Jordan Testifies for 5 Hours Before Federal Grand Jury

Vernon E. Jordan Jr., the lobbyist and trusted advisor to President Clinton, spent more than five hours Tuesday before a federal grand jury that is examining why he found a lawyer and a new job for Monica S. Lewinsky, the former White House intern.

Jordan appeared serious of purpose when he arrived at and left a federal courthouse here accompanied by a law partner who represents him.

After testifying, Jordan said his friendship with Clinton remains intact and that he will return for more questioning Thursday.

“I answered all of their questions truthfully, and completely, to the best of my ability . . . “ Jordan said. “As to those of you who cast doubt on my friendship with President Clinton, let me reassure you that ours is an enduring friendship . . . based on mutual respect, trust, and admiration.”

Jordan added, in his confident baritone: “That was true yesterday, that is true today. And, it will be true tomorrow.”

Appearing before cameras in a navy blue suit, without the overcoat and fedora he had worn hours earlier, Jordan answered no questions. But he did use the occasion to ask the news media to “give my neighbors and my neighborhood a little rest, a little respite from your noise early in the morning.”

Jordan appeared under a subpoena from independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr, who is investigating whether Clinton lied under oath about his dealings with Lewinsky or whether he encouraged her or others to testify falsely.

Jordan is a pivotal figure in the investigation for at least two reasons: He has a long-standing, close relationship with Clinton and he took several steps to help Lewinsky after she learned in December that lawyers for Paula Corbin Jones, who is suing Clinton for sexual harassment, wanted to question her under oath.

Jordan’s much-anticipated appearance before the grand jury marked a turning point in the 6-week-old controversy surrounding the nature of Lewinsky’s dealings with the president. At least 24 other witnesses had testified earlier, but none who combined Jordan’s stature as a Washington power broker and advisor to both Clinton and Lewinsky.

William H. Ginsburg, Lewinsky’s lawyer, has suggested that Jordan’s assistance to the former intern began in November, about a month before she learned that lawyers in the sexual harassment case were seeking her testimony because of their belief that she was among Clinton’s alleged paramours.

Jordan has acknowledged arranging job interviews for Lewinsky at two companies on whose boards of directors he serves--American Express and Revlon, Inc., the cosmetics giant.

According to those familiar with his version of events, after Jordan began helping Lewinsky, he became concerned about the propriety of what he was doing and spoke with Clinton. Prosecutors were expected to question Jordan vigorously about the details of that conversation.

Jordan, 62, has acknowledged that he accompanied Lewinsky from Washington to New York for an interview at Revlon. Jordan also chose Francis D. Carter as Lewinsky’s first lawyer in Washington and went with her to Carter’s office for their introduction.

The recollections of Jordan and Lewinsky have diverged on at least one key point, according to lawyers: Lewinsky at one stage informed prosecutors that she was willing to testify she had oral sex with Clinton and that she told Jordan about the relationship. Jordan denies Lewinsky told him this.

With Carter’s assistance, Lewinsky signed an affidavit on Jan. 7, swearing under oath that she had not had sexual relations with Clinton. On Jan. 16, Clinton was questioned under oath in the Jones case and swore that he did not have sexual relations with Lewinsky.

However, during secretly taped conversations with her friend, Linda Tripp, Lewinsky said she did have intimate relations with Clinton.

During a morning break in Jordan’s testimony, William G. Hundley, his lawyer, suggested that no significant schism exists between his client and the White House.

“There is no rift with the president,” Hundley told reporters. “That relationship is fine. He’s looking forward to getting back with the president.”

Hundley said Jordan was “relaxed and confident,” adding: “His mood is fine. He’s cool.” As Jordan was completing his testimony behind closed doors Tuesday afternoon, Hundley described the questioning as “slow” and “step-by-step.”

Jordan emerged from the grand jury room to confer with Hundley during breaks but otherwise did not appear to interrupt questioning. Jordan did not appear to be surprised by any of the questions, according to people familiar with his testimony.

It also was learned Tuesday that two of the most important earlier witnesses, White House Deputy Counsel Bruce R. Lindsey and the president’s personal secretary, Betty Currie, have been informed that they should be available to appear before the grand jury again as early as Thursday.

It was Currie who authorized many of Lewinsky’s dozens of admittances to the White House after the former intern had been transferred to a public affairs post at the Pentagon in April 1996.

Lindsey has asserted executive privilege to avoid answering certain questions about his conversations with Clinton about Lewinsky.

As for Jordan, an air of suspense has surrounded him since news broke, on Jan. 21, that Starr had begun investigating Clinton’s dealings with Lewinsky.

Asked Tuesday whether he thought Jordan’s testimony would help Clinton, White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry said: “Absolutely.”

“He [Jordan] is not an official member of the president’s staff or Cabinet,” McCurry said. “But there is such a thing as the Kitchen Cabinet, dating back to the days of Andrew Jackson. And if there is such a thing, Vernon is in it.”

Jordan’s involvement in assisting Lewinsky was one of the factors cited by Starr in mid-January, when he persuaded Atty. Gen. Janet Reno and a special panel of federal judges to authorize a broadening of his long-running investigation of the Whitewater controversy.

Starr already had been investigating why Jordan and other Clinton insiders lined up income totaling about $500,000 for another troubled figure, Webster L. Hubbell, who resigned as associate attorney general in 1994.

Prosecutors have been trying to determine whether Jordan or others arranged deals for Hubbell to discourage him from providing potentially damaging testimony about the involvement of the president or First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in the failed real estate venture known as Whitewater. Jordan was not questioned about Hubbell on Tuesday, sources said.

Jordan has said he helped Hubbell out of friendship. Still, the deal that Jordan arranged for Hubbell was with Revlon--the same company that, at Jordan’s behest, offered Lewinsky a job in January. Revlon rescinded the offer on Jan. 21, the day Starr’s expanded investigation was first reported.

Jordan said on Jan. 22 that, as with Hubbell, he acted out of altruism in helping Lewinksy. Nonetheless, uncertainty about Jordan’s role has been fueled by the discreet distance he has erected between himself and the president’s defense.

Unlike a handful of other presidential advisors, Jordan and his lawyer decided from the outset not to participate in a joint-defense arrangement with Clinton’s lawyers.

The arrangements have allowed attorneys representing other witnesses or prospective targets in the investigation to share information, enabling Clinton’s defense team to better anticipate and parry the moves of prosecutors.

“He [Jordan] wanted to be able to show the prosecutors and the world that he wasn’t in any way collaborating with the White House, as part of some conspiracy to obstruct the investigation,” said one lawyer familiar with the matter.

Times staff writer Ronald J. Ostrow contributed to this story.