8A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, November 19, 1998
NATION/WORLD
Starr: Clinton thwarted probe .
WASHINGTON (AP) - Making his
start of impeachment hearings, Independ
Kenneth Starr says President Clinton
used the machinery of government and th
his office" to thwart prosecutors' grand ji
w ¢Ygation and the Paula Jones lawsuit.
In remarks prepared for delivery to
House Judiciary Committee, Starr also
Democratic suggestions he had no right
w ~gate the affair between the president a
Lewinsky. Obstruction of justice "is ne
matter," he declared.
A copy of Starr's testimony was obtain
terday by The Associated Press.
"The evidence further suggests that th
in the course of these efforts, misused hi
and power as president and contravened
APPHT faithfully execute the laws. That too is n
matter," Starr said.
The prosecutor also disclosed that his oe
ed an impeachment referral to Congresso
'".4 inal Whitewater allegations last year.
,s xr to_;" back. The referral related to Clinton's test
heseew nothing about a fraudulent $300
The loan was from a federally back
company run by former Little Rock, Ark..
judge David Hae, who testified that C
encouraged him to make it.
"In late 1997, we considered whetherth
ig y d e s s mb b i A s justified a referral to Congress' Starr
ti'b. n c b sdrafted a report. But we concluded thati
inconsistent with the statutory standard
the difficulty of esablishing the truth w
cient degree of confidence:'
Starralso told lawmakers that his vn
AP PHOTO into the gathering of FBI files inside
Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr leaves his McLean, Va. home yesterday. Starr House and the firing of White House tr
expected to testify before the committee today workers resulted in no evidence of in
Trade summit ends without
dramatic action on Asia crisis
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysta (AP) - Pacific Rtm growth tn Asia than efforts to restart Japan's economy.
nations yesterday failed to take any dramatic action to It has long been Asia's engine of growth," Clinton
halt Asia's worst economic crisis in decades, approv- said.
ing only limited measures at a summit beset by diplo- APEC is the region's top forum for dealing with
Tmatic squabbling, economic problems and issues requiring mutual aid.
Opposition by Japan forced the 21-govertment The summit had offered the leaders a chance to
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum to delay produce their first comprehensive plan to pull the
action on what was to have been its centerpiece - a region out of the financial crisis that began in Thailand
deal to boost trade by slashing tariffs on goods worth in July 1997 and has since spread to Russia and Latin
-$1.5 trillion. America.
The United States accused Japan of failing to show ut the leaders' final statement offered no new pro-
leadership. grams, apart from a $10 billion support plan
"It is an unconscionable outcome," said U.S. Trade announced separately by the United States and Japan.
Representative Charlene Barshefsky. APEC endorsed free trade, while it called for more
Even before the two-day meeting began, Vice international financial aid and endorsed a U.S. propos-
President Al Gore ignited a storm by praising alto speed loans to Asian countries in crisis.
Malaysian political dissidents, breaking with APEC The group rejected calls by the summit's host,
tradition by addressing a non-economic subject - Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, for
human rights, tighter controls on foreign exchange trading or the
Some Asian governments accused Gore of med- movement of capital into and out of countries.
dling in internal matters. Mahathir blames currency speculators for much of the
"The Chinese people and the Chinese r e$gti$o n' s
,government would never, ever make irre- woes.
sponsible remarks on other countries' The state-
'internal affairs," said Chinese Foreign Vie President Al Gore ment pointed
Mintster Tang Jtaxuan at a presa confer- to signs of
prc.angered many by recovery in
. Gore was standing in for President the hardest-
Clinton, who remained in Washington due praising M alaysian hit economies
to the Iraqi crisis, With an easing of ten- of Indonesia,
ions with Iraq, Clinton left the White political dissidents. South Korea
House yesterday on a five-day economtc and Thailand.
mission to Asia. But it urged
In a departure statement, Clinton urged them to con-
Japan to act decisively to revive its ailing economy and tinue adopting the painful measures recommended by
bolster the economies of its neighbors. the International Monetary Fund for economic health.
