DOWNSIDE LEGACY AT TWO DEGREES OF PRESIDENT CLINTON
SECTION: SECRET POLICE
SUBSECTION: ALL
Revised 8/9/99

PRIVATE AND PUBLIC INVESTIGATIVE RESOURCES
SECRET POLICE
CLAIMS OF MALICIOUS PROSECUTION

PRIVATE AND PUBLIC INVESTIGATIVE RESOURCES

2300? FBI Files improperly acquired (White House) - Marceca testified about these
FBI used in White House claims in the firing of the White House Travel Office.
Terry Lenzer and firm (Private/White House)
Jack Palladino and firm (Private/Campaign)
FBI used to remove Chef Sean Haddon

 

New York Post Richard Johnson 8/1/98 "PRESIDENT Clinton has never met the private detective who has been shadowing his enemies, and after reading next month's Vanity Fair, he may not want to. Terry Lenzner, whose Investigative Group International is disparagingly known as the White House Secret Police, is a Harvard Law School alumnus who, on Clinton's behalf, has been digging up dirt on Monica Lewinsky and Paula Jones, and possibly on Kathleen Willey and Linda Tripp. According to Vanity Fair, IGI has been investigating opponents and potential opponents of Clinton since 1989, when it targeted Tommy Robinson, a Republican gubernatorial candidate in Arkansas. But it's Lenzner's other escapades that make for uneasy reading. Writer Judy Bachrach claims that among IGI's former operatives is Hillary Rodham Clinton's close friend Brooke Shearer, the wife of Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott. Shearer's specialty during her time at IGI was divining information from people's trash, an art known in the spook biz as "dumpster dipping."."

8/2/98 NY Times David Samuels ".Whether Terry Lenzner plays by the rules is the subject of much high-powered speculation in Washington these days. As the private investigator hired by President Clinton's lawyers, Lenzner is a front-line soldier in a new kind of war, in which embarrassing information about political and legal opponents is provided for use as ammunition in today's partisan culture of scandal. Within the past year, Lenzner has testified before a Senate committee about the President's legal-defense fund and, most recently, before the grand jury of the independent counsel, Kenneth Starr, about his activities on behalf of the President's lawyers. Frank Rich referred to him as a "creep" for investigating the tobacco company whistle-blower Jeffrey Wigand. "To hire plumbers, to affect the trials of people through adverse publicity, that's wrong," says Ronald Rotunda, a professor of law at the University of Illinois who served with Lenzner on the Senate Watergate committee and is currently a special consultant to Starr. "Assuming that it was all legal, and people weren't bribed somewhere along the way, I still think it is wrong." Citing what he beli eves to be a deliberate tactic of digging up dirt on the President's accusers, like Paula Jones, and then leaking it to the press, he adds, "For Terry to be involved in this is sad and appalling.". Dick Morris, the former Clinton strategist (and no stranger to hyperbole), puts it a different way: he calls Lenzner the head of "the White House secret police." . When it comes to the questions asked by the special prosecutor Jackie Bennett, Lenzner is unusually specific. .What is most surprising is how normal Lenzner makes all this sound. If Terry Lenzner's rise tells us anything about the scandal wars of the 90's, it may be that the power once held by J. Edgar Hoover -- someone who worked behind the scenes, who knew all the secrets and exerted enormous influence on public affairs -- has passed into the hands of private men. "There's something satisfying about walking around with a reserve bank of information that nobody else has, or few people have," Lenzner says. "With an understanding of things that go on inside companies and universities and charities and Governments. But I never would have had that chance if I hadn't become what I have become. And I love that part. I'll be frank with you on that." "

World Net Daily WorldNetDaily.com Sarah Foster ".President Clinton relies so much on private investigators to dig up dirt on political enemies, it's said he has his own private CIA. But an offhand remark by Terry Lenzner -- the super-sleuth most often hired by Clinton's attorneys to do the dirt-digging -- reveals there's more than a little truth to that quip. In a sworn deposition, the former Senate Watergate Committee attorney turned gumshoe admitted at least one significant connection to the Central Intelligence Agency. Lenzner is apparently so well-connected to the CIA that, in an hour of need, the agency turned to him for help in shielding one of its most notorious employees from public scrutiny. On March 13, Lenzner was deposed by Larry Klayman of Judicial Watch in connection with Filegate: the White House confiscation of over 900 FBI files on Bush and Reagan administration employees..On his attorney's advice he neither admitted nor denied if his firm carried out the highly intrusive investigations of Judge Robert Bork and Justice Clarence Thomas after they had been nominated to a place on the Supreme Court. Lenzner also refused to say whether or not he had ordered his gang of snoops to dig up dirt on Linda Tripp, Paula Jones, Pat Robertson, Kenneth Starr and members of his independent counsel team. Nor would he admit to having investigated reporters at Newsweek, the American Spectator and other publications. But when asked if he were currently doing any work for the CIA, he volunteered information beyond the question. "No," said Lenzner. "I think the only work I've ever done with the CIA was, I represented two or three former CIA employees during the Church Senate hearings (in 1975), including the former head of the Technical Services Division, Sidney Gottlieb. And, indeed, I sued the Senate committee to keep his name out of the assassination report on the grounds that it might endanger his life and his family's life." Sidney Gottlieb. There's a name from the past. The fact that Terry Lenzner represented him and actually sued a Senate committee on his behalf speaks volumes. Gottlieb was the CIA's real-life Dr. Strangelove -- a brilliant chemist who headed MK-ULTRA, the agency's most far-reaching drug and mind-control program at the height of the Cold War. . Among the first things the Church Committee looked at were allegations of attempted "executive actions" -- that is, assassinations -- against foreign leaders during the early 1960s. Gottlieb was called out of retirement to explain MK-ULTRA's role in assassination attempts against Patrice Lumumba, prime minister of Zaire (formerly the Belgian Congo), and Cuba's Fidel Castro. The former civil rights attorney Terry Lenzner -- now in private practice -- saw to it that a man who admitted heading projects to terminate two communist leaders could use an assumed name. He testified as Joseph Scheider, but revealed his true name in later hearings on MK-ULTRA.."

New York Post 12/19/98 Dick Morris ".CAN anyone seriously believe that the ''outing'' of incoming House Speaker Robert Livingston's extra-marital affairs is not the work of the White House Secret Police? Consider the record. House Oversight Committee Chairman Dan Burton investigated the White House misuse of FBI files. Then, out came evidence that he had fathered an out-of-wedlock child. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde led the impeachment inquiry against the president. Then, out came the story of his decades-past adulterous relationship. Now, Livingston, who has refused to agree to a censure vote, has found his private life investigated. Coincidence? Maybe, but add to this the fact that during the same time period there have been no revelations about the private lives of any supporter of the president. The contrast is jarring. And this administration's history of smearing its enemies, combined with information about administration knowledge of these stories, leads to the inescapable conclusion that the White House was responsible for all of these leaks. Last night, after the Livingston story broke, ABC's Cokie Roberts reported that several weeks ago she had been told by a source close to the White House of a rumor about a Livingston affair. The White House attacked Roberts for the story, but she stood by her report... Specifically, Drudge reports that this administration employee called Linda Douglas at ABC News to give her the details of the Hyde affair. Again, how did a White House employee get this information and why was a federal employee out to discredit a member of Congress?The White House Secret Police - the private eyes deployed by the Clintons and their agents to dig up dirt to discredit those who get in the president's way - have performed numerous damage-control operations since the 1992 election... Accountable to no one, these operatives work under the supervision of the president's attorneys - David Kendall and Bob Bennett. Their missions are secret, their compensation is hidden and the sources of the payments are obscured...Each time the Secret Police strike, they use a journalistic front to publish the results of the invasions of the privacy of the Clintons' perceived enemies. On some occasions, the actual raw reports of the Secret Police have been provided to friendly editors. Salon magazine, an administration mouthpiece, published the Hyde material. And the relationship between the White House and the supermarket tabloids is surprisingly intimate. The president's unsmiling lawyer, David Kendall, is also counsel to the National Enquirer. Terry Lenzner, one of the favored private eyes who looked into Monica Lewinsky's past, has also worked for the Enquirer. So, it was not a surprise that the paper ran a story trashing Monica right before her grand-jury testimony."

