Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:


Aired April 5, 1998 - 10:00 p.m. ET 

                     CORRECTED COPY 

                     THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE
                     IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. 

                     (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) 

                     ANNOUNCER: Now on IMPACT, an exclusive interview
with
                     the book agent at the heart of allegations about a
White House sex
                     scandal. 

                     LUCIANNE GOLDBERG, LITERARY AGENT: She said, well,
                     a friend of mine, a woman I work with at the
Pentagon, is Clinton's
                     girlfriend. 

                     ANNOUNCER: The agent who told Linda Tripp to make
the
                     tapes, the tapes that launched a scandal. 

                     ART HARRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What could you tell
                     us that you did hear? 

                     GOLDBERG: It referred to evidence of sex with the
president. 

                     ANNOUNCER: Also on IMPACT, a man returns to Selma
to
                     confront the ghosts of his past. 

                     CLARK OLSEN: Ghosts in the sense of my experience
of utter
                     terror. 

                     ANNOUNCER: Ghosts from when the nation was at war
with
                     itself. 

                     (SINGING): All the way from Selma town. 

                     ANNOUNCER: Ghosts of a murder long forgotten, a
murder that
                     changed history, a murder still unsolved today. 

                     C. OLSEN: He was found not guilty. I believe he is
guilty. 

                     ANNOUNCER: Finally, on IMPACT, the cruise industry
on a
                     course for fun and profits. 

                     UNIDENTIFIED TRAVEL AGENT: This year is going to be
an
                     absolute record year for the cruise industry. 

                     ANNOUNCER: Today's cruise companies pump up the
profits by
                     updating their image. 

                     LIZ SUTTON, TRAVEL AGENT: When I get a person that
says
                     to me, "Oh, Liz, I don't want to do a cruise. I've
done a cruise
                     before." I'll often say, "How long ago?" 

                     ANNOUNCER: IMPACT, CNN and "Time" on special
                     assignment, with Bernard Shaw in Washington, D.C.
and Stephen
                     Frazier in Atlanta. IMPACT, a collaboration of two
of the world's
                     leading news organizations -- CNN and "Time." 

                     From Washington, D.C., here is Bernard Shaw. 

                     (END VIDEO CLIP) 

                     BERNARD SHAW, CO-HOST: Welcome to IMPACT. Tonight,
                     a first-hand account from the heart of the
investigation of President
                     Clinton. Paula Jones' suit against Mr. Clinton was
dismissed, but
                     the president's legal problems are far from over.
Independent
                     counsel Ken Starr says he'll press on. 

                     His latest investigation started with Linda Tripp's
tapes of former
                     White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Tripp won't
talk, but we
                     talked tonight to the woman who told Tripp to tape. 

                     IMPACT's Art Harris now with Lucianne Goldberg's
exclusive
                     tale of why and how those recordings were made. 

                     (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) 

                     GOLDBERG: She said, a friend of mine, a woman I
work with at
                     the Pentagon, is Clinton's girlfriend. And she
started to explain this,
                     what I found, hair-raising tale about this kid. 

                     HARRIS (voice-over): Lucianne Goldberg describing
last
                     summer's phone call from Linda Tripp, the former
White House
                     secretary. They had become good friends while
working on a
                     book idea, Tripp had once proposed, disparaging the
Clinton
                     White House. 

                     GOLDBERG: I said, had you, do you have any proof?
Do you
                     have letters? Do you have pictures? Do you have
like a second
                     source that has, you know, seen anything? And she
said, no. And I
                     said, well, how often do you talk to this woman?
And she said,
                     every day, non- stop, at home, before dinner, after
dinner, early in
                     the morning. She said, I talk to her all the time.
And I said, well, I
                     can't see any other thing for you to do to prove
that you're telling
                     the truth, is to tape these phone calls. 

                     HARRIS (on camera): Get Monica Lewinsky on tape? 

                     GOLDBERG: Just buy a cheap tape recorder and put it
on your
                     phone, and when she calls you at home, get a tape
of it so you can
                     prove that you talked to this girl and that this is
the truth. 

                     HARRIS (voice-over): Goldberg says Tripp was scared
and
                     angry. Just weeks before, Clinton lawyer Bob
Bennett said Linda
                     Tripp was not to be believed. "Newsweek" had quoted
Tripp
                     describing Kathleen Willey as "happy and joyful"
after telling Tripp
                     Clinton had kissed and fondled her in the White
House. 

                     GOLDBERG: Having been called a liar publicly would
mean
                     anything she might say in the future, they would
point to the
                     president's lawyer and say, well, she can't be
believed. 

                     HARRIS: Tripp was also worried "Newsweek" reporter
Michael
                     Isikoff, who talked to her for the Willey story,
might be on to
                     Monica Lewinsky. 

                     GOLDBERG: She said, I need a friend I can talk to
somebody.
                     Michael Isikoff is after me and he may know more
than I think he
                     knows. 

