Questioning Resumes in Lewinsky Inquiry

While independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr on Wednesday resumed the methodical questioning of White House officials who played roles in supervising former intern Monica S. Lewinsky, new information emerged about maneuvering in the sexual-harassment lawsuit pending against President Clinton.

The three aides who were summoned before a federal grand jury were positioned to shed light on the hiring in 1995 of Lewinsky, first as an intern and months later as an assistant in the White House legislative affairs office.

One of the witnesses, former White House aide Timothy J. Keating, also was involved directly in the decision--made in April 1996, against Lewinsky’s wishes--to transfer her to a public affairs job at the Pentagon.

After his grand jury appearance, Keating said that his decision to hire Lewinsky in the legislative affairs office was based on her competence as an intern.

But Keating, who is now a lobbyist, said that Lewinsky was transferred to the Pentagon because of “dissatisfaction with her performance” in the legislative affairs position, where she handled correspondence with members of Congress.

“In neither situation did I take or recommend any personnel action because of any suggested relationship with the president,” said Keating, who testified for about two hours. “In fact, I had and have no knowledge of any such relationship.”

Starr’s office is investigating whether Clinton has testified falsely about the nature of his relationship with Lewinsky or encouraged her or others to lie about the matter under oath.

Clinton has said that he has told the truth and that he encouraged no one to lie. Lewinsky signed a sworn statement last month denying having had sexual relations with Clinton but comments by her lawyer appear to leave open the possibility that she may change her account.

Starr opened his investigation of the matter on Jan. 12, after a friend of Lewinsky’s from the Pentagon, Linda Tripp, provided secret recordings of numerous conversations in which Lewinsky described having intimate relations with the president.

The sworn testimony by Clinton and Lewinsky was provided for a sexual-harassment lawsuit brought by Paula Corbin Jones, a former Arkansas state employee. She alleges that Clinton made an inappropriate sexual advance to her. The case is set for trial in May in Little Rock, Ark.

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Jones’ lawyers on Wednesday appeared to test the limits of a federal judge’s gag order that prohibits them from publicly discussing developments in the case. They said that lawyers for Clinton made a new offer to settle the case on Jan. 30--nine days after Starr’s investigation of the Clinton-Lewinsky relationship erupted on the national stage.

Donovan Campbell Jr., an attorney for Jones, said that Mitchell Ettinger, one of Clinton’s private lawyers, conveyed the offer in a personal meeting in Little Rock.

Lawyers for Clinton, however, quickly disputed Campbell’s version of what had occurred.

In a one-page statement, Campbell said Ettinger advised him on Jan. 30 that “Mr. Clinton was prepared to make a public settlement offer of approximately $700,000 and maybe as high as $750,000, to be characterized as a payment of ‘attorney’s fees. . . . ‘ Mr. Clinton was also ready to negotiate mutually acceptable apology language.”

A week later, on Feb. 6, Jones’ lawyers responded with a counteroffer of $900,000, Campbell said, “with mutually acceptable apology language to be worked out.”

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On Feb. 13, Campbell said, Robert S. Bennett, the president’s lead lawyer in the case, told him that Ettinger never had the authority to make the original offer on Jan. 30. This, Campbell said, was contrary to earlier assurances from Ettinger.

Ettinger, in a terse statement, termed Campbell’s account “erroneous and misleading in all material respects.”

In addition to Keating, the two other witnesses who appeared before the grand jury Wednesday were Nancy Hernreich, who holds the title of director of Oval Office Operations, and Patsy Thomasson, who formerly was deputy director of the executive mansion’s personnel office.

Hernreich, regarded as a dedicated and loyal gatekeeper who has worked for Clinton in various capacities for 20 years, declined to comment after her testimony.

Hernreich has worked closely during the Clinton presidency with Betty Currie, the president’s personal secretary who frequently authorized Lewinsky to enter the White House after she began working at the Pentagon. Currie already has testified before the grand jury.

Thomasson, another Arkansan, suggested that her testimony was uneventful. “I had nothing to offer them except the facts about [Lewinsky’s] placement there [at the Pentagon],” Thomasson said. “I absolutely had nothing to offer regarding any relationship between Monica Lewinsky and the president.”

The developments Wednesday came as presidential aides and Starr continued to trade denunciations over today’s scheduled grand jury appearance of White House strategist Sidney Blumenthal.

As he departed his suburban Virginia home Wednesday morning, Starr said that his staff “has been subjected in recent weeks to an avalanche of lies.”

Former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Harold M. Ickes, an advisor to Clinton, said in an interview that Starr is veering toward “Gestapo” tactics as he apparently seeks to explore the nature of Blumenthal’s contacts with the news media.