12/19/98 Freeper report MSNBC abcnews.com ".John Gibson just read a piece from abnews.com that said Larry Flynt has refused to comment on whether "his investigators" include members if IGI."

Associated Press 12/23/98 BOB EGELKO ". Federal housing officials illegally investigated critics of a proposed low-income housing project and may be personally responsible for damages, says a federal judge. The Department of Housing and Urban Development investigation, which included a statement that the critics could be subject to $100,000 in penalties for housing law violations, ``chilled (their) right to free speech and the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances,'' said Chief U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel. Her ruling, issued Friday, was obtained by reporters Wednesday. It was praised by the Center for Individual Rights, a conservative Washington, D.C., group that backed the lawsuit. The ruling ``reinforces First Amendment protections for citizens who challenge government actions,'' the center said in a statement..."

The Washington Times 1/13/99 Bill Sammon ".The investigator who dug up dirt on Republican Reps. Bob Barr and Robert L. Livingston for pornographer Larry Flynt is a Clinton sympathizer who has supplied the president's attorneys with evidence against independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr. Dan Moldea said that while he is no longer in contact with Williams & Connolly, the law firm defending President Clinton against impeachment charges, his "outing" of GOP adulterers is designed to help the president. He made it clear he has uncovered salacious material on more Republicans whose identities will remain secret as long as they refrain from speaking out against Mr. Clinton. "I'm the investigator on all of this -- whether it's Livingston or Barr or anyone else who's coming -- and I'm also helping call the shots," Mr. Moldea told The Washington Times yesterday. "I'll tell you right now: We have a lot of these guys, dead bang, and the evidence is clear. But they haven't been going on TV, or on the floor of Congress, shooting their mouths off, trying to take the moral high ground against Clinton. "And as a consequence, we're throwing it back in the river," Mr. Moldea said. "We're concentrating on the people who have been very visible on this." He said Mr. Flynt made it clear that "my marching orders were to deal with hypocrisy." He emphasized that if a Republican "hasn't been shooting his mouth off, we let him go. We're not going to interfere with his life." ."

National Post 1/13/99 David Frum ".The connection between Mr. Flynt and the Clinton White House is a surprisingly strong and tangled one. Mr. Flynt is of course a pornographer of the most debased and misogynistic variety. He is a man who has been accused by his own daughter of molesting her as a child. And yet, instead of being treated as a pariah, Mr. Flynt has a curiously close relationship to the Clinton White House. He is a friend of James Carville, Mr. Clinton's most outspoken defender. Even more curious, Mr. Flynt acknowledged at his press conference a long acquaintance with Strobe Talbott, an Oxford chum of Mr. Clinton's who now holds the No. 2 job at the State Department. Just to round out the chain of connection, it's worth noting that Mr. Talbott's wife, Brooke Shearer, is an important employee of the private investigative firm that former Clinton campaign manager Dick Morris calls "Clinton's secret police." (It was this firm that was caught, for example, digging into the personal life of Republican Sen. Don Nickles, back when that conservative Oklahoman was a leading candidate to replace Bob Dole as Senate majority leader.) .."

New York Post 1/22/99 Sam Dealey ".WHEN Larry Flynt went public with the ''hypocrisy'' of Rep. Bob Barr, exposing him as a past adulterer and one of the ''biggest horn dogs in Congress,'' the Georgia Republican seemed certain the White House was in part behind the matter. ''I don't think that one can look at this situation with the close ties ... between the private investigators, the White House, between Sidney Blumenthal and these folks on the outside and come away with any other reasonable conclusion other than the fact that this is part of an overall scheme,'' Barr said. Other Republicans chimed in. But, as it has with similar charges these past few months, the White House denied the allegations and demanded that Republicans produce proof. ''If they've got evidence, they ought to bring it forward,'' said presidential spokesman Joe Lockhart. ''If not, they ought to knock it off.'' ..But asked if he [Flynt] knew Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, Flynt said, ''I haven't seen Strobe Talbott in years. ... But he is married to a sister of a very good friend of mine.'' Surprisingly, that red flag went unnoticed. So who is Talbott's brother-in-law? His name is Cody Shearer, and a review of his White House connections reveals the possible workings of a new plumber operation. A self-styled ''free-lance journalist'' (although he hasn't published in nearly a decade), Shearer is a former business associate of Terry Lenzner's Investigative Group International - the premier opposition-research firm that Dick Morris calls ''the White House secret police.''."

Weekly Standard 8/4/97 Thomas M. DeFrank and Thomas Galvin "...When he started investigating President Clinton 's Whitewater dealings, Jim Leach knew he wouId be playing hardball. But the Iowa Republican never expected to see Jack Palladino lurking around his house. But there Palladino was, scoping out Leach's Northwest Washington premises one evening as the congressman arrived home in 1994. Palladino, a San Francisco private detective who had been paid more than $100,000 by the Clinton campaign in 1992 to deal with what Clinton intimate Betsey Wright called "bimbo eruptions," quickly scurried away, and Leach never went public with what he saw. But the House Banking Committee chairman privately told colleagues the intended message was clear: You mess with us, we'll mess with you. William Clinger got the same treatment. When the now-retired Pennsylvania Republican congressman was probing Commerce secretary Ron Brown's business dealings in 1995, a New Jersey detective named Louis Stephens suddenly started snooping around. Stephens had been hired by Brown's ex-business partner and mistress Nolanda Hill to button up Clinger's sources. About the same time, a member of Clinger's staff got a call from a reporter working on a Clinger profile. She'd been tipped by a supposedly solid source that Clinger was a wife-abuser who'd once viciously pushed his spouse down a flight of stairs in a rage..... "Can I prove it was the White House behind the story? No," concedes a well-informed source. "Do I think it was them? Absolutely. They do have a pattern of getting into your past." ....The president's impressive people skills and abundant personal charm mask a streak of political cold- bloodedness and score-settling worthy of a Mario Puzo novel. That's particularly true in the way he and his lieutenants deal with anyone-critic or innocent victim alike-who poses a potential menace to the massive effort to keep the lid on the various scandals dogging Clinton, Mrs. Clinton, and his administration...."

Weekly Standard 8/4/97 Thomas M. DeFrank and Thomas Galvin "...The most successful hit so far by Clinton's team was delivered on Gary Aldrich, author of Unlimited Access, a kiss-and-tell memoir of his days as an FBI agent posted to the Clinton White House that sent the president's men into orbit. When ABC invited Aldrich onto This Week last summer, Clinton aides went to red alert to try to get the interview scrubbed. Chief of staff Leon Panetta called ABC's veep for news to complain. Former congressman Tony Coelho leaned on a Brinkley producer, Capital Cities/ABC president Robert Iger got a call, and so did Michael Ovitz, then president of ABC's parent corporation, Disney. Democratic party chairman Chris Dodd and White House press secretary Mike McCurry hit the phones as well. The message was identical: Aldrich was a Clinton hating conservative nut case whose book wasn't worthy of network air time. ABC officials say it was the most aggressive and heavy-handed attempt to muzzle a presidential critic since the government went to court to block publication of the Pentagon papers...."

 

SECRET POLICE

Boston Globe 3/01/99 Jeff Jacoby "…Different reactions are possible to Juanita Broaddrick's accusation that Bill Clinton raped her in 1978, but stunned disbelief isn't one of them. No one is sputtering, ''Clinton? Force himself on someone? Impossible!'' We know by now that with Clinton, anything is possible….. In its ''Conventional Wisdom'' box, the March 1 Newsweek gives Jane Doe No. 5 - Broaddrick - a sideways arrow: ''Should have leveled (unproven) assault charge in '78 or '92. But sounds like our guy.' ' Sounds like our guy. Invite himself up to a married woman's hotel room, shove her on the bed, bite her lip so hard it swells to twice its size, rip her pantyhose? Yep, sounds like our guy. Agree to meet Kathleen Willey when she's in a financial crisis, grope her, force her hand to his crotch, mutter, ''I've wanted to do this ever since I laid eyes on you''? Sounds like our guy. Send a trooper to fetch Paula Jones, pull her to the couch, expose himself and tell her to ''kiss it''? Sounds like our guy…."

