Word: starrs
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...flew back to Washington last week. And Washington, which was trying hard to care about Iraq, the budget surplus and the tobacco deal, held its breath. All week the legal and political pageantry in That Story favored the President, at least in public. The spectacle of independent prosecutor Kenneth Starr's putting the screws to Lewinsky's mother, followed by the subpoenas to Secret Service agents, helped consolidate the White House spin that Starr's investigation is a full-speed, partisan vendetta. But the White House and Starr's office both know that everything up to now is merely prelude...
Clinton's other option would be to cast doubt on Lewinsky's own credibility. That can be done gently, by depicting her as a cornered victim of Starr's ruthless investigation--or not so gently, by playing up the idea that she's inventing or exaggerating details of their relationship. But that tactic runs the risk of appearing to victimize Lewinsky all over again. In a scandal in which much of the political fallout will center on who's taking advantage of women, the all too warm Clinton or the all too chilly Starr, that's one more tricky path...
...search for corroboration led to the parade of witnesses now appearing before Starr's Washington grand jury. He began two weeks ago with Ashley Raines, a former White House aide who reportedly claimed that Monica shared details of the affair with her and played telephone messages that Clinton had left on Lewinsky's answering machine. Last week Starr also questioned Neysa DeMann Erbland, 24, a longtime friend of Lewinsky's who reportedly testified that Monica told her she had oral sex with the President. Erbland, who has known Lewinsky since they were both students at Beverly Hills High School...
...neither side really wants that trigger to be pulled. For the White House the move invokes the ghost of Nixon; for Starr the ensuing court battles, ending at the Supreme Court, would delay his investigation for months. Starr at least has the legalities of executive privilege on his side. "It's reserved for three things: military or diplomatic secrets, and matters of national security," says McAllister. "You wouldn't expect a court ruling that Monica Lewinsky's sex life falls into any of those areas...
...White House is ready for Starr to call its bluff, having confirmed Thursday the rehiring of Neil Eggleston, a former White House lawyer, to fight for Clinton should push come to legal shove...