Grand Jury Hears Top Clinton Aide

President Clinton’s closest aide testified on Wednesday before a federal grand jury for four hours--but the aide left open the possibility that he may seek to avoid having to answer certain questions about the president’s dealings with a former intern.

White House lawyer Bruce R. Lindsey, who has known Clinton for 30 years and has often been at his side from the outset of his first campaign for the presidency, indicated as he left a federal courthouse here that he would return for more questioning today.

When asked if he would return to the grand jury, Lindsey suggested that he would, responding with a smile: “You might show up tomorrow.”

Lindsey has played a central role in seeking to contain virtually every episode of controversial personal conduct that has threatened Clinton as a candidate and as president. And Lindsey’s efforts in the past have entailed conversations with prospective witnesses or accusers.

Neither Lindsey nor his lawyers would say Wednesday whether he will seek to assert the attorney-client privilege or executive privilege to circumscribe, if temporarily, what questions he will answer under oath.

But in a sign that Lindsey is considering invoking one of the legal privileges, he and two lawyers assisting him huddled Wednesday afternoon for 45 minutes in private with the chief U.S. District Court judge overseeing aspects of the case.

Judge Nancy Holloway Johnson would consider the merit of any assertion of executive privilege or attorney-client privilege made on Lindsey’s behalf. Lindsey was accompanied during the meeting with Johnson by his private lawyer, William J. Murphy of Baltimore, and by another deputy White House counsel, Cheryl D. Mills.

After the hearing, Lindsey declined to describe what was discussed.

“I’m not going to talk about the hearing or my testimony,” Lindsey said. “There is nothing for me to say.”

When asked if he felt uncomfortable having to testify before the grand jury, Lindsey responded with an emphatic “No.”

Also Wednesday, Billy Martin, an attorney representing Monica S. Lewinsky’s mother who wants to prohibit further questioning of his client before the grand jury, met with Judge Johnson for 35 minutes. The mother, Marcia Lewis, appeared distraught last Wednesday after a second day of testimony.

Martin told reporters that Lewis is “not doing well.”

“She still feels she’s in this situation solely because she took a moment to listen to her daughter, who asked her to talk to her as a mother,” Martin said. “And Marcia Lewis has done nothing more than be a mother to her daughter.”

Charles Duncan, the former White House liaison officer to the Defense Department, also testified before the grand jury Wednesday, appearing for nearly two hours.

Joseph M. Sellers, Duncan’s lawyer, later said his client, who now works at the State Department, was acquainted with Lewinsky. “He was the White House liaison to the Pentagon for several years and he had contact with Monica Lewinsky but did not know her well,” Sellers said.

Officials at the White House said the decision on whether to invoke one of the legal privileges for Lindsey was being held tightly by lawyers advising both Lindsey and Clinton.

The invoking of either executive or attorney-client privilege would no doubt be challenged vigorously by independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr.

Lindsey, 49, is often described as the president’s consigliere, the one aide with whom Clinton is most apt to share his most intimate secrets--as well as marathon games of hearts aboard Air Force One.

The two men met in 1968 while working for Sen. J. William Fulbright, the late Arkansas Democrat. Clinton also worked at Lindsey’s law firm in Little Rock after he lost a reelection bid as governor in 1980.

Prosecutors under Starr are seeking to determine whether Lindsey helped encourage Lewinsky or other women to lie under oath about the nature of their dealings with the president.

Several women have provided sworn statements in connection with a sexual-harassment lawsuit filed against the president by Paula Corbin Jones, a former Arkansas state employee. The case is scheduled to go to trial in Little Rock in May.

Starr widened his 3 1/2-year-long investigation of the Whitewater controversy five weeks ago, when a friend and former co-worker of Lewinsky’s informed prosecutors of an alleged plot involving Clinton to encourage false testimony in the Jones case.

The tipster, Pentagon employee Linda Tripp, provided secretly recorded tapes in which Lewinsky discussed engaging in sexual activity with Clinton and suggested that the president encouraged her to lie about the relationship.

Lewinsky visited the White House about 36 times from April 1996, when she took a public affairs job at the Pentagon, until the night of Dec. 28, when she conferred with Clinton at the executive mansion, according to records and interviews.