10/2/98 OIC Supplemental Documents by Freeper Dukeman ".At page 2941, Dick Morris testifies about the bimbo supppression work of Clinton aide, Betsey Wright: Q: Okay. What knowledge do you have of her efforts in what is generally described as the efforts to control the bimbo eruptions? A: Well, the first-- I had two conversations with Betsey about that. One was kind of right after she had been hired, probably-- I'm guessing that it was around March or April-- February, March, April of 1992, and the other after election day. .And I said, "How do you do that?" And she said, "Well, sometimes it's just a question of giving him material and sending over a fact sheet and rebutting it and sometimes it involves trying to persuade women not to talk to reporters." And I said, "How do you do that?" And she said, "Well, most of the women that Clinton's been involved with are pretty savvy types, they're career types, and they've got a lot to lose and they generally don't want to be public and they don't want a lot of attention." .."

New York Post 10/20/98 Dick Morris "… But now the scandal enters a new phase as evidence emerges of a systematic campaign to intimidate, frighten, threaten, discredit and punish innocent Americans whose only misdeed is their desire to tell the truth in public...Since Lenzner was awarded a no-bid contract to train Haitian police at U.S. government expense, how can we be sure public money is not being used to subsidize his dirty little war against America's innocents? Congress should also probe The Washington Post's allegation that Detective Jack Palladino was paid with federal funds during the 1992 campaign to investigate the background of women who were sexual and political threats to Clinton. The hearings should also focus on who is paying for the secret police. To say that Clinton's lawyers are paying is to dodge the question. Clinton's lawyers have basically never been paid. The president and the First Lady have yet to pay them a dime, and the legal-defense fund has largely been consumed by administrative and legal expenses. If the Clinton lawyers are running on empty, you can bet that Lenzner is not. So who is footing the bill?."

New York Post 10/20/98 Dick Morris ".Beginning as early as 1990, Clinton surrounded himself with detectives and negative-research specialists who collectively have become a kind of secret police force to protect his interests. Consider the public evidence of their possible activities: Kathleen Willey reports her cat was stolen and her tires were slashed on her car. Shortly thereafter, while jogging in the park, a man ran up alongside her, asked about her cat - calling it by name. He said that if she wasn't careful, her children would be next. Former Miss America Elizabeth Ward Gracen says she was offered acting jobs through the Hollywood-connected Clinton operative Mickey Kantor in return for denying a sexual encounter with Clinton when she was Miss Arkansas. She also reports that her hotel room was ransacked - and $2,000 left untouched - in what she suspects was an effort to find incriminating tapes. Linda Tripp's confidential personnel file winds up in The New Yorker magazine in an attempt to discredit her. Dolly Kyle Browning, who claims a former longtime relationship with Clinton, relates the details of a long attempt to intimidate her and shut her up. The Washington Post reports in 1992 that the Clinton presidential campaign aintained a staff of detectives to dig up dirt on women to cow them into silence. In a telephone conversation that same year, Betsy Wright, head of the Bimbo Patrol told me much the same thing…. The Washington Post reports detectives in Clinton's employ have spent months digging up dirt on Monica Lewinsky to discredit her.."

Wall Street Journal/via TPDL - e-mail 10/15/98 ".Kings do not say "murder the archbishop." Instead they say, at most, something like "who will rid me of this meddlesome priest." But lo and behold, four of the king's knights accost Thomas Becket in his cathedral and cut him down with swords. Human nature has not changed since 1170, but we have learned a thing or two about restraining it. Even Henry II felt he had to do penance to calm public revulsion at Becket's murder, and 45 years later Henry's son John was forced to issue the Magna Carta.. A little reflection on Becket might help our moralists understand where that road leads. If Presidents get a pass on perjury, the rougher types around them will conclude they too can get away with rougher things.."

Investor's Business Daily 5/20/99 Editorial "...Not long after the 1992 campaign, private investigator Terry Lenzner met with Clinton aide Harold Ickes in the White House. Lenzner runs Investigative Group International, a Washington-based detective agency. Soon after, IGI was doing work for the Clintons' legal defense fund. Later, Clinton's personal lawyer, David Kendall, hired Lenzner's group to dig up dirt on Paula Jones, prosecutors on Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's staff and GOP lawyers Victoria Toensing and Joseph diGenova, among others, says author Joyce Milton in her new book, ''The First Partner: Hillary Rodham Clinton.'' IGI agents didn't stop there, Milton says. They also reportedly snooped into the backgrounds of Monica Lewinsky, Linda Tripp and Willey...."

Investor's Business Daily 5/20/99 Editorial "... Estranged Clinton campaign guru Dick Morris fingers IGI as ''the White House secret police.'' That's not a stretch, Milton said, ''judging by the revolving door between IGI and the administration.'' Those who jumped from IGI to the administration include: Raymond Kelly, who became Clinton's Secret Service chief. Ricki Seidman, who joined the Justice Department. Brooke Shearer, who joined Hillary's staff and ran a White House intern program before moving to a job at the Interior Department. Even Lenzner's daughter. She became an intern to former Clinton aide George Stephanopoulos. Meantime, those who left the administration for IGI include: Former FBI General Counsel Howard Shapiro, who has signed on as Lenzner's lawyer. Shapiro was supposed to get to the bottom of the Filegate scandal. Instead, he did damage control for the White House, sneaking officials a peek at FBI agent Gary Aldrich's manuscript to ''Unlimited Access.'' Former FBI official Larry Potts (of Ruby Ridge fame), who's now an IGI executive...."

Investor's Business Daily 5/20/99 Editorial "...In 1992, Hillary's law partner, Vince Foster, was tasked with hiring private detective Jerry Parks to further probe Clinton's affairs, says British reporter Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in ''The Secret Life of Bill Clinton.'' (Parks was killed in 1993.) What's more, Hillary in 1992 helped enlist a private security agency to snuff a rumor that Clinton had sex with a black prostitute, Milton says. They weren't the only private dicks hired. The Clinton-Gore campaign had two more on retainer to smash ''bimbo eruptions.'' One was Anthony Pellicano of Los Angeles and the other was Jack Palladino of San Francisco. More than likely, bringing Lenzner into the White House fold was also Hillary's idea. She and Lenzner go way back. They worked on the Watergate hearings. They also served on the board of Legal Services Corp. and have a mutual friend in Mickey Kantor, another Legal Services veteran...."

Investor's Business Daily 5/20/99 Editorial "...But Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton points out that Lenzner had no problem naming other clients. What's more, Hillary's friend Brooke Shearer left IGI, where she worked as one of Lenzner's operatives, to join Hillary's staff. Shearer is married to Strobe Talbott, Clinton's old Oxford roommate, an ex-Time magazine writer and now the State Department's top official dealing with Russia...."

 

Judicial Watch 8/5/99 Larry Klayman "...Revelations, as contained in the new book by Christopher Anderson, "Bill and Hillary: The Marriage," that Mrs. Hillary Rodham Clinton hired a former FBI agent to investigate her husband, Bill Clinton, lends support to compelling independent evidence that Mrs. Clinton was the person who conceived of and implemented Filegate. Indeed, her former FBI investigator, Ivan Duda, must have a file on Bill Clinton himself. In recent days since the revelation, Mrs. Clinton has conspicuously not denied hiring Ivan Duda to gather dirt on her husband. ...."Whatever the reason for Mrs. Clinton's spying on Bill Clinton, her efforts have produced information, which will be sought by Judicial Watch, which is detrimental not only to her legal interests, but also the President's. More importantly, the revelation about former FBI agent Ivan Duda confirms that Mrs. Clinton has a cavalier attitude about violating privacy rights of others, and is further evidence that she has ruthlessly masterminded and implemented this same type of conduct while in the Clinton White House," stated Judicial Watch Chairman Larry Klayman. Tom Fitton, President of Judicial Watch, added, "Dick Morris was right. Mrs. Clinton was responsible for Filegate." ..."

