Lawmakers Look Beyond Videotape

Poised to make public President Clinton’s videotaped testimony in the Monica S. Lewinsky case, House leaders angrily split Wednesday over whether to release additional transcripts and other materials that describe in ever-more-lurid detail the sexual relationship of the president and the former White House intern.

House Republicans hope to release not only the Clinton video on Friday but also large parts of grand jury transcripts from Lewinsky and other key witnesses who provided accounts of presidential improprieties.

Joining them in their call for a total release of documents was influential Democratic Rep. John D. Dingell of Michigan, arguing that full disclosure is the best policy as the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal increasingly engulfs a Congress uncertain how best to proceed.

But many other Democrats, along with some staunchly conservative Republicans aligned with the religious right, cautioned that the wholesale release of the entire Clinton-Lewinsky file would be tantamount to disseminating “pornography” into millions of homes across the nation.

“Do we really need to know the color of the thong?” asked one Democratic lawmaker, referring to the undergarment that Lewinsky said she exposed to the president at the start of their relationship. “Let’s leave something to the imagination.”

Clinton Defends His Leadership

On other fronts Wednesday:

* Clinton, in a brief news conference with Czech President Vaclav Havel, deflected questions about whether he should resign and said that the decision on releasing the videotape of his Aug. 17 grand jury testimony rests solely with Congress. “I have never stopped leading this country,” he declared.

* In a sign of the continuing erosion of the barrier between politicians’ public and private lives, the previous extramarital affair of another GOP House member was revealed. Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.) confirmed that he had carried on a five-year tryst when he was a member of the Illinois Legislature.

Unbowed, Hyde pledged that the revelation will not deter him in his work heading up any impeachment inquiry. “I intend to fulfill my constitutional duty,” he said.

* Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) became the first Democrat to sign a House resolution calling for Clinton’s impeachment. Earlier, Rep. Paul McHale (D-Pa.) had urged Clinton to resign.

As the rhetoric continued to escalate about what Congress should do--impeach Clinton, censure him or drop the matter--the immediate fight centers on his videotaped testimony.

Lawmakers Insist on Release of Videotape

Republicans, with the help of some key Democrats, seemed determined to get the tape on the nightly newscasts by Friday evening. They insisted that release of the video is essential so the public can evaluate Clinton truthfulness.

“In every trial, the judge says to the jurors, you should take the demeanor of witnesses into consideration,” said Rep. Anne M. Northup (R-Ky.).

“The president’s credibility is the issue,” said Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), who is vice chairman of the House Oversight and Investigations Committee. “It is important for us to review the record.”

He added that it would be impossible to keep the video from the public if it went to all 435 House members, because someone would give it to the press.

“It’s bound to leak,” he said. “It seems to me it’s much better to get it out before it leaks. . . . You just can’t keep it a national security secret, if all 435 members see it.”

After the full House voted Friday to release independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr’s report, it was disseminated on the Internet. In its deliberations today, the Judiciary Committee is expected to decide how--as well as if--to release the videotape and other documents.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose), however, noted that much of the Watergate evidence remained under seal for many years after that scandal forced President Nixon to resign in 1974. Lofgren was an aide to the House Judiciary Committee then and now is a member of the panel.

But other Democrats supported full disclosure, as laid out in a letter to House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) from Reps. Dingell, Gary A. Condit (D-Ceres) and Peter Deutsch of Florida.

“Only when we strip away the cloak of secrecy and lay the facts on the table can we begin to resolve this matter--honestly and openly,” they wrote. “We owe the American people an honest evaluation of the facts. We must be prepared to follow the course of law wherever it leads us.”

Gingrich made the same point Wednesday morning in a closed-door caucus of House Republicans, saying that the public needs to see all of the material to weigh Clinton’s position that he did not commit perjury when he denied a sexual relationship with Lewinsky.

Rep. Nancy L. Johnson (R-Conn.) said she believes enough explicit material already has been released.

In addition to the Clinton video, the Judiciary Committee is considering releasing large parts of written transcripts of testimony by Lewinsky, presidential friend Vernon E. Jordan Jr. and Clinton’s secretary, Betty Currie; lists of phone calls and visits between Clinton and Lewinsky and a copy of Lewinsky’s immunity agreement with Starr’s office.

Both Republicans and Democrats have compiled lists of information that they want redacted as too personal and those differences will be thrashed out in the committee meeting.

The video could be the most damaging for Clinton, who was said to have been angered by prosecutors’ questions about his past sexual activities.

But some Republicans, like Rep. James E. Rogan of Glendale, offered no sympathy to Democrats who charged that GOP candidates will use the video in campaign ads.

“All of us who enter politics know that every time we step in front of a microphone or a camera lens that we run the risk of saying something that may jeopardize our careers,” Rogan said.

Clinton conceded at his news conference that he realized the video could make its way into the public domain.

“I think that I knew that the rules were against it,” the president said. “But I thought it would happen.” He added: “But it’s not of so much concern to me.”

At the same time, he chastised Congress for passing only one appropriations bill this year. “I think that the time has come to think about the American people and their interests and their future and that’s what I’m going to focus on and that’s what I would hope the Congress would focus on,” he said.

The matter of Hyde’s extramarital relationship appeared on Salon, an Internet magazine, with a picture of the then-state legislator and Cherie Snodgrass together at a Chicago nightspot in the late 1960s.

According to Salon, Hyde and Snodgrass were both married then.

In response, Hyde said:

“The statute of limitations has long since passed on my youthful indiscretions. Suffice it to say Cherie Snodgrass and I were good friends a long, long time ago.”

Other House Republicans rose to Hyde’s defense.

“We have every faith that Henry Hyde will carry out his constitutional responsibilities,” said Northup. “All of us are human beings. On every jury, there are imperfect people.”

Hyde is the third House Republican in recent weeks to be the subject of allegations of past sexual misdeeds. The others are Rep. Dan Burton of Indiana, a fierce Clinton critic who heads the committee investigating campaign finance irregularities, and Rep. Helen R. Chenoweth of Idaho.