Salon Newsreal | Naked man without a plan

A L S O__T O D A Y

True romance
By Jack Hitt
Why did President Clinton risk everything for a perky intern? Because he was in love
Monica's betrayal
MOTHERS WHO THINK
By Jenn Shreve
By caving in to Kenneth Starr, Lewinsky violated the adulterer's code of honor
Hush, hush, sweet Monica
MEDIA CIRCUS
By Gary Kaufman
Wouldn't it be wonderful if the most famous person who's never been interviewed stayed that way?

T A B L E+T A L K
Will exposing former sex offenders lead to vigilantism? Discuss the dark side of Megan's Law in the Headlines area of Table Talk

D A I L Y+Q U O T E
McGwire: Bigger than Sinatra

R E C E N T L Y
The year of reliving dangerously
By David Horowitz
The unbearable heaviness of not remembering correctly
(09/08/98)
What we really can't forgive Clinton for: He got caught
By Fred Branfman
Why Clinton's days are numbered
(09/04/98)
Field of pills
By Tom McNichol
Have steroids, will homer
(09/03/98)
America rides out the shock waves
By Jonathan Broder
Yale finance expert David DeRosa predicts that Wall Street will withstand the globe's economic convulsions
(09/02/98)
Who lost Russia?
By Jonathan Broder
As Moscow teeters on the brink, Russian experts blame years of bad American advice
(09/01/98)
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Naked man without a plan
Clinton's defense team prepares a tortured legalistic argument that may help him escape legal jeopardy, but it will only make impeachment all the more likely.
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BY JONATHAN BRODER
WASHINGTON -- As the White House braces for a sweeping report to Congress on the Monica Lewinsky affair by independent counsel Kenneth Starr, President Clinton is preparing a narrow, legalistic defense that ultimately may only weaken him further in the ultimate court of public opinion, legal experts and others familiar with this strategy have told Salon.
After four years of investigating Whitewater, Travelgate, Filegate, the suicide of Vince Foster and the Lewinsky affair, Starr is now expected to submit to Congress a detailed report sometime later this month. The White House is anticipating a highly partisan report that will include evidence that Clinton committed a variety of crimes, including perjury, obstruction of justice and abuse of power. Clinton's advisors clearly hope Starr's report will focus primarily on the Lewinsky affair, but there have been mixed signals from Starr's camp on whether that will be the case.
"What this case is about is sex," one senior White House advisor argues. "Of course, Starr will try to prove that it's more than sex, that it's about obstruction, perjury and God knows what else. But this is not a legal case. This is about two people who had consensual sex. Now, that in itself is not very appropriate, but it's not illegal. There's nothing here that's impeachable."
As David Kendall, the president's lawyer, gathers information for a rebuttal that might be presented as an answer to Starr's report, Clinton's legal and senior political advisors are confident they can knock down whatever evidence Starr produces about Clinton's alleged crimes. As a sign of their willingness to fight, the president's men have reconstituted the legendary "War Room," where Clinton's campaign and policy teams responded quickly to crises and criticism. The White House is also considering the hiring of new staffers to bolster the president's defense team.
On the expected evidence of perjury, Clinton's advisors are sticking to the line that despite his Aug. 17 admission of having had an "inappropriate" relationship with Lewinsky, the president's insistence that they had no "sexual relationship" is still, as the president phrased it, "legally accurate." With regard to Starr's efforts to prove obstruction of justice, Salon has learned that Kendall has devised a new, if questionable, timeline to show that Lewinsky returned the gifts she had received from Clinton before the gifts were subpoenaed by Paula Jones' attorneys. And on the issue of abuse of power, the president's legal team snorts at the notion that Clinton's use of White House lawyers to fight Starr's subpoenas constituted a crime.
But legal experts, including lawyers familiar with the president's strategy, say his defense plan is far too dependent on legalisms and linguistic hair-splitting to protect Clinton from possible impeachment. They note that once Starr submits his report to the House Judiciary Committee, the Lewinsky affair becomes a legal and political hybrid. Which is to say that what might work for Clinton in a court of law may not work before Congress, where members will be responding as much to public disgust with Clinton's admitted behavior as they will to the law.
"His defenses to all of these charges seem to be very legalistic," says Michael Zeldin, a former independent counsel who has frequently spoken in defense of the president on television talk shows. "They're not based on innocence so much as they are on nuance and parsing of language.
"In the court of public opinion, that's very bad for Clinton because now that he's admitted to being a liar, it's harder for him to ask for people to bear with him on these other explanations, which are highly legalistic to begin with," Zeldin told Salon. "He seems to be ignoring the reality that once you've lied about one thing, there's almost a presumption that you're lying about something else."
Starr's office has given no indication of what kind of evidence will be included in his report, but among White House officials, the president's legal advisors and independent legal experts, it is widely believed that the report will focus on three major criminal areas: perjury, obstruction of justice and abuse of power.
N E X T+P A G E+| When were the gifts turned over?