WorldNetDaily.com 8/9/99 "...Gennifer Flowers, long-time girlfriend to Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, has reiterated that she believes the president is capable of murder and that she suspects he is responsible for at least some of the many mysterious deaths associated with him in recent years. New York's WABC radio talk show host Sean Hannity asked Flowers last Friday about her statements on Chris Matthews' CNBC "Hardball" program that implied she believed Clinton was behind the killings of some who threatened his political career. Specifically, Hannity asked Flowers if she believed the president was directly involved. "I believe that, that's very possible. ... I'm not saying that Bill necessarily picked up the phone and placed an order," she added. "He perhaps may have had a discussion with some of his operatives and made known his wishes. Perhaps by not even using the words but making it clear to them what he wanted accomplished. ... I think, knowing Bill the way I know Bill, that he generally has a pretty good handle on what's going on around him and who's doing what, and when they're doing it and why they're doing it." .....Hannity asked Flowers about a report that San Francisco private detective Jack Palladino, who was paid $110,000 by Clinton's 1992 campaign to suppress what then-Clinton Chief of Staff Betsey Wright described as "bimbo eruptions," had grilled her friend Loren Kirk on whether Flowers was "the type to commit suicide." "Yes, she told me about that," said Flowers. "Several people called me and told me that they had been approached by Palladino. And they gave me a run down of the things that he had said, the questions he had asked, his demeanor." "So it wasn't just Loren Kirk who relayed that question to you?" asked Hannity. "Oh, no," she said. "It was many, many people. That was a very common question that he asked of every one of them." "That's bizarre," said Hannity. ....."You know, I have been in fear for my life, I had been in fear for my safety before my story became public; a few months before and certainly since then," Flowers told Hannity. "And I think you would agree with me that all of the women that have come forth and told their story about whatever type of relationship they had with Bill Clinton, all have said that they have been threatened." Flowers said that just before her name became public in January 1992, her home was entered and ransacked. She added: "Whoever that was had a key to my home." Flowers also told Hannity that Clinton had offered her cocaine while serving as governor of Arkansas...."

CLAIMS OF MALICIOUS PROSECUTION


Billy Dale
David Hale
Sharlene Wilson (another poster said it was Sharline)
Jeff Evans (talk show)
Webb Hubbell
Susan McDougal
Charles Hayes
Nolanda Hill
James Sanders, "The Downing of TWA Flight 800" - theft of copies of reports and piece of seat fabric

 

Linda Tripp: James Cabezas, chief investigator in Stephen Montanarelli's office acknowledged there had been letters demanding an inquiry of Linda Tripp for taping conversations with Lewinsky, most prominently by 49 Democratic members of the Maryland General Assembly, which appropriates money for Montanarelli's office.

New York Post 7/14/98 Dick Morris ".Last week, as Linda Tripp testified day after day before the Starr grand jury, Maryland prosecutor Stephen Montanarelli announced that his local grand jury would investigate whether Tripp had committed a crime in taping the infamous phone calls with Monica Lewinsky..Two years ago, Little Rock prosecutor Mark Stodata made an eerily similar announcement. On the very eve of the trial of Arkansas' then-Gov. Jim Guy Tucker, Stodata announced that Starr's key witness, David Hale, who had already pled guilty to federal criminal charges in the Whitewater case, would be indicted on new state criminal charges of insurance fraud.The pattern is all too obvious."

Washington Times 7/14/98 "Maryland authorities investigating Linda Tripp's secret tape- recordings of Monica Lewinsky said yesterday they have no plans to probe possible crimes by Miss Lewinsky in the state because independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr would handle such wrongdoing."

MSNBC Investigating The President 7/20/98 GARY ALDRICH " ...a short time ago when two Secret Service agents were put under a criminal investigation by their own Treasury department because the White House didn't like the way they Secret Service agents' careers....I think it's wrong to question the integrity of federal agents when there is no basis to do so whatsoever. These agents have gone out of their way to be cooperative with the White House...And to turn around and question the integrity of an agent, or perhaps even hopefully not leak something from his personnel file or look into his private life, I hope we're not going to go there with these Secret Service agents but I fear that the intimidation level here is high with respect to people who have given damaging testimony against the Clinton administration.... "

7/19/98 DRUDGE "Attorney General Janet Reno wants a Justice Department investigation into whether Independent Counsel Ken Starr and his deputies leaked secret grand-jury information, NEWSWEEK [7/27/98] is set to report on Monday. Klaidman and Isikoff pop the story that has been the talk of underground Washington: Reno has started to distrust Starr! "Reno may soon notify Judge Johnson in a sealed court filing of her intention to start her probe [of the leaks] -- and has alerted Starr's office as well," reveals NEWSWEEK. ."

Washington Times 7/26/98 Editorial ".Mr Montanarelli"s investigation of Mrs Tripp seems even more likely than Mr Stodola's of Hale to "hinder the progress" of Mr Starr's investigation. Bear in mind that what Mr Starr is investigating is whether perjury was suborned from Mrs Tripp, and whether her tapes indicate that Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton were the ones doing the suborning - not to mention committing perjury themselves. And bear in mind that Mr Montanarelli's investigation hinges on the very tapes Mr Starr is using in his investigation. In other words, going after the same evidence Mr Starr is going after will, as Mr Montanarelli's chief investigator put it, require "some legal gymnastics." .Frankly, it is so unusual as to be almost bizarre for a state prosecutor to insitiute legal proceedings against a key witness in an important, ongoing federal case. And yet we have two such proceedings against a key witness in an important, ongoing federal case. And yet we have two such unusual cases brought recently - against people whose testimony could very well do serious harm to Bill Clinton. Interesting coincidence, no?

NY Times 8/4/98 Editorial "Democrats have added a new tactic to the campaign to protect President Clinton from an independent investigation of White House fund-raising during 1996. That tactic is punishing the truth-tellers. The victim in this tale of political revenge is Charles LaBella, who was billed as an indispensable star when Attorney General Janet Reno brought him in to direct the Justice Department's campaign finance task force. Then in April, Ms. Reno's spokesman circulated word that Mr. LaBella had done such a stellar job in getting the campaign investigation on track that he would be returning to California as interim United States Attorney for San Diego. He dreamed of permanent appointment. As he prepared to leave last month, Mr. LaBella made a costly mistake, which is to say that he performed his duty to the taxpayers. As the person in Justice with deepest knowledge of the case, Mr. LaBella said in a written report that Ms. Reno had no choice, as a matter of law, but to appoint an independent counsel. Only 15 days after Mr. LaBella's burst of candor came the news that his interim appointment would not be made permanent, even though he had the support of Louis Freeh, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Senator Barbara Boxer has recommended that another Federal prosecutor, Gregory Vega, get the appointment. .."

Washington Times 8/5/98 Jerry Seper "Sen.Arlen Specter yesterday asked for a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to determine whether Charles LaBella, former head of the Justice Department's campaign finance task force, lost an appointment as U.S. attorney in San Diego because of his calls for an independent counsel in the probe. ."

AP 8/6/98 "A grand jury on Thursday began considering whether charges should be filed against Linda Tripp for secretly taping conversations with Monica Lewinsky, a court clerk said.."

Associated Press 7/30/99 Greg Toppo "...Mrs. Tripp, whose tapes led to impeachment of the president, becomes the only central figure in the Lewinsky scandal to face criminal charges. State Prosecutor Stephen Montanarelli said the grand jury indicted Mrs. Tripp on one count of illegal interception of a phone conversation on Dec. 22, 1997, after she allegedly had been told by her lawyer that the taping was illegal. The other count was for allegedly disclosing the contents of that conversation to Newsweek magazine...."

