WASHINGTON, February 5: Prosecutors investigating President Bill Clinton's alleged sexual affair with a White House intern and cover-up have rejected a written offer from intern Monica Lewinsky to testify in exchange for immunity, sources have said.The sources familiar with the negotiations, speaking only on condition of anonymity, said on Wednesday Lewinsky's attorneys submitted the written offer on Monday night before Lewinsky left for California.
Both American President Bill Clinton and Lewinsky have denied allegations they carried on a sexual relationship in the White House, but the special prosecutor's office reportedly has tapes of her describing the affair to another woman.
Independent counsel Kenneth Starr's office decided yesterday to reject the offer of her testimony for immunity against prosecution, which came after two weeks of on-again-off-again verbal negotiations designed to secure Lewinsky's cooperation.
Attorney William Ginsburg, who represents Lewinsky, said on Wednesday he couldnot discuss his dealings with Starr's office.
``It would be irresponsible to talk about the negotiations,'' he said.The rejection of the offer does not necessarily mean that talks won't continue between the two sides, but it signals that prosecutors are content to press ahead with their grand jury investigation in the absence of Lewinsky's cooperation.
Meanwhile, one of Clinton's closest former advisers has said that Clinton's limited public response in the case is troubling.
The longer the President goes without telling his side of the story, the more unease there will be in the public,'' said George Stephanopoulos. It may be their only strategy,'' he said, but he added that the refusal to explain Lewinsky's numerous visits to the White House after she stopped working there does raise an awful lot of questions.''
In his on-air TV role, Stephanopoulos had been among the first to speculate about impeachment when the allegations of a Presidential affair and cover-up surfaced.
The grand jury ofprivate citizens was impanelled to investigate behind closed doors whether there is enough evidence to bring charges in the White House sex controversy.
The White House was also considering invoking executive privilege to limit the scope of further questioning of White House aides. ``What they are discussing is what witnesses will be able to talk about and what they would not be able to discuss because they are White House employees with certain privileges to protect,'' one official said. The White House has discussed its concerns with prosecutors.
An AFP report from Washington adds: A White House employee has told a grand jury here he walked in on Clinton and Monica Lewinsky in an intimate encounter, the Wall Street Journal has reported.
The employee, Bayani Nelvis, was ``shocked'' by the incident and afterwards returned to the office where the two had been and collected evidence such as lipstick-smeared tissues, the journalists told the CNBC television network.Nelvis has twice told his story to thegrand jury deciding on allegations here that Clinton lied under oath about an affair with Lewinsky and persuaded her to lie about it too, the journalists told CNBC.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
