Clinton Valet, Counsel Appear Again Before Grand Jury

WASHINGTON — Two witnesses with divergent roles in the White House hierarchy made return visits Thursday to the federal grand jury examining the nature of dealings between President Clinton and a former intern.

The aides appearing before the grand jury--Deputy Counsel Bruce R. Lindsey and a valet, Bayani B. Nelvis--are important witnesses because they were well-positioned to shed light on whether Clinton testified truthfully regarding the former intern, Monica S. Lewinsky.

Lindsey, the president’s closest confidant, has had access to the intricate legal defense and public relations strategies deployed to challenge independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr’s investigation.

Nelvis, a career civil servant, works in close proximity to the Oval Office, where he and Secret Service personnel could observe the comings and goings of visitors, including Lewinsky.

Lindsey, Nelvis and their lawyers declined to offer any description of what occurred before the grand jury. Lindsey was accompanied by his personal lawyer and by another deputy White House counsel, Cheryl D. Mills. In an arrangement that makes Starr’s job more difficult, Nelvis’ lawyer, Joseph Small, has shared information with Clinton’s lawyers under a “joint defense” agreement.

Clinton has said under oath that he did not have intimate relations with Lewinsky. The testimony came on Jan. 17 in connection with a sexual harassment lawsuit brought against Clinton by a former Arkansas government employee, Paula Corbin Jones.

When Lindsey appeared before the grand jury three weeks ago, he cited the prospect of asserting the doctrine of executive privilege in declining to answer certain questions.

Lindsey, asked after his 2 1/2 hours of testimony on Thursday whether Clinton intends to formally assert executive privilege on his behalf, replied: “You know we’re not talking about that. . . . I’d much rather read your speculations.”

In another development on Thursday, a federal judge overseeing aspects of the investigation refused to open to the public a hearing at which lawyers for Starr and Clinton sparred over whether prosecutors have leaked confidential investigative information.

Chief U.S. District Judge Norma Holloway Johnson said she would consider--at some unspecified date--allowing the release of transcripts of Thursday’s hearing, which also was attended by two lawyers representing Lewinsky.

Theodore J. Boutrous, a lawyer representing The Times and other news organizations, had filed a motion on Wednesday asking Johnson to open the hearing.

“We argued that public access to the hearing would greatly benefit public understanding and faith in the criminal justice system and in these proceedings,” Boutrous said in an interview.

When he sought to underscore his position at the outset of the hearing, Boutrous said, the judge asked both the president’s chief defense lawyer, David E. Kendall, and an aide to Starr whether they were familiar with the motion filed on behalf of the news organizations.

When Kendall and Starr’s representative said they had not had the opportunity to formally respond to the motion seeking to open the hearing, Johnson announced her decision to keep it closed.

Boutrous said that if he had known a hearing was scheduled for Thursday, he would not have waited until the day before to file the motion.

Meanwhile on Capitol Hill, Republicans and Democrats argued over the propriety of the White House’s use of publicly paid lawyers to assist the president’s legal defense in the Lewinsky controversy.

The debate came during an unusually contentious hearing on the White House’s annual budget request, held by a House Appropriations subcommittee.

The hearing was attended by Appropriations Committee Chairman Bob Livingston (R-La.), who questioned whether the White House counsel’s office has become “a sort of taxpayer-funded private legal service for the president and first lady.”

Livingston cited the role of White House lawyers in communicating with witnesses called before the grand jury in the Lewinsky case. He also questioned the size of the legal staff, which earns about 10% of the White House’s $24.3-million salary pool.

On the other hand, Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) accused his Republican colleagues of ignoring the fine line that can separate official and personal matters concerning the president.

“You can’t divorce the president of the United States from being the president of the United States 24 hours a day,” said Hoyer, who nonetheless agreed that White House lawyers should not be engaged in private legal matters.

A presidential spokesman, James Kennedy, said the White House lawyers had not overstepped their official duties. He also said much of the counsel’s office workload has come from subpoenas issued by congressional committees.

Meanwhile, Pentagon officials insisted Thursday that they had not demoted Linda Tripp, the former friend and co-worker of Lewinsky’s who in January alerted prosecutors of possible crimes involving Clinton and the former intern.

“She has the same title and she has the same salary [$88,172 a year],” said chief Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon, who is Tripp’s boss. But Bacon added that Tripp now “has different responsibilities.”

Lewinsky, after stints as an intern and a paid staffer at the White House, worked alongside Tripp in a public-affairs position at the Pentagon from April 1996 until last December.

Times staff writer Richard A. Serrano contributed to this story.