-Caveat Lector-
Tripp Wiretap Case Hearing Begins
By Greg Toppo
Associated Press Writer
Monday, Dec. 13, 1999; 1:09 p.m. EST
ELLICOTT CITY, Md. �� In the first days of the Monica Lewinsky
scandal, a local prosecutor said she was under political pressure
to investigate Linda Tripp for illegal wiretapping, one of
Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's deputies testified today.
Former Starr prosecutor Jackie Bennett was the first witness at a
pretrial hearing where Maryland authorities must demonstrate that
their case against Mrs. Tripp was untainted by her immunized
cooperation with Starr's office.
Bennett testified that when he got a call from Howard County
State's Attorney Marna McLendon on Jan. 26, 1998, "she indicated
that she was receiving pressure that was becoming unbearable to
her. There was a political campaign to put pressure on" the
prosecutor's office to investigate Mrs. Tripp.
Ms. McLendon told Bennett that if Maryland had to get its own
evidence independent of what Mrs. Tripp provided Starr's office,
she didn't believe Mrs. Tripp would be prosecuted, according to
Bennett.
"We had the tapes and we weren't going to give them to Maryland,"
Bennett testified.
Two weeks after calling Bennett, McLendon, a Republican, turned
the case over to to Maryland state prosecutor Stephen
Montanarelli, who eventually got the tapes under a federal court
order.
"The only people who don't think" Tripp "had immunity is the
state of Maryland and the prosecutors," Tripp lawyer Joe Murtha
said outside the courthouse.
Bennett and another Starr prosecutor, Bruce Udolf, testified that
they didn't explicitly grant Mrs. Tripp immunity from prosecution
on Maryland's wiretap law when they made an immunity deal with
her in January 1998.
They simply issued a letter on Jan. 16, 1998 stating that "no
testimony or other information provided under this agreement, or
any information ... derived from" it "may be used against Ms.
Tripp in any criminal case." With the letter in hand, Mrs. Tripp
gave Starr's office the tapes of Ms. Lewinsky confiding her
sexual relationship with President Clinton.
Maryland prosecutor Stephen Montanarelli says the immunity for
Mrs. Tripp didn't begin until Feb. 19, more than a month later
when a judge issued an order granting Mrs. Tripp limited immunity
from prosecution.
Five of Starr's investigators, New York book agent Lucianne
Goldberg and possibly Ms. Lewinsky herself were to appear at the
hearing that began today. It could determine whether the case
will go to trial.
Mrs. Tripp on Saturday posted a message on her Internet site,
saying, "I actually look forward to my trial. No matter how it
turns out, it is a relief that for the very first time in two
whole years, the facts � and not the deafening spin � will be on
the table in a court of law."
A Howard County grand jury indicted Mrs. Tripp on two counts of
breaking Maryland's wiretap statute because she secretly taped
Ms. Lewinsky confiding her affair with Clinton. The recordings
were the starting point for Starr's investigation, which led to
Clinton's impeachment in the House on charges of perjury and
obstruction and his acquittal in the Senate.
The Maryland case is limited to a single recording on Dec. 22,
1997, and Mrs. Tripp's allegedly illegal disclosure of it Jan.
17, 1998, to Newsweek magazine. Just before the taping, Mrs.
Tripp was advised by her lawyer that it was illegal to secretly
tape phone calls in Maryland.
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