect to each, and when those decisions are made to release them ... eventually to the public," he said.

He said he should be finished "during the course of this year."

Schumer said that there are risks involving the legal process in politics, specifically Mrs. Clinton's campaign for the Senate from New York.