WASHINGTON, Feb 4: Monica Lewinsky, the former intern at the centre of a White House sex scandal, arrived in Los Angeles after fleeing from Washington on Tuesday and tearfully embraced her father before he ushered her into his home.Outside the posh Brentwood home, reporters and camera crews were kept at bay by police as they watched the brief encounter that came shortly after Lewinsky arrived at the Los Angeles international airport from Washington.
Flanked by United Airlines employees, the 24-year-old woman was whisked away in a black car without comment after exiting from the back of the plane, using a lift designed for passengers with disabilities.
Lewinsky was alleged in press reports over the past two weeks to have had sexual relations with President Clinton. The reports also raised suggestions that Clinton asked her to lie about their relationship under oath.
Meanwhile, a former top advisor to President Bill Clinton and an ex-White House intern testified on Tuesday that they knew nothing abouta sexual relationship between the President and Monica Lewinsky. Independent prosecutor Kenneth Starr obtained the tapes and is investigating the case, which could land Lewinsky with perjury charges and Clinton with suborning a witness and obstructing Justice -- impeachable offences.
Clinton's former political advisor George Stephanopoulos was called by Starr before a grand jury on Tuesday to tell what he knew of the relationship between the two -- which he told reporters was very little.
``I have no first-hand knowledge at all about the nature of the relationship, if any, between the President and Monica Lewinsky,'' he said.Earlier, the aide-turned-television commentator said in a CNN interview that Lewinsky ``seemed nice, she seemed friendly, but I don't know her that well.''
A former White House intern, Caroline Self, also testified she knew of no sexual relationship between Clinton and Lewinsky, who began at the White House in 1995 at age 21. Starr, a Republican prosecutor also probing Whitewaterand other White House scandals, was put on Lewinsky's trail through the Paula Jones sexual harassment suit. Clinton was travelling in New Mexico, where he addressed an enthusiastic crowd in a campaign-style rally held to pitch his new budget initiatives for 1999.
The only evidence of the scandal was a sign reading ``If (first lady) Hillary doesn't care, neither do we.''
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
