NATION : Kennedy Denies Cover-Up, Calls Chappaquiddick Inquiry ‘Complete’

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) said today he faced a “full and complete investigation” following his fatal car accident at Chappaquiddick but declined to comment directly on renewed charges of a political cover-up.

“I took full responsibility for the tragedy at the time, and I still do,” Kennedy said in a five-sentence statement released by his office in response to new allegations by Newsweek magazine of a cover-up during his Chappaquiddick trial.

The statement did not specifically address, however, the grand jury foreman’s allegations in the Newsweek article claiming that political obstacles prevented his panel from pursuing more serious charges against Kennedy.

Kennedy spokesman Paul Donovan said Kennedy has no public appearances planned for the next two weeks during the Senate’s recess, and that the statement would serve as his only comment on the Newsweek article.

The controversy has dogged Kennedy since the July 18, 1969, accident in which his car ran off a wooden bridge near Martha’s Vineyard and landed upside down in a 10-foot-deep channel. The accident claimed the life of his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, and Kennedy faced charges after it was learned he waited 10 hours before reporting the incident.