-Caveat Lector-
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From: DRUDGE REPORT <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Tuesday, February 09, 1999 8:38 PM
Subject: DRUDGE-REPORT-FINAL 02/09/99
XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX 02/09/99 23:11 UTC XXXXX
WASHINGTON BOMBSHELL: JUSTICE OPENS CASE AGAINST STARR; OIC MAY HAVE MISLED
DEPT, SAYS PAPER
The Justice Department has opened a formal inquiry to determine whether
Kenneth Starr's prosecutors misled Attorney General Janet Reno about
possible conflicts of interest, the NEW YORK TIMES reports in Wednesday
editions.
"The inquiry will focus on whether the prosecutors were truthful when they
asserted that there had been no contacts between Starr's office and Paula
Jones' legal team in the weeks leading up to Starr's decision to ask Reno to
expand his inquiry beyond the Whitewater matter," the paper's David Johnston
and Don Van Natta report.
"A series of newly disclosed notes taken at the initial meetings on Jan.15
and Jan. 16, 1998, between Starr's prosecutors and Justice Department
officials shows that the prosecutors flatly asserted that there were no
contacts with the Jones team."
But Johnston and Van Natta report that documentation has been discovered
that indicates there were conversations between a prosecutor in Starr's
office and a lawyer working behind the scenes with the Jones legal team.
The notes have become crucial evidence in the Justice Department inquiry,
reveals the TIMES.
Justice also intents to investigate whether Starr "abused his authority to
convene grand juries, or improperly pressed witnesses, like Ms. Lewinsky,
and disclosed secret grand jury information to the news media."
RENO WANTED TO PUNISH STARR LAST SPRING
At one point last spring, Attorney General Janet Reno asked her senior aides
to research whether she had the authority to discipline Starr in some way,
one source tells the paper.
Reno has been troubled by what she believes are possible violations of
Justice Department guidelines. Also, Starr's prosecutors and Justice
Department officials have feuded privately, according to the exclusive.
Impacting hard...
X X X X X
MAUREEN DOWD CALLS ON RENO TO FIRE STARR
NYT queen Maureen Dowd officially starts the White House gloat party on
Wednesday, according to publishing sources who have seen her new column.
"Fire him, Janet, fire him," she writes.
The "him" is independent counsel Ken Starr!
"You go, girlfriend. Don't get bogged down in your usual dilly-dallying,
shilly-shallying thing. Dump the guy, Janet. He's a loser. Worse, he's a
stalker. Maybe he didn't do rope lines, but Kenneth Starr is more creepily
obsessed with tracking and trapping Bill Clinton than Monica ever was."
According to several sources inside of the NEW YORK TIMES, Dowd wrote the
column after she was given a sneak preview of the paper's news story on
Starr, written by David Johnston and Don Van Natta.
"Dowd worked with the reporters, she got very excited when she saw what they
had on Tuesday afternoon," a well-placed source tells the DRUDGE REPORT.
Dowd writes: "People used to trust the Republicans to be practical. As
Calvin Coolidge put it, 'The chief business of the American people is
business.' But Ken Starr, with destructive cheerleading from the Christian
right, helped turn Republicans into a party of scolds brandishing scarlet
letters."
Dowd told an associate that her Wednesday column is a "masterpiece."
X X X X X
LEWINSKY SECRETLY PLANNING BOOK TOUR
**Exclusive**
The DRUDGE REPORT has learned that Monica Lewinsky is planning a worldwide
book signing tour in support of her new biography MONICA'S STORY due out in
March.
Security is a concern.
COUNTY Bookstores has been picked to host Lewinsky throughout the UK.
A COUNTY executive on Tuesday remained coy on exact dates and times for fear
the shops would be flooded with eager autograph hunters.
"Miss Lewinsky will be making personal appearances at all of our shops to
sign copies - watch local press for details," the chain said in a statement.
X X X X X
GLOBAL WARMING BLIZZARD
Global warming continued to cause havoc throughout Europe on Tuesday when
heavy snows and frigid temperatures disrupted air, rail and road traffic.
Four people died in an avalanche that pounded chalets in the French Alps.
More than five feet of snow has been dumped on the region during the past
two days.
Avalanche injured and shocked gathered in a Borgaard hotel, turning the
lobby into an impromptu emergency ward.
Bernice Smith tells the ASSOCIATED PRESS, "The road is buried under 30 feet
of snow. We can't go anywhere. We can't do anything. At least we have
electricity."
In Poland, police said two homeless men and a woman were found dead from the
bitter cold, bringing the country's winter cold death toll to 190.
In England and Wales temperatures fell to a record 18 degrees on Tuesday
morning.
Traffic jams up to 10 miles long were reported in Germany between Nuremberg
and Munich after a major ice storm; there were backups 8 miles long between
Salzburg in Austria and melting Munich.