"Nothing is more important to restore stability and "There's a real commitment to growth-oriented
offenses by the president.
The White House dismissed Starr's statement as a
repeat of his earlier impeachment referral "in new
wrapping paper."
"The only new thing in the statement is on page 46
and 47 in which he declares the president is innocent
in the FBI files and travel office matters" it said in a
statement.
Starr's testimony reiterated many of the same alle-
gations, in the same harsh language, that he included
in his referral to Congress in September, accusing
Clinton of eleven impeachable offenses.
Starr charged that Clinton:
"Made a series of premeditated false statements
under oath" in his Jan. 17 deposition testimony in the
Jones lawsuit.
"Participated in a scheme" at the deposition to
deceive the trial judge in the lawsuit by not correct-
ing his lawyer's false assertion that the president did
not have sexual relations with Lewinsky, Starr's tes-
timony alleges.
Used his Cabinet "unwitting surrogates" to sup-
port his false story denying the affair for months. He
said the president "concocted false alibis" to aides,
who then repeated the inaccurate information to the
grand jury.
Starr eventually subpoenaed Clinton, who testified
Aug. 17 before the grand jury. Starr said Clinton lied
during that testimony, too, and again when he told
the American public in a speech that night that he
had given "legally accurate" testimony in the Jones
case.
Other misuses of power, according to Starr,
occurred when Clinton and his administration assert-
ed govemnmental privileges to conceal information
from the grand jury.
Alluding to the graphic sexual detail included in
his written report in September, Starr acknowledged
some believed it was "too thorough."
"We respectfully but firmly reject the notion that
our office was trying to inflame the public," Starr
stated. "We must dispute the suggestion that a report
to the House suggesting possible impeachable
offenses...should tell something less than the full
story."
Starr is the leadoff witness at the first impea-
ment hearings of a president is a quarter century.
House Judiciary Committee has given Starr two
hours today to present his evidence. That will be fol-
lowed by questions from committee investigators
and lawmakers.
Then Clinton's private lawyer, David Kendall, will
get a chance to question the independent counsel,
Starr, a former judge not accustomed to the politi-
cally charged atmosphere of congressional hearings,
has been holding rehearsal sessions with his own
staff.
Clinton, meanwhile, was visiting Japan and Sot
Korea.
Committee Republicans signaled their intention to
broaden the hearings, setting votes today on subpoe-
nas for four more witnesses White House deputy
counsel Bruce Lindsey, the president's most trusted
adviser; attomney Robert Bennett, who represented
Clinton in the Paula Jones lawsuit; Daniel Gecker,
the lawyer for Clinton accuser Kathleen Willey; and
Nathan Landow, a Maryland Democrat who had con-
tacts with Mrs. Willey. She has accused the president
of a sexual advance inside the White House.
Committee Chairperson Henry Hyde (R-111.) also
requested a Justice Department memo on alleged
campaign fund-raising abuses from the 1996 cam-
paign.
Starr's prepared statement also gave an
overview of other aspects of his four-year, $40
million probe.
Vice President Al Gore, right, and other world leaders wave to the crowd at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting I
Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
policies," said Prime Minister Jenny Shipley of New
Zealand.
- Nobody ... sought to take APEC back to the pro-
tectionist years of the past."
On the eve of the summit, Gore announced a mod-
est agreement with Japan on a joint approach to deal-
ing with the financial crisis, including a $10 billion
support package to help struggling Asian nations.
But in trade, long-standing disputes blocked any
major agreement.
APEC leaders had hoped to produce a $1.5 trillion
plan for freer trade in nine industries. Japanese reluc-
tance to open two of the proposed sectors - fish and
wood products - forced them to send the plan to the
124-nation World Trade Organization in Geneva for
resolution.
Gore's speech Monday expressing sympathy with
Malaysia's anti-government teform movement caused
divisions among APEC's leaders.
Yesterday Mahathir brushed aside reporters' ques-
tions about Gore's comments, saying he was not aue
of any differences between their positions.
