Starr Says He Was Quoted Out of Context

Independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr continued Monday to counter the fallout from an interview he granted with a start-up magazine, accusing its publisher of distorting his comments.

In a one-page statement, Starr accused Steven Brill, the publisher who interviewed him and wrote the article, of using a quotation out of context to support Brill’s conclusion that the independent counsel has leaked confidential investigative information to reporters.

Brill’s article, published over the weekend in the inaugural edition of the magazine, Brill’s Content, raised questions about the conduct of Starr, one of his top deputies, and reporters who have covered the Monica S. Lewinsky investigation.

At a launch party for the magazine Monday night in New York, Brill said he stands by the accuracy of his story.

While Starr complained about Brill’s article, defenders of President Clinton continued to celebrate it.

“I think the president concurs with those who say that there are serious issues raised in that article about whether or not there have been violations of Federal Rule 6-E [requiring the secrecy of evidence or testimony presented to a grand jury],” said White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry.

The questions raised by the article, McCurry said, “ought to be pursued independently by people who are in a position to get to the truth.”

Paul Begala, a White House political advisor, said he considers Starr’s quotations and paraphrased statements to be a “confession.”

“It reads like an admission of leaking to reporters information that might be part of secret legal proceedings,” Begala said.

Norma Holloway Johnson, the federal district judge who oversees aspects of Starr’s investigation, summoned lawyers in the case to her court Monday afternoon. The session was closed to the public and the news media.

One lawyer familiar with the proceeding indicated that Johnson was upset over the comments attributed to Starr.

David E. Kendall, Clinton’s personal defense lawyer, twice has filed motions urging Johnson to examine what he cited as illegal leaks from Starr’s office.

During an appearance Sunday on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal,” Brill termed Starr “an honorable person. . . . [I]f you ask Ken Starr a straight, precise question, he’s the kind of person who doesn’t lie and gives you an answer.”

Starr, for his part, took particular issue with a passage in the article in which Brill described his 90-minute interview with Starr, conducted on April 15. Starr acknowledged that he and a deputy, Jackie Bennett Jr., briefed reporters about unspecified aspects of the Lewinsky controversy, Brill wrote.

“Aren’t these apparent leaks violations of the federal law, commonly referred to as ‘rule 6-E,’ that prohibits prosecutors from revealing grand jury information?” Brill wrote.

According to the article, Starr responded: “Well, it is definitely not grand jury information, if you are talking about what witnesses tell FBI agents or us before they testify before the grand jury or about related matters. So, it’s not 6-E.”

Starr on Monday said that the quotation was used improperly.

“Brill took a portion of an abstract discussion of the law out of context and then incorrectly implied that it is the [Office of Independent Counsel’s] practice to release information provided by witnesses during interviews. That is not, and never has been, our office’s policy or practice.”

Starr also said in his statement: “We released information about the circumstances surrounding the initial interview of Ms. Lewinsky [conducted by prosecutors on Jan. 16] but not the substance of the interview. Our limited disclosure [to reporters] was entirely appropriate and dictated by Department of Justice policy to counter a serious, yet unfounded, allegation of misconduct--namely, that Ms. Lewinsky was illegally detained and coerced during the interview.”

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Also on Monday, White House lawyers filed papers under seal with the U.S. Court of Appeals, seeking to overturn Johnson’s ruling last month ordering presidential counselor Bruce R. Lindsey to fully answer questions before the grand jury.

Lindsey has refused to answer questions before the grand jury about conversations he has had with two witnesses and a lawyer for a third witness in the Lewinsky investigation.

They are Vernon E. Jordan Jr., the Washington lobbyist who arranged a job for Lewinsky; D. Stephen Goodin, the president’s former scheduler who shadowed him throughout his daily activities; and a lawyer for Michael McGrath, a retired White House steward.

Times staff writer Josh Getlin contributed to this story from New York.