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Right On!
By David Horowitz
Why hate crime laws backfire

T A B L E+T A L K
When and why did you last fire a gun? Join the discussion in Table Talk's Social Issues area.

R E C E N T L Y
Renewal of vows
By Daryl Lindsey
Aided by a dying King Hussein, Israel's Netanyahu brings Israel back to where it was in the peace negotiations 18 months ago
(10/23/98)
Asking for it
By Jeff Stryker
Judges and juries may go easy on gay bashers who blame their victims
(10/23/98)
Backlash '98?
By Joan Walsh
After dreading November's elections, some Democrats now believe they will benefit from an anti-impeachment voter rebellion
(10/22/98)
Free speech is under attack -- again
A Salon Editorial
Why we're challenging the new Net censorship law
(10/22/98)
No place to hide
By Bruce Shapiro
The arrest of the brutal ex-dictator Pinochet marks the first time since Nuremberg that a head of state faces legal responsibility for his mass killings
(10/21/98)
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------------The sting
news image Did Kenneth Starr, Linda Tripp and Paula Jones' legal team work hand in hand to set a perjury trap for the president?
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BY MOLLIE DICKENSON
What did Ken Starr know and when did he know it? This is the question increasingly being asked these days by the media.
New details about the conservative network that has aided and abetted Starr's investigation of the Clinton administration are surfacing daily. Until recently only Salon and a handful of media outlets and independent journalists had reported on the anti-Clinton cabal that has been operating in conjunction with the Starr probe and the Jones legal camp.
But lately, major news institutions such as the New York Times and NPR that had largely ignored Starr's ties to anti-Clinton partisans and his many conflicts of interest have begun to delve into those relationships. New attention is being given to the previously reported fact that Starr had close ties to the Paula Jones case even while he was seeking to replace Robert Fiske as Whitewater independent counsel in August 1994. Before his appointment, Starr had publicly spoken out against presidential immunity from Jones' suit and had even prepared an amicus brief for Jones. As NPR's Nina Totenberg recently reported, Starr also consulted directly with Jones' lawyers about the case, a fact he neglected to tell Attorney General Janet Reno when he sought approval to extend his probe into the fetid waters of Jones-Lewinsky-Tripp.
Perhaps most important, new documents reveal that Starr knew much earlier than he told Reno about Linda Tripp's Monica Lewinsky tapes; and that Tripp herself, not Lewinsky or Clinton, suggested to Lewinsky that she ask Vernon Jordan to help her find a job in exchange for her silence about her affair with the president.
By ensnaring Jordan in the Lewinsky matter, Tripp built the bridge that Starr walked across to move from the Reno-authorized Whitewater probe -- where he was investigating whether Jordan helped Clinton pal Webb Hubbell get a job in exchange for his silence about the Whitewater deal -- into the unrelated, but much more enticing matter of the Lewinsky affair. The shadowy ties between Starr, Tripp and Jones and their right-wing friends allowed the independent counsel's office to create the perjury trap for Clinton in his Jones deposition that would result in the current impeachment crisis.
Having been given a pass by the media for almost five years, Starr apparently felt free to lie to both Attorney General Reno in January, and to Congress in his September impeachment report, about the date he learned of Tripp's secret tapes.
But Starr's apparent lies are serious offenses. If Starr misrepresented those facts, former Watergate prosecutor Richard Ben-Veniste wrote in Friday's New York Times, it is time "to consider his removal" and to "reassess his charges against the president."
Starr's excesses are now the subject of three different federal inquiries. Reno announced she is "reviewing" whether she was misled by Starr in January when he sought her approval to extend his investigation. Federal Judge Norma Holloway Johnson is looking into Clinton lawyers' charge that Starr rampantly leaked grand jury material to the press. And former Justice Department official Michael Shaheen is investigating whether Starr's chief Whitewater witness against the Clintons, David Hale, was paid off by partisans with close links to Starr himself through the American Spectator's Arkansas Project, as revealed by Salon.
On Oct. 5, Clinton lawyer David Kendall wrote Reno for a copy of Starr's letter requesting the expansion of his jurisdiction into the Lewinsky matter -- a letter noticeably absent from Starr's 4,000 pages of documents sent to Congress. Almost three weeks later Starr has not yet made the letter public.
Understanding Tripp's role in setting the perjury trap for Clinton is critical. It was Tripp who suggested to Lewinsky that she enlist Jordan to help her with her job search, and it was Tripp who told Lewinsky not to sign an affidavit in the Jones case before Jordan got her a job. Starr then seized on this to justify his widening probe, telling Reno that he needed to investigate Jordan's alleged pattern of obstruction of justice in helping both Webb Hubbell and Lewinsky with job searches.