Protests by supporters of Malaysian dissident
Anwar Ibrahim have taken place since he was fired as
deputy prime minister, charged with corruption and
sexual misconduct and put on trial after challenging
Mahathir's 17-year rule. Anwar has denied the allega-
tions.
The U.S. side rejected suggestions that Gore's com-
ments, which came from a speech written for Clinton
to deliver, had distracted the summit from dealing with
the serious economic crisis in Asia.
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Hyde expands impeachment
witness list to Clinton friends
IMPEACH
Continued from Page IA
charged that Clinton "misused his
authority and power as president and
contravened his duty to faithfully
execute the laws."
He also dismissed suggestions from
Democrats that he had no right to inves-
tigate a consensual sexual relationship
between Clinton and Monica Lewinsky,
saying obstruction and perjury "is not a
private matter."
The new witnesses were expected
to be questioned first in private
depositions. Republicans would then
decide whether to summon them, or
additional witnesses, at public hear-
ings, committee officials said.
Both Gecker and Landow are
expected to be called early next
week, followed by Lindsey and
Bennett during the first week of
December, officials said.
The Republicans showed a renewed
but belated interest in campaign fund-
raising allegations against the president.
Hyde asked the Justice
Department for a prosecutor's memo
that provided a detailed argument
for appointing an independent coun-
sel to take over the criminal investi-
gation of fund-raising abuses in the
1996 election, a committee official
told The Associated Press.
The official, speaking only on
condition of anonymity, said the
Justice -Department was weighing
the request. Attorney General Janet
Reno currently has three separate
inquiries under way to determine
whether an independent counsel
should be named to take over the
fund-raising investigation.
"This is an impeachment in search oF
a crime."
- James Jordan
Democratic Judiciary Committee members' spokesperson
The memo by Charles LaBella, for-
mer chief of the Justice Department's
campaign finance task force, contains
grand jury information which by law
must be kept secret.
But a Justice Department offi-
cial, requesting anonymity, said yes-
terday that federal courts have
issued orders in the past allowing
grand jury secrets to be sent to
Congress if the material was to be
used in an impeachment inquiry. The
administration was willing to exam-
ine that option, but the official noted
that drafting and obtaining such a
court order would be done in secret
and might take days to complete.
The additional witnesses indicate
a Republican effort to 'explore
whether Clinton's alleged efforts to
influence witnesses in the Jones sex-
ual harassment case went beyond
Lewinsky to Willey.
Hyde said Gecker, who repre-
sented Willey, "may have testimony
regarding possible efforts to influ-
ence testimony in the (Paula) Jones
case and before the criminal grand
jury" in Starr's investigation.
"We must not look away from
any evidence that relates to the core
issues of this inquiry: lying under
oath, obstruction of justice, witness
tampering and abuse of power. It is
our duty to fully review such infor-
mation before completion of this
inquiry," Hyde said.
While the committee's staff has
not ruled out seeking even more wit-
nesses, a Republican member, Q.
Steve Chabot of Ohio, said e
"overwhelming consensus was
against calling" Lewinsky, presiden-
tial friend Vernon Jordan or Oval
Office secretary Betty Currie.
As for Starr's scheduled appearance
today, Hyde said: "He's the one person
other than the parties themselves who
knows the most about this. He spent a
long time and lots of money. We'd e
to know just what he found:'"
Clinton himself was thousands of
miles away on a trip to Asia.
Democrats were infuriated that
Starr was given authority by Hyde to
delve into matters such as the
Whitewater real estate transactions,
misuse of FBI files, firings at the White
House travel office and payments to
presidential friend Webster Hubbell.
"This is an impeachment in search of
a crime," complained James Jordan, a
spokesperson for Democrats on
Judiciary Committee.
The Clinton administration,
given 30 minutes to cross-examine
Starr, assigned David Kendall -
Clinton's private lawyer who has
accused Starr of leaking grand jury
material and has relentlessly pur-
sued a contempt of court motion
against him.