Updated: Feb 26 1998 10:02AM

WASHINGTON: Set aside reports of the White House invoking executive privilege, and ignore for the moment Ken Starr's windmill-tilting over what he believes is an "avalanche of lies" against his office. Those issues are being played out in lawyers' offices and press conferences. The grand jury has returned to the subject that matters most in the Monica Lewinsky investigation: Monica Lewinsky.

White House aides past and present were probed Wednesday on the former intern's sudden transfer to the Pentagon, and whether it was part of a cover-up. At least one witness gave Starr the thumbs-down on that score: "I have absolutely nothing to offer about any relationship with regard to Monica Lewinsky and the President," said Patsy Thomasson, a former personnel official. "She was transferred because of dissatisfaction with her performance in the correspondence section."

It's hardly a glowing reference, but Thomasson's testimony is part of a string of good news for the Lewinsky camp. William Ginsburg went on the attack Wednesday, suggesting his client might sue the wiretapping Linda Tripp when all this is over. And speaking of Ginsburg, Monica doesn't have to worry about her legal bills quite so much. She got a $10,000 donation from the Osias Foundation, a nonprofit group that -- appropriately enough -- studies women in the workplace. Now if they could just find her a job.

-- Chris Taylor