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After months of legal sparring, Starr and Kendall meet face to face
Updated November 19, 1998
10:48 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (Court TV) — Though they had known each other for years, two legal superstars in the Washington world, the past year had made them sworn enemies, one a defender of a beleaguered and accused president, the other that president's prime accuser.
So it was no surprise Thursday night that when David Kendall, President Clinton's private attorney, was given an hour to query Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr, tensions in the Judiciary Committee hearing room on Capitol Hill quickly reached the boiling point.
Kendall focused on the "prima facie" evidence of grand jury leaks from Starr's office, alleged harassment of witnesses, and the timing of events leading up to Starr's request for expansion of his jurisdiction to include the Monica Lewinsky matter.
The president's lawyer began by coaxing Starr to acknowledge that he was not present for the grand jury testimony of witnesses other than the president and that the independent counsel had not been present during the interviewing of witnesses in the Lewinsky investigation. Starr admitted that he had never even "exchanged words" with Monica Lewinsky. But Starr insisted he while he was not a fact witness, he was capable of testifying to a number of facts in the case.
That done, Kendall quickly moved along, constantly reminding Starr that the president's lawyer had only been given 30 minutes. Chairman Henry Hyde gave Kendall another 30 minutes, but Kendall continued to interrupt long responses, alluding to time constraints.
Kendall asked Starr about the evidence of leaks of grand jury testimony from his office. Starr acknowledged that no one had been fired from his office because he believed no one had inappropriately leaked sealed information.
Kendall asked Starr why he didn't go on the record when speaking with reporters, but rather chose to talk on background. Starr chided Kendall for wasting time arguing about the independent counsel's "press policy" rather than constitutional issues and the details of the Lewinsky matter.
Starr also angrily asked the chair for a measure of "fairness," arguing that judgment should be reserved on the matter until U.S. District Judge Norma Holloway Johnson, who is handling the leaks matter, renders a final judgement.
When Kendall asked about what happened when Starr's prosecutors "held" Monica Lewinsky in the Ritz-Carlton hotel in January, Starr took offense. "She was not held," he responded angrily.
Kendall changed his wording and asked about her "sojourn" with prosecutors. Starr said Lewinsky was asked to be a cooperating witness and that one action she might have taken at that point would have been to wear a wire. He denied, however, that prosecutors tried to pressure Lewinsky into wearing one. Starr also denied allegations that prosecutors tried to prevent Lewinsky from calling her lawyer.
Starr lost his patience with the line of questioning and categorically denied allegations made by Lewinsky's former attorney, William Ginsburg, saying Ginsburg was "fast and loose" with the facts and not known for his consistency.
Kendall followed up on allegations of witness harassment brought up earlier by several Democratic committee members, including Florida Rep. Robert Wexler and California Rep. Zoe Lofgren, and probed Starr for information about the highly publicized case of Julie Hiatt Steele, once a friend of Clinton accuser Kathleen Willey.
Kendall repeated Steele's allegations that Starr and his investigators harassed her. Starr's office allegedly subpoenaed her tax returns, bank records, credit reports and telephone records. Particularly, Kendall asked about allegations that prosecutors investigated the propriety of her adoption of an 8-year old boy from Romania.
Starr responded that he does not accompany FBI agents on interviews and that they have "a fair amount of discretion."
Starr said such a line of questioning was inappropriate in the context of an impeachment hearing and that if a witness felt mistreated they could litigate in the courts, as some have. "That's why the courts sit," snapped Starr. That question, said Starr doesn't reflect the "sober and serious purpose that brought us here together."
Finally Kendall turned to the alleged conservative conspiracy involving a member of the Kirkland & Ellis law firm, where Starr remains a partner, and Linda Tripp.
When did Starr first learn of an audio tape of the President and "a young woman?" asked Kendall. Starr tried to clarify the question, suggesting that Kendall meant Lewinsky. Starr said he first learned about Lewinsky in January 1998. There had been talk about a woman and a tape earlier, perhaps November, said Starr, but that was "shrouded in mystery" and Lewinsky's name never surfaced until January of this year.
Kendall then mentioned connections between Tripp and one of Starr's partners at Kirkland & Ellis, and brought up the independent counsel statute that sets "strict" limits on the work a firm, or any person "associated" with a firm can do if it counts an independent counsel as a member.
Kendall asked if Starr knew that Richard Porter, who had sent an affidavit from the Paula Jones matter to the Chicago Tribune, had steered Tripp to the independent counsel. Starr said he didn't know, but acknowledged that maybe he should have known.
And then time was up. And while Hyde accorded Kendall an extra 30 minutes, he cut him off after an hour of questioning, but added that Clinton's lawyers would have an opportunity to offer exculpatory materials before the House.
—Aldina Vazao
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