As lawyers for Jones were seeking to question her under oath, Lewinsky on Jan. 7 signed a sworn declaration denying any sexual relationship with Clinton. During the same period, another trusted Clinton advisor, Washington lawyer Vernon E. Jordan Jr., lined up a job offer for Lewinsky from Revlon, Inc., the cosmetics firm.

In December, Jordan selected a Washington lawyer for Lewinsky and introduced her to him. The lawyer, Francis D. Carter, represented her in Jones’ sexual-harassment lawsuit against Clinton but withdrew on Jan. 19, when he was supplanted by William H. Ginsburg, a lawyer handpicked by Lewinsky’s father.

During about six hours of questioning by Jones’ lawyers on Jan. 17, Clinton denied having sex with Lewinsky.

In his spare public comments on the matter since the controversy spilled into public view on Jan. 21, Clinton has said that he did not have “sexual relations” with Lewinsky.

Among the unanswered questions is whether Lindsey directly or indirectly persuaded Betty Currie, the president’s personal secretary, to retrieve certain gifts from Lewinsky that had been given her by Clinton. Jones’ lawyers at the time were seeking to verify whether Clinton had given Lewinsky the gifts.

Meanwhile, Judge Johnson is continuing to review allegations filed under seal on Feb. 9 by Clinton’s lawyers, who have asserted that Starr’s staff has engaged in misconduct by allegedly leaking secret investigative information.

Starr has said that he is aware of no wrongdoing committed by his staff but has initiated an internal inquiry.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Grand Jury Appearances

Those summoned to appear before the federal grand jury investigating the Monica S. Lewinsky case:

JAN. 27

Witness: Betty Currie

Who they are: Clinton’s personal secretary

*

JAN. 28

Witness: Leon Panetta

Who they are: Former White House chief of staff

*

JAN. 29

Witness: Ashley Raines

Who: White House staffer, Lewinsky friend

*

JAN. 30

Witness: Evelyn Lieberman

Who they are: Former deputy chief of staff

*

JAN. 30

Witness: Robert Weiner

Who the are: Works in White House drug policy office

****

FEB. 3

Witness: George Stephanopoulos

Who they are: Former presidential advisor

*

FEB. 3

Witness: Caroline Self

Who they are: Ex-White House intern in Currie’s office.

*

FEB. 4

Witness: Bayani Nelvis

Who they are: White House steward

*

FEB. 4

Witness: Chris Engskov

Who they are: Personal assistant to the president

*

FEB. 5

Witness: Justin Coleman

Who they are: Former White House intern

*

FEB. 5

Witness: John Podesta

Who they are: Deputy White House chief of staff

*

FEB. 10-11

Witness: Marcia Lewis

Who they are: Lewinsky’s mother

*

FEB. 12

Witness: Neysa Erbland

Who they are: Friend of Lewinsky

*

FEB. 17

Witness: Lewis C. Fox

Who they are: Retired Secret Service officer

*

FEB. 17

Witness: Stephen Goodin

Who they are: Former presidential assistant

*

FEB. 18

Witness: Bruce R. Lindsey

Who they are: Deputy White House counsel

*

FEB. 18

Witness: Charlie Duncan

Who they are: Official at Pentagon

****

GRAND JURY ROOM

What typically happens in a federal grand jury hearing

Three-tiered jury box seats 16 to 23 persons who are selected randomly (e.g. by driver’s license or voter registration)

Prosecutor or independent counsel presides over the hearing

U.S. marshal is present in room if witness is a felon

Witness gives testimony under oath with no attorney present

Prosecutor or independent counsel presides over the hearing

Witness’ attorney waits outside; witness can seek counsel any time

Closed room with no windows or with shades drawn to maintain secrecy

* Grand jury will decide whether or not someone should be tried for a crime.

* Prosecutor makes his case by presenting evidence or witnesses

* Grand jurors are permitted to ask witnesses questions and may issue subpoenas

* A majority vote is needed for an indictment

Sources: Times Washington Bureau, Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, diGenova & Toensing, Dateline NBC, Associated Press

Researched by JANET LUNDBLAD / Los Angeles Times