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Editor: Lewinsky tapes don't confirm affair
But former White House intern reportedly says she would lie
January 22, 1998
Web posted at: 10:21 a.m. EST (1521 GMT)In this story:
- Lewinsky on tape: exaggeration or truth?
- Lewinsky reportedly says she would lie
- Hillary Clinton speaks
- Related stories and sites
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Journalists who have heard tapes purported to be a former White House intern worrying about her sexual relationship with President Clinton said Thursday nothing on the portion of the tapes they have heard confirms the claim is true.
In interviews Wednesday, Clinton denied the affair took place.
Whitewater special prosecutor Kenneth Starr is said to have in his possession tapes of conversations between the intern, Monica Lewinsky, and a friend of hers, Linda Tripp, during which Lewinsky discussed the affair in detail.
A L S O :
Read quotes from the tapes as reported by Newsweek
Lewinsky's leap from 'nobody' to news headlines
Newsweek Magazine Assistant Managing Editor and Washington Bureau Chief Ann McDaniel told CNN on Thursday there are 20 hours of tapes and that she and other Newsweek personnel have heard 90 minutes of them.
McDaniel summarizes what she heard on the tape 
356K/33 sec. AIFF or WAV sound
Watch Starr's news conference
"It's clear that Monica Lewinsky is telling her friend Linda Tripp that she's had a sexual relationship with President Clinton," McDaniel said in a live interview. "There's nothing definitive that would tell you whether the affair actually occurred or not. But it's obvious that Monica Lewinsky had been telling Tripp this for a long period of time."
Lewinsky on tape: exaggeration or truth?
Clinton with Washington attorney Vernon Jordan "It's very unclear from the tape," McDaniel said, "whether Lewinsky's story of an affair with Clinton is "perhaps a small flirtation ... that she's exaggerated into something else or whether she is telling the absolute truth."
Lewinsky also reportedly told Tripp that Clinton and his friend, Washington attorney Vernon Jordan, both encouraged her to lie about the affair while being deposed -- answering questions under oath -- by attorneys for Paula Jones, the former Arkansas state employee who has accused the president of sexual harassment.
Asked whether Lewinsky sounded believable, McDaniel said, "It's simply impossible to know from the tapes. Both women sound quite distraught. They're discussing the fact that they've been subpoenaed to be deposed in the Paula Jones case."
Lewinsky reportedly says she would lie
Excerpts from the PBS interview with Jim Lehrer: Clinton: "That is not true ..." (145K/13 sec. AIFF or WAV sound) Lehrer questions Clinton on implications of the term "improper relationship" (230K/21 sec. AIFF or WAV sound) Clinton on Vernon Jordan's involvement (171K/15 sec. AIFF or WAV sound) "Linda Tripp is saying, 'If I am asked if you told me you had an affair with the president, I'm going to have to say yes,' and Monica Lewinsky is saying 'oh, I can't do that, I can't do that.'"
"They both debate whether they should (reveal what Lewinsky has told Tripp). They never mention the president by name," McDaniel said. "Instead, they call him 'the creep,' or 'the one.' They talk ... about whether they should tell (President Clinton) that Monica Lewinsky has told Tripp about the affair."
Other highlights from the McDaniel interview:
- "(Lewinsky) sounds quite fond of the president ... but on the 90 minutes I've heard there's nothing that's sexually explicit."
- Lewinsky says "repeatedly" on the tape she would lie (about her relationship with the president). "At one point in the tape she says, 'I've lied all my life.'"
- McDaniel said "there's nothing specific" on the portion of the tapes she's heard that would confirm or deny allegations that Jordan asked Lewinsky to lie about her relationship with the president.
"There are some references to Vernon by his first name and a hint that he was helping her get a job," McDaniel said, " ... but she does not say specifically that (Clinton or Jordan) told her to lie." Clinton denies having asked Jordan or anyone else to lie in the matter.
- "(Lewinsky) doesn't sound crazy. She sounds fragile, as if she is in an extremely difficult spot."
- "There's a discussion of an exchange of gifts (between Clinton and Lewinsky). It's a bit vague. (Lewinsky) makes reference to a dress that the president may have given her. There's also talk about photographs. They sound like official White House photographs but there's at least one where there is a personal inscription that Monica Lewinsky thinks if others see, it will be incriminating, so she's talking about calling the president's personal secretary, Betty Currie, and asking for a clean copy of that photo so she can comply with the subpoena."
- "There's also indication ... that there were at least nine packages sent by Monica Lewinksy ... to the president's personal secretary, Betty Currie, between October and December of 1997. Sources tell us that some of those packages were letters and that Monica Lewinsky claims that at least one of them was a sexually provocative audio tape."
Hillary Clinton speaks
In addition to the president's own denials, his wife called the allegations of a sexual affair with Lewinsky false and the work of Clinton's political enemies.
Saying she has lived with such allegations for "more than six years," Hillary Rodham Clinton told American Urban Radio Networks she has seen "these charges and accusations evaporate and disappear" once they are investigated.
Correspondent John King contributed to this report.
Special Reports:
- Jones v. Clinton
- Voters' Voice: Kenneth Starr's expanding investigation
- Transcript: Clinton interview with Jim Lehrer
- Transcript: Clinton interview on NPR's "All Things Considered"
- Transcript: White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry's briefing
Related stories:
- Clinton denies affair, cover-up - January 21, 1998
- Clinton denies affair with intern, coverup - January 21, 1998
- Clinton's legal woes converge into thunderstorm - January 21, 1998
- Starr probing Clinton's sex life? - June 25, 1998
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