                     HARRIS: Tripp was also afraid because she knew too
much. She
                     knew Willey. She was friends with Lewinsky. And if
she got
                     subpoenaed in the Paula Jones case, she would have
to tell what
                     she knew about two women and the president. 

                     At first, Goldberg says, Tripp balked at taping her
friend. 

                     GOLDBERG: And she didn't want to do it. 

                     HARRIS (on camera): Why? 

                     GOLDBERG: She said, I feel sleazy doing it. I don't
want to do
                     that. 

                     HARRIS (voice-over): Goldberg said she'd better
reconsider. 

                     GOLDBERG: And I said, well, OK, they'll trash you.
They'll
                     destroy you. 

                     HARRIS: So Tripp began taping. And to shore up
Tripp's
                     credibility, Goldberg also advised her to talk to
the "Newsweek"
                     reporter again and, this time, tell him about
Monica Lewinsky. 

                     (on camera): October, 1997, it was about 6:00 p.m.
when Tripp,
                     Goldberg and Isikoff met here at Goldberg's
Washington
                     apartment for about an hour. Tripp brought the
tapes, but the
                     reporter didn't listen to them. Mike Isikoff tells
IMPACT, he didn't
                     want to be party to any taping. He did listen
carefully to Tripp's
                     story, though, because he had been hearing about a
mysterious
                     White House intern and the president. Now, for the
first time, he
                     had a name -- Monica Lewinsky. 

                     As for Goldberg, now she had copies of two tapes. 

                     (voice-over): Tapes she brought here, to her New
York
                     apartment, where Goldberg brokers book deals, a
former political
                     operative who once spied for Nixon. 

                     HARRIS (on camera): Nixon, Goldberg, in a
presidential trip? 

                     GOLDBERG: Yeah. That was from the McGovern plane. 

                     HARRIS (voice-over): When you were a spy? 

                     GOLDBERG: Yeah. 

                     (LAUGHTER) 

                     HARRIS (on camera): What was that like? 

                     GOLDBERG: It was fun! Food was terrible. 

                     You call up the best file for us. We plotters and
schemers and vast
                     right wing conservative spies, is this one here. 

                     HARRIS (voice-over): Goldberg is now an unabashed
Clinton
                     basher. 

                     GOLDBERG: All righty. 

                     HARRIS: She dines on political gossip from her New
York lair. 

                     (on camera): Some critics are painting you as a
book agent
                     provocateur. 

                     GOLDBERG: Oh, well. It makes a good copy, but it's
not true. 

                     HARRIS: Listen, Goldberg, right wing operative,
former Nixon
                     operative... 

                     GOLDBERG: Right. 

                     HARRIS: ... spy on the McGovern plane. 

                     GOLDBERG: Right, wife, mother, damn good cook, good
literary
                     agent, good friend, and, you know, all around
decent gal. 

                     HARRIS (voice-over): A conservative gal who sells
fact and
                     fiction. The book proposal she'd once worked on
with Tripp went
                     nowhere, but this time when Tripp called, Goldberg
figured, book
                     deal or not, Tripp needed protection. 

                     Then Goldberg listened to the tapes and heard Tripp
and
                     Lewinsky talking about an affair both the president
and Lewinsky
                     have since denied under oath. 

                     (on camera): You've called the tapes, quote,
"shocking beyond
                     belief." 

                     GOLDBERG: Yes. 

                     HARRIS: Why? 

                     GOLDBERG: Because they are about a young 23,
24-year-old
                     girl having a sexual relationship with the
president of the United
                     States in the Oval Office. Now, I'm sorry. I find
that shocking. 

                     HARRIS: What could you tell us that you did hear?
Sex with the
                     president? 

                     GOLDBERG: It referred to, yeah, evidence of sex
with the
                     president. 

                     HARRIS: Oral sex? 

                     GOLDBERG: Yes. The tapes will come out someday and
you can
                     hear all of it. 

                     HARRIS: Believable? 

                     GOLDBERG: Oh, of course. 

                     HARRIS: Why? How? 

                     GOLDBERG: I know that Monica Lewinsky was having an
affair
                     with Bill Clinton. I can't prove it. Linda Tripp
can prove it, she has
                     the tapes. 

                     HARRIS (voice-over): Tapes that portray Lewinsky as
the other
                     woman, who was a little more than a heartbreak kid. 

                     (on camera): What is the tone of Monica Lewinsky? 

                     GOLDBERG: Sort of semi-hysterical when she's
talking about
                     him. You know, girl in distress. 

                     HARRIS: Girl in love? 

                     GOLDBERG: Yeah, I suppose. Yeah. Oh, yeah, she's in
love,
                     yeah. 

                     HARRIS: Could it have been a fantasy? 

                     GOLDBERG: No, absolutely not. 

                     HARRIS (voice-over): Monica Lewinsky crying on the
shoulder of
                     Linda Tripp, who saw herself as a big sister. 

                     GOLDBERG: The thing that Monica was going through
with the
                     president not seeing her and not taking her calls,
and she just said
                     to me, that poor girl, that poor girl, because this
kid's heart was
                     breaking. She was in love with a married man and
talking to her
                     girlfriend about how painful it was. 

