-Caveat Lector-
Los Angeles Times-December 5, 2000
Ray to Re-Interview Lewinsky in Inquiry
Law: The independent counsel's move appears to presage an
eventual Clinton indictment, several attorneys and others
familiar with the case say.
By ROBERT L. JACKSON, ERIC LICHTBLAU
Times Staff Writers
WASHINGTON--Signaling what may be further legal trouble for
President Clinton, independent counsel Robert W. Ray is planning
to interview former White House intern Monica S. Lewinsky in
connection with a federal grand jury he impaneled last summer.
Some lawyers familiar with the independent counsel's office
said that the action suggests Ray may be seeking to indict
Clinton on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice after he
leaves office next month.
Plato Cacheris, Lewinsky's attorney, said that Ray "has
asked for an interview sometime this month" with the 26-year-old
woman, who now lives in New York. Cacheris said that he will make
his client available but added that "she is very reluctant to get
back into this."
Lewinsky is legally bound to comply with Ray's request,
however, because her 1998 immunity agreement requires her to
cooperate with the independent counsel, Cacheris noted.
Legal Community Interprets Move
Because Lewinsky testified fully under her immunity grant
before a previous grand jury impaneled by Ray's predecessor,
Kenneth W. Starr, the move for a new interview raised eyebrows in
the legal community here.
"There's really no reason for Ray to re-interview Lewinsky
unless he's figuring to do something with that new grand jury in
the way of an indictment," said Joseph E. DiGenova, a former U.S.
attorney for the District of Columbia.
"If he's only preparing to close out the case for a final
report--dotting the I's and crossing the Ts, so to speak--the
last person he would need to interview is Lewinsky," DiGenova
said. "He already has so much information that Starr gathered
from her and others and sent to Congress.
"But certainly as a prosecutor you would never bring a case
against the president without interviewing such a key witness."
DiGenova and others said that Ray may be aiming to indict
Clinton on one or two charges--perjury for his alleged false
statements in a sworn deposition in the Paula Corbin Jones sexual
harassment lawsuit about his contacts with Lewinsky, or
obstruction for alleged efforts to influence Lewinsky's grand
jury testimony or that of presidential aides.
The House impeached the president two years ago on these
charges, but senators voted against removing him from office. A
president is immune from criminal charges in federal court but
Clinton's departure from the presidency will remove that
immunity.
Ray, who succeeded Starr as Whitewater prosecutor in October
1999, refused comment. "We are seeking to resolve this matter
shortly after the president leaves office," said Lynda Flippin, a
spokesperson for Ray.
It could not be learned immediately if any other key
witnesses have been interviewed by Ray or summoned for
interviews. Vernon E. Jordan Jr., a golfing friend of Clinton who
found work for Lewinsky, has had no contact with Ray's office,
according to his lawyer, William G. Hundley.
Mark Geragos, a prominent Los Angeles attorney who
successfully defended former Clinton associate Susan McDougal
against criminal charges growing out of the Whitewater
investigation, agreed with DiGenova that summoning Lewinsky seems
to presage an eventual Clinton indictment.
"Ray would not call back a witness who they've already put
through countless days of debriefings if they weren't planning to
do something," Geragos said.
"That would seem to substantiate that Clinton is still in
harm's way before this independent counsel--and either has been
indicted already [in secret] or they plan to do it soon after he
leaves office," he added.
Lewinsky's Testimony Would Be the Focus
Ray's staff likely would want to go over key details in
Lewinsky's testimony to test her recollection on significant
dates and meetings, he added.
Ray previously has acknowledged that he is examining the
Clinton impeachment charges from a prosecutor's viewpoint. In an
interview with The Times last June, he said that any decision on
indicting Clinton "is not an exact science" because other factors
come into play.
"The determination of whether a crime has been committed is
only the first step," he said. "You must also consider whether or
not there is a substantial federal interest in bringing a case.
"There is a great amount of respect--appropriate
respect--that should be placed in the office of the president."
After impaneling his grand jury last July, Ray said that his
decision on whether to seek an indictment "is a serious one of
judgment [and] I must be faithful to my oath to carry out this
task responsibly and fairly."
Separate Reports Filed as Part of Inquiry
He added that "there is . . . an important principle at
stake: that none of us, not even the president, is above the
law."
In concluding the more than six-year Whitewater
investigation, Ray has been filing separate reports on different
aspects of the inquiry. These have included reports on the
Clintons' Arkansas real estate transactions dating back to the
early 1980s, an investigation into the 1993 dismissal of White
House travel office employees and a report on allegedly improper
White House acquisition of FBI security files on hundreds of
former appointees of Republican administrations.
No criminal charges have been brought against the president,
First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton or any other administration
official. Ray's last action will be to wrap up the Lewinsky case.
A White House official said of Ray's summoning of Lewinsky:
"It's all fairly predictable that he would be going over this
ground yet again."
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