A L S O__T O D A Y True romance By Jack Hitt Why did President Clinton risk everything for a perky intern? Because he was in love Monica's betrayal MOTHERS WHO THINK By Jenn Shreve By caving in to Kenneth Starr, Lewinsky violated the adulterer's code of honor Hush, hush, sweet Monica MEDIA CIRCUS By Gary Kaufman Wouldn't it be wonderful if the most famous person who's never been interviewed stayed that way? T A B L E+T A L K Will exposing former sex offenders lead to vigilantism? Discuss the dark side of Megan's Law in the Headlines area of Table Talk D A I L Y+Q U O T E McGwire: Bigger than Sinatra R E C E N T L Y The year of reliving dangerously By David Horowitz The unbearable heaviness of not remembering correctly (09/08/98) What we really can't forgive Clinton for: He got caught By Fred Branfman Why Clinton's days are numbered (09/04/98) Field of pills By Tom McNichol Have steroids, will homer (09/03/98) America rides out the shock waves By Jonathan Broder Yale finance expert David DeRosa predicts that Wall Street will withstand the globe's economic convulsions (09/02/98) Who lost Russia? By Jonathan Broder As Moscow teeters on the brink, Russian experts blame years of bad American advice (09/01/98) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Browse the Newsreal Archives - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
		Naked man without a plan Clinton's defense team prepares a tortured legalistic argument that may help him escape legal jeopardy, but it will only make impeachment all the more likely. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - BY JONATHAN BRODER WASHINGTON -- As the White House braces for a sweeping report to Congress on the Monica Lewinsky affair by independent counsel Kenneth Starr, President Clinton is preparing a narrow, legalistic defense that ultimately may only weaken him further in the ultimate court of public opinion, legal experts and others familiar with this strategy have told Salon. After four years of investigating Whitewater, Travelgate, Filegate, the suicide of Vince Foster and the Lewinsky affair, Starr is now expected to submit to Congress a detailed report sometime later this month. The White House is anticipating a highly partisan report that will include evidence that Clinton committed a variety of crimes, including perjury, obstruction of justice and abuse of power. Clinton's advisors clearly hope Starr's report will focus primarily on the Lewinsky affair, but there have been mixed signals from Starr's camp on whether that will be the case. "What this case is about is sex," one senior White House advisor argues. "Of course, Starr will try to prove that it's more than sex, that it's about obstruction, perjury and God knows what else. But this is not a legal case. This is about two people who had consensual sex. Now, that in itself is not very appropriate, but it's not illegal. There's nothing here that's impeachable." As David Kendall, the president's lawyer, gathers information for a rebuttal that might be presented as an answer to Starr's report, Clinton's legal and senior political advisors are confident they can knock down whatever evidence Starr produces about Clinton's alleged crimes. As a sign of their willingness to fight, the president's men have reconstituted the legendary "War Room," where Clinton's campaign and policy teams responded quickly to crises and criticism. The White House is also considering the hiring of new staffers to bolster the president's defense team. On the expected evidence of perjury, Clinton's advisors are sticking to the line that despite his Aug. 17 admission of having had an "inappropriate" relationship with Lewinsky, the president's insistence that they had no "sexual relationship" is still, as the president phrased it, "legally accurate." With regard to Starr's efforts to prove obstruction of justice, Salon has learned that Kendall has devised a new, if questionable, timeline to show that Lewinsky returned the gifts she had received from Clinton before the gifts were subpoenaed by Paula Jones' attorneys. And on the issue of abuse of power, the president's legal team snorts at the notion that Clinton's use of White House lawyers to fight Starr's subpoenas constituted a crime. But legal experts, including lawyers familiar with the president's strategy, say his defense plan is far too dependent on legalisms and linguistic hair-splitting to protect Clinton from possible impeachment. They note that once Starr submits his report to the House Judiciary Committee, the Lewinsky affair becomes a legal and political hybrid. Which is to say that what might work for Clinton in a court of law may not work before Congress, where members will be responding as much to public disgust with Clinton's admitted behavior as they will to the law. "His defenses to all of these charges seem to be very legalistic," says Michael Zeldin, a former independent counsel who has frequently spoken in defense of the president on television talk shows. "They're not based on innocence so much as they are on nuance and parsing of language. "In the court of public opinion, that's very bad for Clinton because now that he's admitted to being a liar, it's harder for him to ask for people to bear with him on these other explanations, which are highly legalistic to begin with," Zeldin told Salon. "He seems to be ignoring the reality that once you've lied about one thing, there's almost a presumption that you're lying about something else." Starr's office has given no indication of what kind of evidence will be included in his report, but among White House officials, the president's legal advisors and independent legal experts, it is widely believed that the report will focus on three major criminal areas: perjury, obstruction of justice and abuse of power. N E X T+P A G E+\| When were the gifts turned over?