In late October, long before Lewinsky was named a potential witness in the Jones case in December, Tripp urged Lewinsky: "There's no reason why he [Jordan] couldn't help a friend anywhere. It's not like the Webb Hubbell thing." This is remarkably savvy of Tripp, to spot the potential link between Lewinsky and Hubbell that Starr later found so useful. But it could also suggest that Tripp and Starr had direct or indirect communication long before Starr admits he learned about the tapes, on Jan. 12, 1998.
Certainly Tripp, as a disgruntled former White House employee, was known to Starr as a potential anti-Clinton mole. Even before the Lewinsky scandal, Tripp had become one of the chief thorns in the side of the Clinton White House. She was the only White House employee to testify she saw Hillary Clinton aide Maggie Williams remove papers from Foster's office -- implying there were Whitewater-related secrets the Clintons were trying to hide. And she was also the source for the story by Newsweek magazine reporter Michael Isikoff that Clinton had made advances on Kathleen Willey. (Isikoff, who has been criticized for his cozy relationship with the Starr camp, didn't report that Tripp also believed Willey was actively seeking attention from Clinton.)
In 1996 conservative journalist Tony Snow introduced his well-placed friend Tripp to another of his friends, Nixon dirty trickster and book agent Lucianne Goldberg, to help Tripp sell her tell-all book about Clinton. Goldberg found Tripp a ghostwriter who penned a draft about the Clinton White House, which Tripp now claims, unbelievably, was too negative.
It was Goldberg who had ties to the get-Clinton network, many of whose orchestrators are now familiar faces on the TV talk circuit. Goldberg had personal ties, for instance, to Richard W. Porter, Kenneth Starr's law partner at the Chicago-based law firm Kirkland & Ellis. Porter was a senior aide in Bush's White House, and later Dan Quayle's counsel and director of "opposition research" for Quayle. Porter had also worked with Starr on the amicus brief that Starr agreed to write, on behalf of Paula Jones, for the Richard Mellon Scaife-funded Independent Women's Forum. Porter finished the brief when Starr left to become Whitewater prosecutor. Goldberg says she told Porter about Tripp's tapes of Lewinsky and asked for a contact with Starr. As reported by the New York Times, Porter's friend, Philadelphia lawyer Jerome M. Marcus, took over Porter's role in putting Tripp in touch with Starr, because such collusion within a law firm could raise questions about a possible conflict of interest. Goldberg has frankly called Marcus "a cutout" to obscure Porter's role in forging the Tripp-Starr connection.
N E X T+P A G E+| Who heard the tapes, and when?

A L S O__T O D A Y Right On! By David Horowitz Why hate crime laws backfire T A B L E+T A L K When and why did you last fire a gun? Join the discussion in Table Talk's Social Issues area. R E C E N T L Y Renewal of vows By Daryl Lindsey Aided by a dying King Hussein, Israel's Netanyahu brings Israel back to where it was in the peace negotiations 18 months ago (10/23/98) Asking for it By Jeff Stryker Judges and juries may go easy on gay bashers who blame their victims (10/23/98) Backlash '98? By Joan Walsh After dreading November's elections, some Democrats now believe they will benefit from an anti-impeachment voter rebellion (10/22/98) Free speech is under attack -- again A Salon Editorial Why we're challenging the new Net censorship law (10/22/98) No place to hide By Bruce Shapiro The arrest of the brutal ex-dictator Pinochet marks the first time since Nuremberg that a head of state faces legal responsibility for his mass killings (10/21/98) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Browse the Newsreal Archives - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - S A L O N E M P O R I U M FREE! 12-ounce bag of Salon Blend with a purchase of $30 or more. While supplies last.
