C L I N T O N C R I S I S Is Clinton that reckless? By Andrew Ross JFK wannabe By Camille Paglia Unsinkable Bill By Alexander Cockburn Horowitz: It's his character, stupid D A I L Y+Q U O T E Exit laughing R E C E N T L Y Revolutionary suicide? By Scott Corey Mad or not, there is a logic to Theodore Kaczynski's actions. (01/21/98) Where's the beef? By Erik Marcus What's wrong with Oprah Winfrey swearing off hamburgers? It's libelous, according to rich Texas cattlemen who are suing her for $12 million (01/20/98) The odd couple By Richard Rodriguez Castro and the pope have more in common than the West thinks (01/19/98) The end By Jonathan Broder Benjamin Netanyahu's meeting with President Clinton will likely sink the Middle East peace process altogether (01/16/98) The worst show on earth By Ros Davidson Ted Kaczynski should be in a mental hospital. Instead, he's about to become the star in a grotesque courtroom circus (01/15/98) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Browse the Newsreal Archives - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
		Smoking guns PAGE 2 OF 2 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Goldberg said Tripp decided to record Lewinsky secretly because Tripp was angry that Clinton attorney Robert Bennett had publicly called her a liar last year. Last October, Tripp alleged that she had seen another White House aide, Kathleen Willey, emerge from the Oval Office with her lipstick smeared and her clothing askew and that Willey had told her President Clinton had fondled her. Clinton denied the incident took place, prompting Bennett's comment. Goldberg also said Tripp made the secret recordings "to protect herself" in the event she was deposed by Jones' lawyers. "She had been listening to Monica's story for a year and only began taping when the Willey thing came up," Goldberg said. "She knew all this stuff and was desperate to protect herself." Goldberg said Tripp eventually went with her tapes to independent counsel Kenneth Starr, who has been investigating the Whitewater affair and related scandals allegedly involving the president and the first lady. Starr's office, together with the FBI, outfitted Tripp with a secret wire and sent her back to hear Lewinsky's story again, this time recording it secretly for Starr's office on one tape. Tripp herself was a White House aide in the Bush administration. In 1993, she was an executive assistant to former White House counsel Bernard Nussbaum, and was transferred to the Pentagon spokesman's office after she testified before a grand jury and a Senate committee investigating the so-called "Travelgate" affair. "She was considered a hostile witness," one administration official told Salon. Lewinsky worked for a year and a half at the White House as an intern. Last year, she also was transferred to the Pentagon spokesman's office, where she met and befriended Tripp. A former White House colleague of Lewinsky, who spoke to Salon under conditions of anonymity, described Lewinsky as "emotionally young for her age" and "star-struck" by the president. But the mood at the White House Wednesday night was grim. Sources described the atmosphere as "batten down the hatches." In Congress, the allegations that Clinton encouraged Lewinsky to perjure herself and obstructed justice prompted some Republicans to warn of possible impeachment proceedings against the president if the allegations proved to be true. President Clinton, while denying the allegations, said he would cooperate fully with Starr's investigation and wanted everybody involved to tell the truth. Stephen Hess, a presidential scholar at the Brookings Institution, decried the expansion of Starr's investigations into the president's alleged love affairs. "I never thought before I woke up this morning that we have sex police in the United States," he said. "Ken Starr, who was appointed to investigate Whitewater, has become the Inspector General of the United States, a fourth branch of government. We are starting down a very slippery slope. I don't have a crystal ball, and I don't know how this is going to end up, but I now fear for the institution of the presidency." "What's [the controversy] all about?" Goldberg said. "The president was fucking this kid in the White House. Is there any question?" SALON | Jan. 22, 1998 Jonathan Broder is Salon's regular Washington correspondent. T A B L E+T A L K Discuss the allegations in Table Talk.