Focus Turns To Blumenthal

Frustrated that the Senate apparently won't pursue accusations of perjury that have been leveled against presidential aide Sidney Blumenthal, House prosecutors are hoping to find a more receptive audience at the Justice Department or prosecutor Kenneth Starr's office.

Journalist Christopher Hitchens and his wife signed affidavits stating that Blumenthal told them last March that former White House intern Monica Lewinsky was a stalker. Journalist Scott Armstrong signed an affidavit Monday saying he was told by Hitchens and his wife, Carol Blue, about their conversation with Blumenthal and the "stalker" comment.

Blumenthal told the Senate last week that he never fed the news media President Clinton's false account from January 1998 about his relationship with Lewinsky.

Regarding the possibility of a criminal probe of Blumenthal, Starr spokesman Charles Bakaly declined to comment and Justice Department spokesman Myron Marlin said Congress has made no formal referral.

House managers pressed the Senate to subpoena the three journalists.

"The president may have engaged in an intimidation campaign" against Lewinsky in January 1998 and Blumenthal "may have testified falsely before the Senate," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde, R-Ill., wrote the Senate majority and minority leaders. Democrats eager to conclude the trial objected to Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott's motion to admit the affidavits of the three journalists.

Minority Leader Tom Daschle said an investigation of Blumenthal now would be a waste of time, reports CBS News Correspondent Sharyl Attkisson.

"We don't need additional witnesses," Daschle said. "We don't need additional time spent on further depositions. We need to get on with the final elements of this trial. That means Senate deliberation and finally a vote on the articles. That is what I think we need to do."

Blumenthal said he was told by the president in January 1998 that Lewinsky said her peers referred to her as "the stalker" and that Mr. Clinton said he'd rebuffed a sexual demand she made on him.

Last week, Blumenthal told the Senate, "I never told any of my colleagues about what the president told me... I didn't mention it to my friends, I didn't mention it to my family, besides my wife. ... And I certainly never mentioned it to any reporter."

In a statement Sunday, Blumenthal said, "As I testified to the Senate, I talked every day about the stories in the news concerning Miss Lewinsky to my friends and family, just as everyone else is doing."