		------------The sting Did Kenneth Starr, Linda Tripp and Paula Jones' legal team work hand in hand to set a perjury trap for the president? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - BY MOLLIE DICKENSON What did Ken Starr know and when did he know it? This is the question increasingly being asked these days by the media. New details about the conservative network that has aided and abetted Starr's investigation of the Clinton administration are surfacing daily. Until recently only Salon and a handful of media outlets and independent journalists had reported on the anti-Clinton cabal that has been operating in conjunction with the Starr probe and the Jones legal camp. But lately, major news institutions such as the New York Times and NPR that had largely ignored Starr's ties to anti-Clinton partisans and his many conflicts of interest have begun to delve into those relationships. New attention is being given to the previously reported fact that Starr had close ties to the Paula Jones case even while he was seeking to replace Robert Fiske as Whitewater independent counsel in August 1994. Before his appointment, Starr had publicly spoken out against presidential immunity from Jones' suit and had even prepared an amicus brief for Jones. As NPR's Nina Totenberg recently reported, Starr also consulted directly with Jones' lawyers about the case, a fact he neglected to tell Attorney General Janet Reno when he sought approval to extend his probe into the fetid waters of Jones-Lewinsky-Tripp. Perhaps most important, new documents reveal that Starr knew much earlier than he told Reno about Linda Tripp's Monica Lewinsky tapes; and that Tripp herself, not Lewinsky or Clinton, suggested to Lewinsky that she ask Vernon Jordan to help her find a job in exchange for her silence about her affair with the president. By ensnaring Jordan in the Lewinsky matter, Tripp built the bridge that Starr walked across to move from the Reno-authorized Whitewater probe -- where he was investigating whether Jordan helped Clinton pal Webb Hubbell get a job in exchange for his silence about the Whitewater deal -- into the unrelated, but much more enticing matter of the Lewinsky affair. The shadowy ties between Starr, Tripp and Jones and their right-wing friends allowed the independent counsel's office to create the perjury trap for Clinton in his Jones deposition that would result in the current impeachment crisis. Having been given a pass by the media for almost five years, Starr apparently felt free to lie to both Attorney General Reno in January, and to Congress in his September impeachment report, about the date he learned of Tripp's secret tapes. But Starr's apparent lies are serious offenses. If Starr misrepresented those facts, former Watergate prosecutor Richard Ben-Veniste wrote in Friday's New York Times, it is time "to consider his removal" and to "reassess his charges against the president." Starr's excesses are now the subject of three different federal inquiries. Reno announced she is "reviewing" whether she was misled by Starr in January when he sought her approval to extend his investigation. Federal Judge Norma Holloway Johnson is looking into Clinton lawyers' charge that Starr rampantly leaked grand jury material to the press. And former Justice Department official Michael Shaheen is investigating whether Starr's chief Whitewater witness against the Clintons, David Hale, was paid off by partisans with close links to Starr himself through the American Spectator's Arkansas Project, as revealed by Salon. On Oct. 5, Clinton lawyer David Kendall wrote Reno for a copy of Starr's letter requesting the expansion of his jurisdiction into the Lewinsky matter -- a letter noticeably absent from Starr's 4,000 pages of documents sent to Congress. Almost three weeks later Starr has not yet made the letter public. Understanding Tripp's role in setting the perjury trap for Clinton is critical. It was Tripp who suggested to Lewinsky that she enlist Jordan to help her with her job search, and it was Tripp who told Lewinsky not to sign an affidavit in the Jones case before Jordan got her a job. Starr then seized on this to justify his widening probe, telling Reno that he needed to investigate Jordan's alleged pattern of obstruction of justice in helping both Webb Hubbell and Lewinsky with job searches. In late October, long before Lewinsky was named a potential witness in the Jones case in December, Tripp urged Lewinsky: "There's no reason why he [Jordan] couldn't help a friend anywhere. It's not like the Webb Hubbell thing." This is remarkably savvy of Tripp, to spot the potential link between Lewinsky and Hubbell that Starr later found so useful. But it could also suggest that Tripp and Starr had direct or indirect communication long before Starr admits he learned about the tapes, on Jan. 12, 1998. Certainly Tripp, as a disgruntled former White House employee, was known to Starr as a potential anti-Clinton mole. Even before the Lewinsky scandal, Tripp had become one of the chief thorns in the side of the Clinton White House. She was the only White House employee to testify she saw Hillary Clinton aide Maggie Williams remove papers from Foster's office -- implying there were Whitewater-related secrets the Clintons were trying to hide. And she was also the source for the story by Newsweek magazine reporter Michael Isikoff that Clinton had made advances on Kathleen Willey. (Isikoff, who has been criticized for his cozy relationship with the Starr camp, didn't report that Tripp also believed Willey was actively seeking attention from Clinton.) In 1996 conservative journalist Tony Snow introduced his well-placed friend Tripp to another of his friends, Nixon dirty trickster and book agent Lucianne Goldberg, to help Tripp sell her tell-all book about Clinton. Goldberg found Tripp a ghostwriter who penned a draft about the Clinton White House, which Tripp now claims, unbelievably, was too negative. It was Goldberg who had ties to the get-Clinton network, many of whose orchestrators are now familiar faces on the TV talk circuit. Goldberg had personal ties, for instance, to Richard W. Porter, Kenneth Starr's law partner at the Chicago-based law firm Kirkland & Ellis. Porter was a senior aide in Bush's White House, and later Dan Quayle's counsel and director of "opposition research" for Quayle. Porter had also worked with Starr on the amicus brief that Starr agreed to write, on behalf of Paula Jones, for the Richard Mellon Scaife-funded Independent Women's Forum. Porter finished the brief when Starr left to become Whitewater prosecutor. Goldberg says she told Porter about Tripp's tapes of Lewinsky and asked for a contact with Starr. As reported by the New York Times, Porter's friend, Philadelphia lawyer Jerome M. Marcus, took over Porter's role in putting Tripp in touch with Starr, because such collusion within a law firm could raise questions about a possible conflict of interest. Goldberg has frankly called Marcus "a cutout" to obscure Porter's role in forging the Tripp-Starr connection. N E X T+P A G E+\| Who heard the tapes, and when?