Judicial Watch 7/30/99 Larry Klayman "...Yesterday, Judge Susan Webber Wright continued her amazing deference toward the President, giving Bill Clinton a virtually meaningless slap on the wrist in fining him a paltry $90 thousand dollars pursuant to a mere civil contempt citation.... However, in amazing irony, it has been reported today in The Washington Post that Linda Tripp will be indicted today by a Maryland State Prosecutor, Stephen Montanarelli, who the evidence suggests was on orders from the Democrats and most likely The White House to not only obstruct Kenneth Starr's investigation, but also tamper with Judicial Watch's on-going Filegate class action lawsuit. Tripp is a material witness in both, and in Filegate she has linked Hillary Clinton to the misuse of FBI files in The White House. Judicial Watch has been investigating the political influence which Democrats brought to bear in having Montanarelli start a criminal proceeding against Tripp, just as she was supposed to testify before Starr and Judicial Watch. In response to document requests, the prosecutor submitted false or misleading affidavits to the Court. While the Court action initiated by Judicial Watch is still in progress, the lower tribunal having ruled in Judicial Watch's favor, the public interest watchdog will today file a complaint against Mr. Montanarelli before appropriate legal authorities for his dishonest conduct....."

Salon Magazine 7/30/99 Jeff Stein "...On the day that Linda Tripp was finally indicted in Maryland for illegally taping Monica Lewinsky's tales of her up-and-down relationship with President Clinton, nobody could say what happened to the original evidence in the case -- the tapes themselves....Tripp's lawyers are expected to vigorously challenge the Maryland prosecutor's use of any evidence obtained by Starr from Tripp under the immunity agreement as inadmissible. But Halpert, the investigator, indicated that independent evidence, apart from the tapes, had been gathered by his office. "It's not necessary to have tapes," he said. "The case can be put together from circumstantial evidence," but he declined to elaborate....Despite Friday's indictment, no one expects Tripp to be seen in a courtroom soon. Her lawyers are expected to file a flurry of motions on her immunity agreement with Starr and arguing the supremacy of federal law as far back as the 1803 case of Marbury vs. Madison, which also happened to be heard in Maryland.... Maryland's wiretap statute, which forbids one person to tape another without notification, is routinely violated and rarely prosecuted, experts agree. That has prompted Tripp's defenders to charge that the prosecutors are politically motivated...."

NYPost (Print Edition ONLY) via lucianne.com 8/1/99 Brian Blomquist (Edited by Lucianne Goldberg) Freeper harpu "...Linda Tripp believes her wiretapping indictment is "rediculous" and "outrageous" and is looking to sue high state officials in Maryland who could have prevented it, her lawyers said yesterday. Tripp's targets could be top state officials, such as Gov. Parris Glendening or Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, who had the power to stop the state prosecutor from investigating Tripp, her lawyers said. "What the state is doing is illegal," Steve Kohn, a Tripp lawyer whose expertise is whistleblower cases, told The Post yesterday. Kohn said the Federal Civil Rights Act of l871, which was designed to protect the rights of ex-slaves during Reconstruction, prohibits states from enforcing laws in a way that interferes with a federal witness....."

MSNBC.com 8/2/99 Jeannette Walls "...Linda Tripp isn't the only one who should be upset by her recent double indictment. If there's a trial and everything Tripp knows comes out, Monica Lewinsky's mother, Marcia Lewis, could end up looking terrible, says Lucianne Goldberg. "I DON'T THINK the public has any idea how great a role Monica's mother played in encouraging her daughter to have an affair with Clinton," says Goldberg. "She was always paying for special clothes and professional makeup artists to make sure that Monica caught Clinton's attention." Goldberg should know:..."

The Progressive Review 8/2/99 Sam Smith "... The malicious indictment of Clinton scandal whistleblower Linda Tripp may not work out quite like its perpetrators have planned. Here are a few things to keep in mind: -- The indictment could be found to be illegal for two reasons: (1) Tripp had been granted immunity by Kenneth Starr and (2) the Federal Civil Rights Act of l871 prohibits states from enforcing laws in a way that interferes with a federal witness. -- Jeff Stein of Salon points out that Maryland's wiretap statute is routinely violated and rarely prosecuted. -- Tripp's lawyers are considering filing suit against Maryland officials who helped the Clinton machine in its jihad against those who attempt to tell the truth about it. -- Tripp's life was considered in enough danger at one point that the FBI put her in a safe house. -- Tripp claims she taped Lewinsky to protect herself allegedly after Bruce Lindsey threatened to "destroy" her and after Lewinsky transmitted veiled threats. -- Arriving at her White House desk one day, Tripp found that someone had left her a list of those around Clinton who had died in an unexplained or violent manner. A cover note suggested she would be interested in the information. -- A number of women could be called to testify that they too had received threats or harassment because of their involvement with Clinton. -- During a Tripp trial, White House officials, including Clinton, could be called to testify by the defense reviving public interest in aspects of the scandal the Clintonistas thought were buried. Potential other witnesses include Vernon Jordan, Monica Lewinsky, and Sidney Blumenthal. -- Tripp has testified under oath that she caw confidential FBI files piled on tables and floors in the offices of Vince Foster, Bernard Nussbaum, Williams Kennedy and Craig Livingstone. -- While working at the White House, Tripp received a phone call from someone who mentioned the "tainted blood issue."..."

Capitol Hill Blue 8/2/99 Doug Thompson "...Figure this out: The President of the United States gets it on with a White House intern, lies about under oath, obstructs justice when investigators close in, lies about it again under oath and pulls God-knows-what else and it's the person who blew the whistle on him who gets indicted? The worst Clinton got was fined for contempt of court. Tripp is indicted for breaking an arcane Maryland wiretap law and faces jail. If anybody thinks this is justice, they need a serious reality check...."

Washington Times 8/2/99 "... On August 1997 President Clinton's attorney called her a liar. "Linda Tripp," Robert Bennett told Newsweek magazine, "is not to be believed." She had told the magazine Kathleen Willey said the president made a sexual advance toward her. Given that she faced the prospect of having to testify under oath against her boss, Mr. Clinton, who could blame Mrs. Tripp for taking steps to show that she, not Mr. Bennett's famous client, was telling the truth? Mr. Clinton's fellow Democrat Stephen Montanarelli could.... Maryland law requires that both parties consent to the taping of phone conversations. Mrs. Tripp has acknowledged she taped some of the conversations without Miss Lewinsky's consent despite warnings from a lawyer that it might be illegal. She did it to document her story and to protect herself, she said....Mr. Montanarelli, who has never had the pleasure of finding himself in the crosshairs of presidential attack man James Carville and Mr. Bennett and never will as long as he keeps up the good work, decided mere self-preservation was no excuse for the taping. Nor did it matter to him that those tapes were a key part of a court-sanctioned federal investigation into presidential misconduct by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr. Egged on by his fellow Democrats in the Maryland state house, Mr. Montanarelli decided to prosecute Mrs. Tripp anyway. What makes it all the more legally awkward is how selective the prosecution is. Howard County State's Attorney Marna McLendon, a Republican who first declined to prosecute the case and then bowed to Democratic arm-twisting by bringing in Mr. Montanarelli, said prosecutions under the wiretap laws are rare. "This is a very extraordinary case obviously," she said Friday. So law enforcement in this country now means no prosecutions of Mr. Clinton, who lied under oath, or of Miss Lewinsky, who tried to bribe Mrs. Tripp into doing the same thing by denying any knowledge of the Clinton-Lewinsky affair. Meanwhile, the one who told the truth, Mrs. Tripp, finds herself in the dock...."

