Lewinsky Father: Executive Privilege Will Prolong Daughter's Suffering
WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, March 23) -- Monica Lewinsky's father said President Bill Clinton's decision to invoke executive privilege would only create a legal battle and prolong his daughter's suffering.
"As far as the delay, that bothers me a lot because my daughter
continues to be in limbo," Dr. Bernard Lewinsky said. "Her life is at a standstill. She's virtually a prisoner in her apartment. She cannot go out.
"She has been isolated from all her friends, many of whom have
been subpoenaed already. She cannot have an honest mother-daughter
relationship at this point. She cannot have a father-daughter
relationship at this point. And her brother has also been isolated
from her for fear of being dragged into it," Bernard Lewinsky said.
White House attorneys filed legal briefs Friday formally invoking privilege for two advisers, Sidney Blumenthal and Bruce Lindsey. The briefs assert that the aides cannot be compelled to testify about their private, strategic conversations with the president.
Dr. Lewinsky also criticized the decision by Independent Counsel Ken Starr to bring his daughter's friends before the grand jury, flying one in from Tokyo, to discover hearsay evidence of Ms. Lewinsky's alleged affair with the president.
"I think this is just the drip torture technique that Ken Starr
is using on her," Lewinsky told The Associated Press. "He is just trying to torture her in every possible way.
"And a lot of people are being inconvenienced not only by virtue of having to travel to Washington but also because they are being put at financial risk. These are all young people and they all have to hire attorneys that cost money," Dr. Lewinsky said.
The grand jury is looking into reports that Clinton had a sexual relationship with Ms. Lewinsky, a former White House intern, and encouraged her to lie about it under oath. Clinton has denied both accusations.
The Los Angeles doctor made an appearance on a television show this morning in hopes of creating interest in the legal defense fund created to help with his daughter's lawyers' bills.
The fund has collected about $12,000 so far and her unpaid legal bills are approaching $250,000, he said.
"I think no citizens in this country other than huge celebrities have this kind of liquid assets that they can plunge and pay for this themselves," he said.
Lewinsky said he and his daughter have not discussed whether she had a sexual relationship with the president and they will not discuss it.
"This is not a sex scandal," he said. "This is an issue of politics in which Monica has been drawn into a battle between the Office of the Independent Counsel and whoever is fueling him versus the president of the United States. Monica is a common citizen that has been the pawn upon which all of this pivots."
Executive privilege claim extends to conversations with first lady
The president's claim of executive privilege does extend to conversations with the first lady, CNN has learned. However privately,
lawyers familiar with the White House legal strategy say they have little hope of shielding conversations with Mrs. Clinton on such grounds.
As previously reported, Blumenthal declined to answer certain questions about his conversations with both the president and first lady during his testimony before the Lewinsky grand jury.
One lawyer intimately involved in the White House strategy declined to say whether Blumenthal's conversations with Mrs. CLinton were part of the executive privilege dispute now before Judge Norma Holloway Johnson. But this source said he was not aware of any compromise between the White House and Starr relating to Blumenthal's conversations with Mrs. Clinton.
CNN's John King and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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