                     HARRIS (on camera): To be the other woman? 

                     GOLDBERG: To be the other woman. And Linda felt
very sorry
                     for her. 

                     HARRIS: The tapes portray Lewinsky as close to the
edge, telling
                     Tripp the president had dumped her in the spring of
'96, that he
                     wanted to be, quote, "just friends." Still,
Lewinsky was working
                     hard on a transfer back to the White House, asking
Clinton's
                     secretary, Betty Currie, to check on her request.
She was also
                     sending love letters to the president, hoping
Currie would put them
                     on his desk. 

                     What did Linda say about the president's secretary
Betty Currie? 

                     GOLDBERG: She told me that if anything ever
happened, that
                     they would use Betty Currie, or I should say, he
would use Betty
                     Currie as a cover. 

                     HARRIS (voice-over): Those familiar with Lewinsky
tell
                     IMPACT, she studied Clinton's travel schedule to
plot White
                     House visits. Lewinsky told Tripp she was hurt
White House
                     staffers had branded her a stalker, clinging to a
fading affair with
                     the president. As for Tripp... 

                     GOLDBERG: I think the relationship bothered her a
great deal. 

                     HARRIS (on camera): Why? 

                     GOLDBERG: Because it was the president of the
United States,
                     because -- and you know, a really weird concept
here. It was
                     adultery. Now, I know we're not suppose to be
shocked by that. I
                     happen to feel that way, but I'm just this old
square. Linda is a lot
                     younger than I am, I think, feels that way too. 

                     HARRIS (voice-over): Linda Tripp, a divorced mother
of two, 48
                     years old, who took Lewinsky under her wing at the
Pentagon
                     where both had been transferred from the Clinton
White House.
                     Tripp had worked there under Bush, but came down
with a severe
                     case of culture shock under Clinton. Monica
Lewinsky made
                     Tripp's fever spike. 

                     GOLDBERG: And it was also messing with this girl's
head. And
                     she kept saying to her, you've got to get on with
your life, get on
                     with your life, get on with your life. And she
couldn't. 

                     HARRIS: While Lewinsky poured out her heart to
Tripp, Tripp
                     was afraid of losing her job. Then came the
breaking point:
                     subpoenas in December from Paula Jones' lawyers.
Now,
                     Lewinsky and Tripp faced telling the truth under
oath. Tripp took
                     her story and her tapes to the feds. 

                     GOLDBERG: She personally was asked to obstruct
justice,
                     herself, and she can testify to that. She was a
good team player
                     until the team asked her to lie. And she was not
going to lie for
                     anybody's team. 

                     HARRIS (on camera): Who did she tell you asked her
to lie? 

                     GOLDBERG: Monica Lewinsky asked her to lie. 

                     HARRIS: How? 

                     GOLDBERG: By relaying the message that she should
lie. 

                     HARRIS: Deny? 

                     GOLDBERG: Deny, deny, deny. 

                     HARRIS: Deny the Willey incident? 

                     GOLDBERG: Deny whatever they were going to tell her
to deny. 

                     HARRIS: Deny anything? Deny it happened between
Monica and
                     the president? 

                     GOLDBERG: Deny. You don't know anything about it. 

                     HARRIS: Now, Linda Tripp has tapes that Lucianne
Goldberg
                     says will prove your client obstructed justice. 

                     BILL GINSBURG, LEWINSKY'S ATTORNEY: I don't believe
                     anything that Lucianne Goldberg says. And I believe
that what
                     Lucianne Goldberg says is from the perspective of
someone who
                     doesn't understand the law and who is trying to
build a case for her
                     book. 

                     HARRIS (voice-over): January here at The
Ritz-Carlton, the big
                     sting. Tripp gets wired by agents for independent
counsel Ken
                     Starr and turns the tapes on her unwitting friend
Monica Lewinsky.

                     Later that day, Goldberg's last call from Tripp. 

                     GOLDBERG: I got a frantic phone call from Linda
saying that she
                     had gotten the tape that she was wired for, that
Starr wired her for,
                     and then getting wired by the FBI. It's not fun.
It's very scary stuff. 

                     HARRIS: Detractors call Tripp a traitor or worse.
Goldberg says
                     her friend just felt trapped by Lewinsky. 

                     GOLDBERG: So who betrayed who here? If you were
                     counselling a friend to do something that can send
them to jail, a
                     friend who has two children, no husband, and a good
job she
                     doesn't want to quit, and your boyfriend can fire
her without cause,
                     and you're telling her to put her whole life at
risk, and she tape
                     records you telling her that, who betrayed whom?
You can't make
                     a book out of it, but you certainly can make a
case. And that's my
                     case for Linda. 

                     (END VIDEOTAPE) 

                     SHAW: Linda Tripp gets to state her own case soon.
She may
                     testify before Ken Starr's grand jury as early as
this week. 
-- 
Two rules in life:

1.  Don't tell people everything you know.
2.

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