Lewinsky Testifies Again in Starr Probe

Former White House intern Monica S. Lewinsky spent three hours Thursday testifying before a federal grand jury about her relationship with President Clinton amid indications that some aspects of her account differ from the version of events offered by the president on Monday.

Independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr wants to pin down what led Lewinsky to return gifts from Clinton after the items were subpoenaed in the sexual harassment suit against the president brought by Paula Corbin Jones, according to sources familiar with the case.

If Clinton told Lewinsky to return the gifts or asked Betty Currie, his personal secretary, to retrieve them, that could constitute obstruction of justice.

Lewinsky is understood to have testified that she asked Clinton what the two of them would do about the gifts and that he said nothing. Some time later, Currie told Lewinsky that she understood the former intern had a package for her and Lewinsky then turned over some of the gifts.

Currie has appeared before the grand jury several times, but her version of the gift return is not known.

Clinton, only hours after completing his testimony, said: “I told the grand jury today and I say to you now that at no time did I ask anyone to lie, to hide or destroy evidence or to take any other unlawful action.”

Prosecutors also sought details of Clinton’s actions during his sexual encounters with Lewinsky to determine if he had testified falsely in the since-dismissed Jones lawsuit by denying a sexual relationship.

It was not clear whether Lewinsky’s testimony Thursday helped to resolve those matters. Much of the day’s questioning came from grand jurors rather than prosecutors, according to a source familiar with the session.

Judy Smith, Lewinsky’s spokeswoman, said she believes Lewinsky’s second grand jury appearance was her last, adding that the young woman “is now looking forward to beginning the process of rebuilding her life.”

Friends of Lewinsky, meanwhile, offered glimpses into the 25-year-old’s state of mind. They said she had been “hurt” by Clinton’s televised speech Monday night in which he acknowledged having a relationship that was “not appropriate.” Lewinsky felt it was portrayed “as a service kind of relationship. . . . She came in and had sex with him. That was clearly not her impression,” one friend said.

When she arrived at the federal courthouse Thursday morning, Lewinsky was asked by shouting reporters if she wants a personal apology from the president. She did not respond.

In a related matter, it was learned that Clinton provided prosecutors with a DNA sample before he testified Monday by closed-circuit television to the grand jurors.

Clinton’s lawyer, David E. Kendall, did not return a call on the issue Thursday, but it appears that the DNA sample was obtained because the FBI laboratory has determined that a stain on a dress owned by Lewinsky is semen. She has said she believes the stain was left by Clinton. The FBI declined comment.

In his speech Monday, Clinton defended his denial in the Jones case of having sexual relations with Lewinsky as “legally accurate.”

He apparently was relying on the definition of sexual relations approved in that case by the judge, which could be read as excluding oral sex.

Clinton refused during his testimony to give detailed answers to some of the questions about the nature of his sexual contacts with Lewinsky, a senior White House official said, and the answers could have resolved whether his activities met the definition of sexual relations.