The New Australian No 128 8/2-8/99 Larry Boeske "... Klayman believes that the Clintons were behind Tripp's indictment. One strong reason he gives is that the Jones lawsuit appears to be behind them once and for all (apparently after Susan Webber Wright slapped the $90,000 fine on Clinton.) "This is no accident that she was indicted today." (Just one day after the suit appears to be behind them*). One day after one thing is followed by another thing very closely related - Tripp's indictment. Coincidence? Klayman doesn't think so. He believes that the 'conclusion' of the Jones suit triggered the indictment. And Klayman isn't alone in questioning Maryland's legal attack on Tripp. So does a Federal judge. Klayman's Judicial Watch organisation had convinced a lower court judge that Maryland's indictment might have been coerced by the White House. The judge demanded that Maryland release certain documents that might prove orchestration between the White House and Maryland over Tripp, but the matter is currently under appeal. It is Klayman's opinion that Tripp was indicted to discredit her as a material witness over filegate and other White House scandals, as well as an attempt to intimidate her into signing a confession that would further discredit her. In his opinion, it was a political indictment and witness tampering. As he told a judge, if her indictment stands, then the state of Maryland becomes a banana republic..... Note: One of the first acts of the Clintons was to ask all US Attorneys to resign. An unprecedented and dictatorial action that gave the Clintons control over the prosecutorial machinery of the federal government in every judicial district in the country...."

NewsMax.com 8/1/99 "...The indictment of Sexgate taper Linda Tripp could backfire on the White House should the case go to trial, legal experts tell Inside Cover. And a source close to Tripp agrees. "This indictment cuts both ways, you know. Both sides have the right to discovery," said Landmark Legal Foundation's Mark Levin just hours before Maryland prosecutor Stephen Montanarelli announced that Tripp would be charged under the state's wiretapping statute. ..... Levin noted that the witness list could include Monica Lewinsky as well as other Jane Does unearthed in the Paula Jones suit. Tripp has said she taped Lewinsky to protect herself, alleging that longtime Clinton damage controller Bruce Lindsey threatened to "destroy" her if she didn't lie for the president. She also claims that Lewinsky passed on veiled threats of physical danger to her and her children. Tripp has said she believes those threats originated in the Oval Office. Witnesses with stories bolstering Tripp's account could be drawn from a list women who claimed they have been pressured to stay silent about their relationships with Clinton. That list would include Gennifer Flowers, Sally Perdue, Kathleen Willey, Dolly Kyle Browning, Elizabeth Ward Gracen, Cristy Zercher and perhaps even Juanita Broaddrick, who told Inside Cover exclusively in May that her house was broken into and a telephone answering machine tape stolen as she was considering going public with her rape charge against Clinton..... And how does Independent Counsel Ken Starr feel about all this? His office has been silent since the Tripp indictment was announced. But former Paula Jones attorney Gil Davis told Fox News Channel's Kathy Wolf on Saturday that the Tripp indictment stretched the boundaries of legal discretion, and could prompt Starr to reconsider indicting the president himself..."

The New Australian No 128 8/2-8/99 "...One of the first acts of the Clintons on entering the White House was to ask all US Attorneys to resign. This was unprecedented action that struck at the heart of the country's judicial system by giving the Clintons control over the prosecutorial machinery of the federal government in every judicial district in the country. Well their media-supported audacity has paid off once again. There is absolutely no doubt in political, judicial and media circles that Tripp's double indictment of breaching the state's law against recording telephone without the consent of all parties came from the Oval Office. Despite being granted immunity by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr, state prosecutor Stephen Montanarelli, a Democratic appointee, still laid charges against Tripp. Montanarelli presented the case to the grand jury and will handle the prosecution. As expected, Maryland Democrats (whose respect for the rule of law is on par with Clinton's) have shamelessly given their full support to Montanarelli's legalized witness tampering tactics. ....That Montanarelli's pursuit of Tripp is politically motivated was made clear by his contempt for Tripp's immunity arrangements and his total disregard for the consequences of violating them. What criminal, for example, will now trust any justice department to guarantee him immunity now that Montanarelli has set the dangerous precedent of breaking such arrangements? ..."

Ether Zone Online (http://etherzone.com) 8/1/99 Bob Momenteller "...Brief excerpts from a 168 report released on Wednesday, concluded there's no basis to charges that President Clinton's chief Whitewater accuser, David Hale, was paid off.... Hale alleges, under oath, that then-Governor Clinton pressured him to help secure an illegal $300,000 Small Business Administration loan. $50,000 to $60,000 from the illegal loan was funneled into the Clinton-McDougal cash-strapped Whitewater real estate development. The late Jim McDougal, one of Clinton's Whitewater partners, corroborated Hale's testimony. In a March 17, 1998 "Road To Hale" article, Salon charged while under FBI custody, Hale allegedly received payments from a bait-shop owner, Parker Dozhier. Dozhier received monthly payments as a stringer for the American Spectator magazine. The American Spectator Education Foundation, a non-profit group associated with the American Spectator magazine, received contributions from the Scaife Foundations. Richard Mellon Scaife is the head of the foundation. The fairy tale ending to all this of course, is that Richard Mellon Scaife bought Hale's testimony against Clinton. .....The basis of Salon's story was an eyewitness account from a Caryn Mann. Mann was a disgruntled ex-girl friend of Parker Dozhier. She gave Salon eyewitness details of the money being transferred between Parker and Hale..... She was also employed by a private investigative firm headed by two former Arkansas state troopers who undertook a 1996 photo-surveillance assignment for the National Enquirer of a Little Rock woman, not identified, seeking to learn whether she was having a romance with independent counsel Kenneth Starr. It turned out that man just looked like Starr. In a letter to the Justice Department, Hale's lawyer also claims that Mann was a "psychic, tarot card reader, and fortune teller" who claimed "to have knowledge of the last resting place of the remains of Jimmy Hoffa. Other than Mann's son, who would have been 13 years old at the time, Salon comes up empty handed in the creditable witness department for such serious allegations. Salon's two other concocted witnesses wanted to remain anonymous. Credible or not, U.S. Attorney, P.K. Holmes sent FBI agents to interview Mann. Mann told several news outlets, including the Washington Post, that the FBI visited her after a reporter for Salon contacted retired Senator David H. Pryor (D-Ark.). Salon contacted Senator Pryor on her behalf for assistance in getting the attention of Arkansas law enforcement officials. Former Senator David Pryor is the head of Clinton's legal defense fund.

NewsMax.com-Inside Cover 7/30/99 Cal Limbacher "....It's a country where witnesses like Linda Tripp who tell the truth about Bill Clinton and his presidency are routinely punished with demotions, dismissals; even prosecution or worse...David Hale, on the other hand, is still alive, though just barely -- after having gone through a trumped up state prosecution not unlike that which Linda Tripp now faces. For Hale, a three-time heart attack victim, the ordeal was so draining his lawyer David Bowden feared it would kill him. Like Tripp, Hale had been promised immunity by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr. But Pulaski County D.A. Mark Stodola just didn't play by Starr's Marquis deQueensberry rules and refused to defer to the federales. As with Tripp's tapes and Monicagate; Hale's cooperation was indispensable to Whitewater's most successful prosecutions, leading to the convictions of Gov. Jim Guy Tucker and the McDougals. Hale also knew the full extent of the evidence Starr had against the First Lady and confidently predicted her indictment in an Oct. 1996 Wall Street Journal op-ed piece. Two years later, with no Hillary indictment in sight and state prosecutors trying to drag Hale from his hospital bed to the courtroom, Hale's lawyer told me that if he had to do it all over again, he would tell Starr's star witness to stonewall investigators -- just like Susan McDougal. Now it's Linda Tripp's turn. She trusted Ken Starr with evidence that put an impeachment case on a silver platter. Tripp's tapes were smoking gun evidence of presidential perjury and obstruction. And no one who read the "Talking Points" memo believed that little Monica had put that document together all by her lonesome.

But to win Lewinsky's cooperation, Starr accepted Monica's claim that she wrote the memo, along with her bizarre assertion that she was kidding in some of the recordings most damaging to the White House. To add insult to injury, the FBI Lab claimed that some of Tripp's tapes had been copied and edited. Rather than conduct a discreet, behind the scenes investigation of the role his most important witness may have had in this, Starr added a footnote to his report naming Tripp as a prime suspect in evidence tampering. For the second time in a row, Starr has been outmanuevered by a local D.A. with White House backing, who managed to convince presiding Monicagate Judge Norma Holloway Johnson that the tapes -- along with Linda Tripp's fate -- should be placed in the hands of Democrat prosecutors...."

