Lewinsky Turns Over Dress For Evidence Testing
By Wolf Blitzer/CNN
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Monica Lewinsky
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WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, July 30) -- As part of her immunity
agreement with Independent Counsel Ken Starr, Monica Lewinsky
has handed over to his prosecutors a dress that she alleges
may contain physical evidence of a sexual relationship with
President Bill Clinton, two sources close to the
investigation tell CNN.
The sources say Lewinsky's mother, Marcia Lewis, had
possession of the dress over the past six months. Like
Lewinsky, Lewis received blanket immunity from Starr this
week.
Jim Kennedy, a spokesman for the White House counsel's office, said, "We'll have no comment on any of these rumors."
Early in the investigation, Starr's investigators searched
Lewinsky's apartment at the Watergate complex in Washington
and took several dresses. They were checked to see if there
was any material that could yield DNA evidence, but none
showed anything suspicious.
As CNN reported Wednesday, the other new physical evidence
provided by Lewinsky to Starr as part of the immunity
agreement includes taped messages the president allegedly
left on her telephone answering machine.
Starr's investigators are now expected to have the dress and
the tapes checked by FBI labs and experts for their
authenticity. The new dress, which has been turned over to the FBI, will be examined to see if there
is sufficient evidence to conduct a DNA test.
Sources caution there may be no hard evidence. But if found,
DNA evidence could provide Starr with corroboration of
Lewinsky's allegation that she had a sexual relationship with
the president.
In the wake of the latest news reports, Starr's office and lawyers
for Lewinsky denied they were the source of "speculative
information" on the investigation of the president.
Starr's office released a statement attributed to Lewinsky lawyer Jacob Stein. It said:
"Monica Lewinsky's lawyers, Jacob A. Stein and Plato Cacheris, and the
Office of Independent Counsel met for the specific and mutually shared purposed
of preventing the dissemination of speculative information concerning the OIC's
investigation and its dealing with Ms. Lewinsky. Suggestions in the media that
Ms. Lewinsky's lawyers or the OIC are the sources of such information are
untrue."
Meanwhile, Secret Service personnel were back at the federal courthouse Thursday to resume testimony before the grand jury.
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Clinton's attorney David Kendall
announced that the president will
testify before Ken Starr's grand jury
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Clinton, whose lawyer David Kendall announced Wednesday that
the president has agreed to testify before Starr's
investigators on Aug. 17, has strongly denied any sexual
relationship with Lewinsky.
The president's testimony will be videotaped at the White House and Clinton's lawyers will be present for the questioning.
Sources also are telling CNN that the president's testimony
will come after Lewinsky begins her appearance before the
grand jury.
Shortly after Kendall announced the agreement with Starr,
Linda Tripp -- the woman who triggered the entire Lewinsky
investigation by giving the independent counsel 20 hours of
secretly recorded phone conversation with Lewinsky -- finally
broke her six months of silence.
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Tripp ended her eighth and final session with the grand
jury Wednesday
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Flanked by her lawyers, her spokesman and her children, a
nervous, shaking Tripp made her first public statement.
She said fear motivated her to turn to Starr for help.
"I became aware between 1993 and 1997 of actions by high
government officials that may have been against the law," she
said. "For that period of nearly five years, the things I
witnessed concerning several different subjects made me
increasingly fearful that this information was dangerous,
very dangerous to possess.
"On January 12, 1998, the day I approached the Office of the
Independent Counsel, I decided that fear would no longer be
my master," Tripp said. "This investigation have never been,
quote, 'just about sex.' It has been about telling the truth.
The truth matters."
According to sources, Lewinsky is prepared to testify that
she and Clinton discussed how to conceal their alleged sexual
relationship.
Several sources close to Clinton's legal team say the
president plans to stick to his denial of a sexual
relationship, no matter what the former White House intern
says.
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