In northern Finland, temperatures dropped to a record minus 33 degrees
Fahrenheit.
Last week US President Bill Clinton called for a one-billion-dollar hike in
funding for the battle against global warming, which his administration
warns is a "grave threat."
"The mounting evidence of global warming gets harder and harder to refute,"
Vice President Al Gore declared during a recent White House press briefing.
But locals in Alaska are now begging Washington to stop its fight against
global warming!
Last week wasn't the coldest Anchorage, Alaska has ever seen. But it came
close. Dave Vonderheide of the NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE said Anchorage set
a record last Wednesday for the city's coldest high ever recorded in
February -- 13 degrees below zero. Wednesday's official low in Anchorage
was minus 29. The coldest spot in Alaska last week was Tanana, with a low
of 61 below.
"Washington went overboard with this war on warming," one DRUDGE REPORT
reader e-mailed from Anchorage.
"Mr. Gore, we desperately need your help now with our new Ice Age!"
X X X X X
NETWORK NEWS SHOWS CONTINUE SLIDE; NBC'S BROKAW DOWN 14%
The Big 3 evening news broadcasts have lost more than 4 million viewers in
the past year, according to new NIELSEN crunches released on Tuesday.
For the week of February 1-5, NBC NIGHTLY NEWS with Tom Brokaw was off more
than 14% from one year ago; CBS EVENING NEWS with Dan Rather was down 11%;
ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT with Peter Jennings slid 5%.
NBC's Brokaw alone lost more than 1,890,000 viewers -- a trend that has NBC
executives looking for answers.
"It was a bad week*," declared one NBC executive from New York on Tuesday
afternoon. "The impeachment story has turned off viewers, that much has
become clear."
[*NBC NEWS was hit with a grassroots boycott last week after it was revealed
the network was holding back an interview with a woman who claims that Bill
Clinton sexually assaulted her more than 20 years ago. The NBC NEWS
executive completely dismissed that the development was having any effect on
the ratings.]
Last year at this time the three network news programs drew a total of
37,395,000 viewers. Last week, the totals were down to 33,480,000.
Week ending 2/5/99 Vs. same week year ago
ABC 8.7/17 9.2/17 -05%
CBS 7.7/15 8.7/17 -11%
NBC 8.4/16 9.8/18 -14%
X X X X X
TED TURNER'S STRIPTEASE
"Remember the days when movies were good and we weren't afraid of our
children seeing them?" Jane Fonda once asked.
Flashback, August, 1983:
PLAYBOY: Let's talk about how consistent your standards are. Last Christmas,
we watched WTBS and CNN a lot in Atlanta and saw what we considered quite
provocative ads--for panty hose and lingerie--on your channels.
TED TURNER: I don't agree with you. I've never objected to the commercials,
except maybe commercials for R-rated movies. I don't think there's anything
wrong with a little bit of sex appeal.
PLAYBOY: Then what do you mean when you attack sex on television?
TURNER: I'm talking about gratuitous sex and homosexuality and philandering
around. As long as it's your wife or your girlfriend, I don't think there is
anything wrong with that on TV...
Wow. Ted Turner has come a long way since his warnings about gratuitous sex
on television in a PLAYBOY interview.
Late on Tuesday, his flagship, WTBS, issued a press release:
"TBS SUPERSTATION's Premiere of STRIPTEASE Pulls 5.3 Rating, Delivers 21
Million Different Viewers Across Two Plays."
Breasts are big, big business for Turner's cable superstation this season.
"Further validating TURNER BROADCASTING SYSTEM, Inc.'s (TBS, Inc.)
aggressive theatrical motion picture acquisition strategy and despite an
arsenal of sweeps programming on the broadcast networks, TBS SUPERSTATION's
broadcast network window premiere of STRIPTEASE on Sunday, February 7 (8
p.m.) garnered a 5.3 household rating/7.7 share and delivered more than four
million households, making the 1996 comedy/drama, starring Demi Moore [rated
R for nudity, erotic dancing and language], basic cable's top-rated
theatrical for the year to date. The premiere telecast delivered 3.3
million adults 25-54 and 3.3 million adults 18-49, number one and number
two respectively, among all basic cable programs. TBS SUPERSTATION, TURNER
BROADCASTING SYSTEM, Inc.'s flagship network seen in more than 76 million
homes, is watched by more people than any other cable network and has been
for 22 consecutive years.
TURNER BROADCASTING SYSTEM did not release STRIPTEASE demo breakdowns for
Teens 12-17, or for viewers 2 years old plus.
Ted Turner did not return phone calls.
----------------------------------------------------
Filed by Matt Drudge
Reports are moved when circumstances warrant
http://www.drudgereport.com for steaks and breaks
(c)DRUDGE REPORT 1999
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