NewsMax.com 8/2/99 Christopher Ruddy "...there are two very good reasons why we should all care about what happens to Linda Tripp: #1: Her indictment is one more warning signal about the dangerous, dictatorial direction in which this country is going under the Clintons. #2: What Linda knows - but hasn't said - could be the key to breaking the real Clinton scandals, including the homicide investigation of Vince Foster..... So, it should be no surprise that a twerp prosecutor from Maryland interfered in Starr's case by going after his federal witness, Linda Tripp. In fact, Starr allowed the same thing to happen when another prosecutor from Arkansas sought to indict David Hale - Starr's chief Whitewater witness - on state charges. Legal experts have told me that such interference by a state prosecutor is unheard of. Furthermore, Starr had personally promised Hale that he wouldn't spend one day in state jail. If Starr had had any gumption whatsoever, he would have indicted the Arkansas prosecutor. But of course, he didn't and eventually David Hale was tried and convicted on state charges. He is now set to serve 21 days in an Arkansas state prison. Linda should have seen the writing on the wall. When Starr refused to prosecute Defense Department spokesman Ken Bacon and other Pentagon officials for the illegal release of information from her confidential personnel files, it was clear Starr was not going to do his job in prosecuting his case against the White House or protecting his witness, Tripp..... "

NewsMax.com 8/2/99 Christopher Ruddy "...After years of closely watching the Clintons, I have concluded they are thugs. As I warned Linda in my letter of October 8th, if the Clintons decide that you're an enemy, they become absolutely vicious. I wrote: "Using mob rules (and with the Clintons, mob rules apply), they must make you pay a heavy price. The White House can be creative and patient in getting their payment." "Again, the Clintons' payback is not simply done for revenge. It's the foundation of their power. It sends a message. There is so much other corruption they are hiding. If it appears you have succeeded in any way, it could open the floodgates. If those gates were to open, they would not only be forced from office, but possibly be put in prison." .... When I wrote my letter to Linda, I was also convinced that the best way she could protect herself and help stop the White House from laying the groundwork for a dictatorship would be by telling all she knew. Linda, obviously, didn't heed my advice. Now there is a very real possibility she'll go to jail. And even if she avoids prison, the time, stress and money spent on her legal defense will be absolutely debilitating for her and her family..... The best approach with the Clintons is to go on the offensive against them and to be as aggressive with them as possible. Paula Jones had a much more aggressive approach, and the Clintons had to finally pay money to shut her up. Linda Tripp could start her offensive by telling the whole truth about the Clintons and Vince Foster. It may be too late for full disclosure to save her. But it's the right thing to do...."

The Wall Street Journal Editorial 8/4/99 "...With something of a post-impeachment reassessment going on, we are learning more about how the legal system has favored the Clinton team. Suddenly, we have the case of Norma Holloway Johnson, chief judge of the Federal District Court in the District of Columbia.... It should be said that Judge Johnson cast a skeptical eye on some Clinton claims when she heard the assertions of special privileges for Secret Service agents. But it now turns out that Judge Johnson was also instrumental in the Linda Tripp indictment. The Maryland prosecutors could not proceed without the evidence of the Tripp tapes, and in receiving them Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr had granted her immunity that would have protected them from both federal and state prosecutors. But Judge Johnson intervened and decided to transmit the tapes to the Maryland prosecutors office....."

ABCNews.com 7/7/98 Gayle Tzemach "...Ever since the Lewinsky case came to light, Maryland authorities have been under pressure from state Democrats to initiate charges against the former White House aide, reports ABCNEWS Correspondent Bill Greenwood. Howard County State's Attorney Marna McLendon, who had primary jurisdiction over the matter, said she had received a number of "extraordinary" requests-from the Maryland General Assembly and the Columbia Democratic Club -for action. "It clearly was playing out on political lines, and that's not healthy for any investigation," McLendon said. On Tuesday, McLendon issued a statement saying she would have preferred to keep the case in her office, but sent it to Maryland state prosecutor Stephen Montanarelli to "ensure public confidence and remove political motivation" from the case....."

Rivera Live 8/2/99 Herrendo Revolver "...Tonite on "Rivera Live", the Official Babe of the VRWC confronted Geraldo about his own "Linda Tripp Moment". All Geraldo could do when confronted with the information that he admitted in his autobiography to illegally taping someone was to sputter, "I deny it!" ...From "Exposing Myself" by Geraldo Rivera (pg. 378) Bantam Books, October 1991 - ISBN 0-533-07642-6 "...One of my first stories of 1980, in February, was an Emmy Award-winning piece called "Arson For Profit," produced by Peter Lance with the cooperation of the Better Government Association....The businessmen blindsided us with a lawsuit. Even then, I thought we had these guys nailed, but flaws began to appear in our case after a well-funded and stubborn counterattack by several of those named. One problem: We had used a hidden camera to obtain damning audio and video evidence against the businessmen. That is a fine tactic in most jurisdictions, but illegal in Illinois. We finally settled the lawsuits, but the hassle set the frustrating tone for the entire year. ..."

The Washington Times 8/3/99 Mark Levin, Landmark Legal Foundation "...When Maryland State Prosecutor Stephen Montanarelli, a Democrat, announced last week the indictment of Linda R. Tripp for violating the state wiretap statute, he stated that the federal grant of "immunity will be a problem, but we will face it in the future." This is a breathtakingly irresponsible statement from a prosecutor who has obviously abandoned his professional obligation in favor of settling a political score for Bill Clinton and the Democrats. Lest we forget, Mr. Montanarelli sought this indictment after 49 Democrat state assemblymen urged him to charge Mrs. Tripp. Mrs. Tripp should never have been indicted if Mr. Montanarelli believed that her federal grant of immunity would stand in the way of a conviction - and there's every reason to believe that it does. When Oliver North and John Poindexter were prosecuted for alleged offenses by Iran-Contra Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh, Mr. Walsh did so in spite of the fact that immunity had been conferred on both men in order to compel their testimony before Congress. The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides, in part, that "no person shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself." Therefore, the only way to force the testimony of a potential criminal defendant is to ensure that nothing said by that person under compulsion would be used, directly or indirectly, against him to secure his criminal conviction. Dissatisfied with the immunity conferred on Mr. North and Mr. Poindexter, Mr. Walsh pursued them anyway, claiming that the prosecution could proceed independently from the immunized congressional testimony. In United States vs. North (1991), the federal appeals court in Washington rejected Mr. Walsh's position and over-turned the convictions...."

Worldnet Daily 8/3/99 David Limbaugh "... Will there be no end to the injustices visited upon us during the Clinton era? How much more of this upside down world can we tolerate? Good guys have been tarnished and bad guys varnished. Heroes are hated while villains have skated. Any government that would indict Linda Tripp because she secretly taped conversations to protect herself from the chief law enforcement officer of that government is a government we should fear. This is the very type of government our founders sought to protect against when they incorporated the right to bear arms into the Constitution. Hold on, you might say. You are talking about two different governments here: the federal government and the State of Maryland. True, but political pressure was brought to bear on the State's Attorney's office in Howard County, Md., to make sure this monumental act of whistle-blowing did not go unpunished. Maryland legislator Robert L. Flanagan, called the indictment "an extension of the White House apparatus trying to destroy Linda Tripp." Prosecutors said that prosecution was imperative when there was an alleged violation of Maryland law in such a high-profile incident. "It would be a terrible message to send to the public." So a bad precedent would have been set if Maryland had declined to prosecute a lowly White House staff employee for committing an act that is legal in 38 states, the District of Columbia and under federal law? Yes, that should certainly teach the next White House employee the president is trying to pressure into committing a felony to obediently comply. But allowing perjury, subornation of perjury, and obstruction of justice by the Chief Executive to go unpunished sets a commendable precedent?..."

