White House Denies New Strategy On Lewinsky

Lewinsky and Ginsburg

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, Feb. 28) -- The White House on Saturday denied that there is a new strategy to tell another story about the relationship between President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky.

"The White House has no new strategy that we are about to unveil. No one should expect to hear anything new from the president on this subject soon because the president has forcefully denied the allegations against him and he is concentrating on the job the American public elected him to do," said White House spokesman Joe Lockhart.

Lockhart's statement was in response to a report that the White House is considering a plan that would say that while the relationship with Lewinsky was not sexual, it was more than platonic.

Lockhart declined to discuss the specifics of the report, which was also were by the White House counsel's office.

Independent counsel Ken Starr is investigating whether Clinton had an affair with Lewinsky and then urged her to lie about it under oath. Clinton has denied both allegations.

But the White House seems to be inching toward such a strategy. One senior Clinton adviser closely involved in damage control efforts told CNN last week and reiterated Saturday that some of the details of the relationship, if and when they emerge, "are going to be embarrassing" to the president and would detail a complicated and "emotional" relationship.

The denials of a new strategy also come on the heels of embarrassing comments by White House press secretary Mike McCurry, who recently told The Chicago Tribune, "I think it's going to end up being a very complicated story, as most human relationships are ... and I don't think it's going to be entirely easy to explain ... maybe."

McCurry said later he meant nothing by his statements and said it proved "only fools answer hypothetical questions."

Other sources told CNN that it would be foolhardy to float any strategy before Vernon Jordan and Lewinsky testify before the grand jury investigating the case.

Jordan, a Washington lawyer and adviser to President Clinton, is expected to testify on Tuesday. Jordan has previously said that he helped Lewinsky get a job in New York City but said Lewinsky told him she had no sexual relationship with Clinton.

Saturday Feb. 28, 1998

• White House Denies New Strategy On Lewinsky
• Is Lewinsky A Legal 'Target?'
• Clinton, GOP Bemoan Low U.S. Test Scores
• Clintons Take A Winter Break