Clinton Confidant Called Before Grand Jury Once Again

Deputy White House Counsel Bruce R. Lindsey, one of President Clinton’s most trusted advisors, testified Friday for more than three hours before a federal grand jury in his first appearance since an appellate court rejected his claim of a confidential attorney-client relationship with the president.

Prosecutors planned to question Lindsey about his private discussions with Clinton on the Monica S. Lewinsky matter and about any efforts to contain the damage from that relationship. In three earlier appearances before the panel, Clinton’s longtime friend and former campaign strategist had refused to answer such questions.

Lindsey, whose latest appearance was delayed nearly a month because of back surgery, was the highest-ranking White House lawyer to be called as independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr tries to wrap up his current inquiry.

Starr is investigating whether Clinton perjured himself or obstructed justice in initially denying a sexual liaison with Lewinsky, a former White House intern. The efforts of Lindsey and other aides who tried to contain the scandal are also under scrutiny.

Earlier this month, the president acknowledged an inappropriate relationship with Lewinsky but denied telling her or anyone else to lie about it.

Lindsey, accompanied by his attorney, William Murphy, and White House lawyer Cheryl Mills, left the U.S. Courthouse by early afternoon with no indication from either side on whether he had answered all the questions put to him. He told reporters he was finished for the day but refused to further comment.

Asked if he would return, he said: “I don’t know. It’s up to them.”

Although he could be recalled, Lindsey was expected to be one of the final witnesses in the Lewinsky investigation. According to legal sources, he was in a key position to know about the president’s actions during the first weeks of the investigation, which began in mid-January.

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Before Lindsey’s appearance Friday, two other members of the White House counsel’s office--Mills and Lanny A. Breuer--were compelled to testify. The testimony followed an Aug. 3 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals that the traditional attorney-client privilege cited by the White House does not shield lawyers on the public payroll from answering questions during a criminal investigation by another federal official.

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, whom the White House asked to stay this ruling, rejected any further delay in the lawyers’ testimony. The White House appealed the attorney-client ruling to the full court, which will not meet until October.

In Starr’s attempt to build an obstruction-of-justice case, his prosecutors also have sought to investigate Lindsey’s contacts with other grand jury witnesses and any discussion about his efforts with the president, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and others at the White House.

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It was learned that Lindsey previously has refused to answer questions about conversations he had with Vernon E. Jordan Jr., a prominent Washington lawyer and presidential confidant who tried to line up a job for Lewinsky in the private sector.

Lindsey refused to discuss what he knew about Clinton’s knowledge of the efforts by Betty Currie, the president’s personal secretary, in assisting the job search.

Prosecutors are investigating whether Clinton or his aides sought to get Lewinsky a New York job and to retrieve gifts Clinton had given her in an effort to prevent discovery of their sexual relationship.

The circumstances surrounding retrieval of the gifts are being examined closely for possible evidence of obstruction of justice. However, sources said that key witnesses have given conflicting testimony on the matter.

Lewinsky has testified that she and Clinton talked about the gifts in their last White House meeting, held Dec. 28. They were concerned about the gifts because the attorneys in the Paula Corbin Jones sexual harassment lawsuit had sought information about them in a subpoena seeking Lewinsky’s testimony in the case.

The former intern testified that she and Clinton did not resolve what to do with the items, with Clinton saying he wanted to think more about it, according to legal sources.

Later, however, according to Lewinsky’s version, Currie telephoned her to say she understood Lewinsky had something for her to pick up. Currie then stopped by Lewinsky’s Watergate apartment and retrieved a sealed box of the gifts, Lewinsky reportedly testified. Prosecutors believe any action by the president to hide the gifts, which included a brooch and a book of poetry, could be construed as obstruction.

However, Clinton has testified he did not tell Lewinsky to return the gifts or otherwise hide them. And Currie, according to sources close to the White House, has testified that it was Lewinsky who contacted her to arrange return of the gifts.

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Meanwhile, Maryland state prosecutors are still pursuing whether Pentagon employee Linda Tripp may have violated state law in secretly taping more than 20 hours of her phone conversations with Lewinsky. It was these tapes, in which Lewinsky confided a sexual relationship with Clinton and suggested she was told to lie about it, that formed the basis for Starr’s inquiry.

Central to the state investigation is whether Tripp knew it was illegal to tape Lewinsky without her consent. Employees of Radio-Shack, the retailer that sold a recording device to Tripp, recently gave authorities records of the sale and testified that customers are routinely advised of the state law against surreptitious taping, company officials said Friday.

Times staff writer Erin Trodden contributed to this story.