WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, November 17) -- Two days before impeachment hearings begin, the House Judiciary Committee released the infamous Linda Tripp audio tapes Tuesday, giving Americans a chance to eavesdrop on frank, emotional conversations between Tripp and ex-White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

Since transcripts of the tapes were released in October, the latest release didn't contain any new bombshells. But the public airing, on TV and via the Internet, was the first time the nation has heard Lewinsky actually telling details of her sexual relationship with President Bill Clinton in her own voice.

On the tapes, Lewinsky in turn sounds sad, frustrated and whipsawed in the aftermath of her relationship with Clinton. She comes across as young, girlish and earnest, drops in frequent "you know's" and at times, cries as she commiserates with Tripp.

Lewinsky is ambivalent about Clinton, often calling him "the creep," but also expressing her love for him, saying, "I never expected to feel this way about him."

In another conversation, Lewinsky jokes, "(Expletive) him and the little motorcade he rode in on."

With impeachment hearings due to start Thursday, the release of the tapes means more embarrassment for the first family, though the White House brushed the tapes off as old news.

But it's unclear whether the tapes will alter the climate surrounding the Judiciary Committee's assignment. In polls, about two-thirds of Americans say they do not want Clinton impeached and removed from office.

In one of their conversations, Tripp urges Lewinsky to save the famous blue dress, counsels her about the value of DNA evidence and even advises her how to collect any remnants of her encounters with the president.

"Why can't I just scrape that crap off and put it in a plastic bag?" Lewinsky asks.

"No, you have to use a Q-tip," Tripp advises.

The Tripp tapes proved to be the crucial turning point in the Lewinsky saga, after Tripp turned them over to Independent Counsel Ken Starr last January and he used them to expand his Whitewater investigation into whether Clinton committed perjury or obstruction of justice as he tried to conceal his relationship with Lewinsky.

Tripp, a former Pentagon co-worker of Lewinsky, told a federal grand jury last summer she bought a Radio Shack tape recorder in October 1997 to record Lewinsky's conversations about President Clinton. She claimed Lewinsky was trying to get her to lie about the former White House intern's involvement with Clinton, and the recordings were protection from the lies. On January 12 Tripp turned the tapes over to Starr.

Starr and the FBI also arranged for Tripp to wear a hidden microphone and meet Lewinsky at a hotel near the Pentagon. The tape of that conversation was also included in Tuesday's release.

In September, Starr presented Congress with a referral of possible impeachable activities surrounding the president's efforts to hide his now-admitted sexual affair with Lewinsky. Clinton has denied he committed perjury or obstruction of justice, though.

In total, Tripp's tapes consist of 22 hours of tapes on 37 cassettes.

Some foul language and irrelevant personal information have been edited out of the tapes by the House Judiciary Committee, which were supposed to be released shortly after the written transcripts in October.

Many of the Lewinsky-Tripp exchanges are the age-old laments of women complaining about "man trouble." Some of it is explicit, even after the House Judiciary Committee's editing. More of the transcripts have the flavor of give-and-take of someone confiding in a friend who tries to be, at turns, supportive, sympathetic, analytical and even philosophical.

The tapes have not only caused legal trouble for Clinton but Tripp also faces possible legal ramifications from the recordings.

FBI analysis shows many of the tapes Tripp gave to Starr are probably duplicates and possibly altered, something Tripp denied under oath during her grand jury testimony.

So Tripp now faces a federal perjury investigation and a Maryland grand jury is still investigating whether her taping violated state law.

Tuesday, November 17, 1998

• McDougal embezzlement case should go to jury Wednesday
• House panel releases Tripp audio tapes
• GOP set to pick its leadership team
• Appeals Court awaiting Jones settlement documents; opposition brief received
• Poll: Americans want a more moderate GOP agenda
• Republicans may expand impeachment probe
• Gore's father ill but doing better
• RFK Jr. won't run for New York Senate seat
• Task force approves western presidential primaries
• Analysis: Campaign finance overhaulers to try again
• Group complains about Clinton's pre-election church visit
• Starr probe may prove death knell to Independent Counsel Act

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