Clinton Will Tell ‘Whole Truth,’ Top Aide Says

On the eve of his historic testimony about his relationship with Monica S. Lewinsky, President Clinton determined what he would say to the grand jury--”the whole truth”--but not whether to address the American people, White House spokesman Mike McCurry said Sunday.

Clinton’s chief lawyer, David E. Kendall, dismissed as “groundless speculation” reports that Clinton might acknowledge having had an “inappropriate relationship” with the former White House intern.

“The truth is the truth. Period. And that’s how the president will testify,” Kendall said in a statement made at the urging of White House officials.

Politicians of both parties appealed to Clinton to come clean, not only with the grand jury, but also with the public. “I think most people in this country want to get this behind us,” said Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah).

McCurry said Clinton would decide whether to address the public “late in the day.” A White House political advisor who spoke on condition that he not be named said the decision would depend on how the president feels, after what is expected to be hours of answering some extremely unpleasant prosecutors’ questions.

Similarly, a lawyer familiar with the matter predicted that the decision would turn on how rough the grand jury session turns out.

Clinton consented to testify voluntarily--the first president to do so as the target of a criminal investigation--but only after independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr agreed to withdraw the subpoena he had served the president.

Lawyers close to the case believe Starr may go into the session with another subpoena in his pocket and will serve it if Clinton, in his voluntary testimony, appears to duck some of his questions. That would make it difficult for the president to refuse to go into detail about his relationship with Lewinsky, as many advisors and outside analysts have suggested he should.

Clinton spent six hours with his lawyers preparing his testimony, which he will deliver from the White House Map Room via closed-circuit television to the grand jury in the federal courthouse about two miles away, McCurry said. The session is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. PDT.

The president interrupted his preparation to attend services at his regular church, Foundry United Methodist. He entered holding hands with First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, who wore dark glasses and flashed a smile at the television cameras.

Hillary Clinton participated with the lawyers in some of the preparations, McCurry said.

“He knows what his testimony will be, and it will be the whole truth,” McCurry said.

McCurry said the lawyers “haven’t shared any substance of the testimony with the rest of us” and voiced skepticism about news reports that Clinton would admit to an inappropriate relationship.

“My impression is, that’s speculative from people who don’t know but think they do,” McCurry said.

His political advisors have held sessions where “ideas have been kicked around” about what he would say to the American people and how he would say it, another senior administration official said.

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In preparing his testimony, Clinton had to decide “where does he draw the line” on what he is willing to tell the grand jurors, the lawyer familiar with the matter said. But limited answers might provoke Starr.

“He could go in there with a subpoena [for Clinton’s testimony] in his pocket,” said the lawyer. Clinton’s lawyers might argue that Starr lacked the power to subpoena the head of the executive branch--a strategy that might not work politically even if it succeeded legally.

The lawyer said that at the very least, the president would have to admit to a “sexually inappropriate relationship” to satisfy Starr.

“I have heard the word ‘inappropriate’ being mentioned by folks at the White House--as in the president’s acknowledging having an inappropriate relationship” with Lewinsky, the lawyer said.

“He’ll probably say something in the beginning about his relationship [with her] but then say, ‘I’m not going to go into details. But I’ll answer any questions you have about subornation of perjury and obstruction,’ which he will deny. This then lays the groundwork to tell the public” his side of the story.

Acknowledging a relationship with Lewinsky could leave Clinton tacitly admitting he lied under oath when questioned about Lewinsky by lawyers for Paula Corbin Jones, who had filed a civil suit against Clinton charging sexual harassment. But it would leave him short of suggesting he had conspired to urge Lewinsky to lie in the Jones case.

The lawyer admitted that Clinton might have problems with questions about gifts to Lewinsky being returned to his personal secretary, Betty Currie. How much trouble depends on what Currie has told the grand jury in her several appearances before the panel.

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Even some Republicans said Clinton, because of his high job-approval ratings, could get away with telling the public the truth and seeking forgiveness. Hatch predicted on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the House of Representatives would decline to bring impeachment proceedings against Clinton.

However, Hatch said, “If there’s evidence of subornation of perjury and obstruction of justice and conspiracy . . . to commit perjury or subornation or obstruction of justice, then that becomes a more serious thing.” And if Clinton lies to the grand jury, Hatch said, there would be a “real call for his impeachment.”

Hatch sharply warned Clinton against using verbal or legal acrobatics in his testimony, saying that he “does have a reputation as a kind of a serial legal manipulator of legal terms. If he goes in there and tries to manipulate the terms and use lawyer-like language to try and not tell the full truth, I think it’s going to hurt him.”

Even Clinton allies stressed that the president would owe many people explanations if he does admit to anything but an innocent relationship, particularly because he unequivocally denied having “sexual relations” with Lewinsky in a direct statement to the American people in January.

“If the president changes his testimony and acknowledges an improper relationship here, he obviously is going to have to go through a lot of pain himself, not only in apologizing to his wife and his family, but obviously to the staff and to those that he misled and to the American public,” said Clinton’s former chief of staff, Leon E. Panetta.