Expert Says Clinton Phone Tape Was ‘Selectively Edited’

A nationally known expert who examined a tape-recorded conversation allegedly between Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton and a woman who claims to have had a long-term affair with him said the tape had been “selectively edited” and is “suspect at best.”

“If you take this tape recording at its face value, it’s misleading,” said Anthony J. Pellicano, a prominent expert on tape recordings who has testified in numerous criminal cases involving tapes.

The woman, Gennifer Flowers, claimed in an article printed in the Star, a supermarket tabloid, that she and Clinton had a 12-year affair. Clinton, a leading contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, has vehemently denied the affair, but has conceded speaking with her.

Flowers, who was paid an undisclosed sum from the Star for her story, played segments of the tape at a press conference in New York on Monday. On Wednesday, the Star provided a copy of the tape to KCBS in Los Angeles for verification. KCBS, in turn, hired Pellicano, who lives in the Los Angeles area.

“I have examined it,” Pellicano told The Times. “I don’t know that it was ‘doctored,’ ” he added, “but it was selectively edited.”

Star editor Richard Kaplan insisted: “We did not tamper with the tape.” But, he added, “I cannot vouch for the tape before it came into our possession.” Kaplan added that he cannot release the original copy of the tape because of his contract with Flowers.

Pellicano said significant gaps in the tape come during a conversation about what Flowers should do if reporters questioned her about her relationship with Clinton. Flowers contends that Clinton told her to lie, although the tape does not appear to support that.

Because of the gaps, Pellicano said, even more doubt remains about the meaning of the conversation. In addition to the apparent editing, Pellicano said he has a “subjective” judgment that some of Flowers’ statements on the tapes may have been dubbed in later, making Clinton appear to be responding to remarks that he never actually heard.

“The tape is suspect at best,” Pellicano said, adding that, without access to the original tapes, he cannot prove his suspicions. When the Star released the copy of the tape, it labeled some gaps, but Pellicano said the ones he found would not have been noticeable to a casual listener.

Flowers, meanwhile, lost her $17,000-a-year state job in Arkansas on Wednesday after failing to show up for work. Don Barnes, Flowers’ supervisor at the Arkansas Employment Security Appeals Tribunal, where she worked as a receptionist, said she had requested leave last week and promised to return Monday.

When she did not, he said, she lost the job.