The Washington Times 8/3/99 Mark Levin, Landmark Legal Foundation "...Mr. Montanarelli faces a similar, impossible burden. Under the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, the acts of a state cannot interfere with the exercise of the federal government's powers. Consequently, in order to protect Mrs. Tripp's Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, which is as applicable to the State of Maryland as to the United States, and to ensure the integrity of the federal grant of immunity, the Maryland court must hold an evidentiary hearing required by the ruling in United States vs. North, known as a "Kastigar" hearing as a result of the United States Supreme Court ruling, Kastigar vs. United States, 406 U.S. 441 (1972)... Moreover, if Mr. Montanarelli has any hope of overcoming the Kastigar burden, he must have the full cooperation of Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr. Only Mr. Starr can sort out for Mr. Montanarelli what evidence was immunized or influenced by immunized testimony. Mr. Starr has a moral and legal obligation to assist not Mr. Montanarelli, but his immunized witness - Mrs. Tripp. Mr. Montanarelli commenced his state criminal investigation when its most realistic impact would be to chill Mrs. Tripp's cooperation with Mr. Starr at a critical stage of the federal investigation. And Mr. Starr is in no way obligated to abandon his prosecutorial ethics to assist Mr. Montanarelli. After all, Mr. Montanarelli's conduct has far-reaching adverse consequences for law enforcement. For example, immunization is used frequently as part of a package of inducements to garner full cooperation from a witness. If a witness suspects that he will face prosecution by a different sovereign at a later time, it will become far more difficult to secure a deal..."

UPI 8/3/99 "...The telephone has been ringing off the hook at prosecutors' offices in the wake of last Friday's indictment of Linda Tripp by a Howard County grand jury. A spokesman for state prosecutor Stephen Montanarelli says staffers fielded some 40 calls yesterday from people complaining about the indictment. Tripp was indicted on two counts of violating Maryland's wiretap law for taping conversations with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky without permission. The Howard County prosecutors' office, meanwhile, reports about 30 phone calls yesterday - most complaining about the prosecutor's year- long investigation of Tripp...."

Baltimore Press 8/3/99 Les Kinsolving "...Since a Maryland appellate court has already ruled that ignorance of Maryland's bizarre law IS and excuse, will Tripp's conviction for taping phone conversations - that were clearly intended for her - survive the scrutiny of judiciary appeal? Since Presidents of the United States, from John F. Kennedy on, have tape-recorded their conversations with visitors to the Oval Office - without their knowledge or consent - how can any imprisonment of Linda Tripp be allowed by appellate courts, under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, or under the ideal of Equal Justice Under Law?..."

Baltimore Press 8/3/99 Les Kinsolving "...Can there be either Equal Protection, or Equal Justice Under Law, if Linda Tripp is imprisoned, but the President, who was found guilty of lying under oath and obstruction of justice - by the House of Representatives and by Federal Judge Susan Webber Wright - receives no such imprisonment, and only a $90,000 fine - which he himself does not have to pay? ...When Vice-President Gore engaged in campaign fund raising from the White House, he contended that the persons receiving his calls were not in a government building. How can Linda Tripp be punished if Al Gore was not? ..."

Baltimore Press 8/3/99 Les Kinsolving "...What will happen to the whistle blowers who are so important in rooting out corruption, if the Federal Government's guarantee of immunity can be subverted by a country grand jury? U.S. Representative James McDermott, Democrat of Washington State, received clearly illegal wiretappings of House Speaker Gingrich and other Republicans, taken by Democratic Party officials in Florida, neither of whom were the intended recipients of such conversations..... If Linda Tripp is imprisoned for tape recording a conversation clearly intended for her, how can there be Equal Justice Under Law?..."

Baltimore Press 8/3/99 Les Kinsolving "... Consider the letter signed by forty Democrats who are members of the Maryland State Legislature, which pressured State Prosecutor Steven Montanarelli to act against Tripp.

"What does it say that the only person still facing legal jeopardy is the only one telling the truth?".... She has said she believed that Mr. Clinton was communicating through Miss Lewinsky "threats to my life and threats to the lives of my children." Consider the trial of Linda Tripp, with the inevitable witness stand cross-examination of Monica Lewinsky and very probably other targets of Bill Clinton's unbridled lust. ...Is not this Maryland state law an unconstitutional deprivation of the right to document wrongdoing? ...."

Rivera Live 8/3/99 "...ANN - No. And, in fact, I'm glad Jonah mentioned the importance to journalists of sometimes illegal taping to expose crimes, Geraldo, because in your autobiography... GERALDO - Well, listen, if--if I got na...

ANN - Yeah. GERALDO - If I got nabbed, let them nab me, indict me. ANN - They did nab you. You were--you were--were in a lawsuit over it, according to your own biography, arson for profit. GERALDO - Which--over what?

ANN - You were illegally taping in Illinois, and it was against the law. And I th--I--and I think... GERALDO - I--I deny that. ANN - ...that was a great thing to do. GERALDO - I deny that. ANN - You say it right in your biography.... GERALDO - I--in my autobiography? ANN - Yeah. "Exposing Myself"--isn't that your autobiography? ..."

The Wall Street Journal Editorial 8/4/99 "...So Linda Tripp is to be prosecuted for protecting herself from the Clinton tong's penchant for punishing its opposition. Before getting into the legalities, let's see if we understand correctly just what the Bill Clinton Amen Chorus thinks Linda Tripp should have done. When Monica asked her to lie to the Paula Jones grand jury to help the President, they apparently think that Linda should have said, "Sure, I'd be happy to get selective memory, just like all those White House and Treasury big shots who couldn't remember anything important in front of the D'Amato Whitewater hearings. If they can get away with lying, maybe I can too. But Monica, could you ask Bruce Lindsey if I'll get a better deal than Susan McDougal. But yeah, any dame would be happy to lie to protect Bill."

... She did not wiretap, but merely recorded her own conversations, which is entirely legal in many states, even without the consent of other parties. The Maryland law has so seldom been applied that no judicial decisions applying can be found in a standard legal data base. Marna McLendon, one of the Maryland prosecutors involved, declared "the public is watching." Somehow the same standard is not applied to, say, the release of information from Ms. Tripp's Pentagon files....."

Original Sources 8/4/99 Mary Mostert "...The talk shows in the last few days have had great fun speculating whether or not Linda Tripp will be sent to prison for her "felony" - in which she recorded her taped her OWN telephone - not someone else's. Her own. Let's compare that with a what happened in a couple of other high profile wiretapping cases, which involved members of the House of Representatives. Does anyone remember, back in the dim and distant historical past of January 1997 when a Democrat operative in Florida illegally taped a telephone conversation of Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich with other Republicans, gave the tape to Rep. Jim McDemott, then ranking member of the Ethics Committee, who then secretly gave it to the New York Times for publication, in blatant violation of UNITED STATES CODE TITLE 47 which says: "no person receiving, assisting in receiving, transmitting, or assisting in transmitting, any interstate or foreign communication by wire or radio shall divulge or publish the existence, contents, substance, purport, effect, or meaning thereof, except through authorized channels of transmission or reception . . . . No person not being authorized by the sender shall intercept any radio communication and divulge or publish the existence, contents, substance, purport, effect, or meaning of such intercepted communication to any person . . ." Title 47 also provides for a fine of $50,000 and 2 year in prison if the perpetrator use the taped conversation for financial gain. If no financial gain was involved, the fine was only $2,000 and 6 months in prison. Since it was an interstate phone call, federal law would apply. Remember what happened when the wire-tappers were Democrats? That's right. Nothing. Jim McDermott is not in prison. He's still in the House of Representatives. Blitzer observes in his Tripp article, "Wiretapping is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine for each offense. Tripp, 49, said she recorded conversations with Lewinsky because she was being pressured by Lewinsky to lie in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case against Clinton." Well, not, technically speaking, Linda Tripp did not wiretap. She recorded a conversation in her own home on her own telephone. Wiretapping is what the Democrat operative did in taping Newt Gingrich's conversation with other Republicans, none of whom knew the operative was listening and taping. Monica Lewinsky knew full well that Linda was listening. After all, SHE called Linda...."