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transcript of the Starr
hearings
KENDALL: Mr. Chairman, Mr. Conyers, members of the committee, my name is David Kendall. I'm the personal attorney for President Clinton. My task is to respond to the two hours of uninterrupted testimony from the independent counsel, as well as to his f
our-year, $45 million investigation, which has included at least 28 attorneys, 78 FBI agents and an undisclosed number of private investigators, an investigation which has generated by a computer count 114,532 news stories in print, and 2,513 minutes
of network television time, not to mention 24-hour scandal coverage on cable, a 445-page referral, 50,000 pages of documents from secret grand jury testimony, four hours of videotaped testimony, 22 hours of audiotape some which was gathered in violation
of state law and the testimony of scores of witnesses, not one of whom has been cross-examined.
And I have 30 minutes to do this. It's a daunting exercise, but let me begin with the simple but powerful truth that nothing in this overkill of investigation amounts to a justification for the impeachment of the president of the United States.
Mr. Starr, good evening.
STARR: Good evening. How are you, David?
KENDALL: I'm very well, Ken.
You have the book of exhibits before you, do you not?
STARR: I do.
KENDALL: Would you turn to tab 5, which is a press release which your office issued under your name on February 5, 1998. Do you see that?
STARR: I do.
KENDALL: I want to direct your attention to your statement and statements and you are addressing the fact that you have not been able to talk to Miss Lewinsky yet. And you say in your press release, "We cannot responsibly determine if she is telling th
e truth without speaking directly to her. We found that there is no substitute for looking a witness in the eye, asking detailed questions, matching the answers against verifiable facts and, if appropriate, giving a polygraph test."
Did you issue that press release saying that, Mr. Starr?
STARR: Yes, I did.
KENDALL: And questions have been addressed to you today about the credibility of various witnesses, including Miss Lewinsky. It's true, is it not, that you were not present when Miss Lewinsky testified before the grand jury?
STARR: That is true.
KENDALL: And you were not present at her deposition?
STARR: At her deposition?
KENDALL: Yes.
Were you aware that she was deposed?
STARR: Oh, I'm sorry. At our deposition. Yes, I'm sorry. I misunderstood. Yes, I was not present.
KENDALL: You were not present on any occasion when she was interviewed by FBI agents, were you?
STARR: That is correct, I was not.
KENDALL: And you've never really exchanged words with Ms. Lewinsky, have you?
STARR: That's correct. She the answer is yes. I have not had occasion to meet her otherwise to look her in the eye myself.
KENDALL: The same is true for her mother, Marcia Lewis, is it not?
STARR: Yes, that is true as well. That is true.
KENDALL: The same is true for Betty Currie?
STARR: Yes.
KENDALL: The same is true for Vernon Jordan?
STARR: Well, oh, in connection, I happen to know Mr. Jordan but, yes, in connection...
KENDALL: (offmicrophone) this case though, were you present during his grand jury testimony?
STARR: No, I was not.
KENDALL: And were you present at any interview of him?
STARR: No, I was not.
KENDALL: Would the same be true for Mr. Podesta?
STARR: The answer is the same with respect to Mr. Podesta, yes.
KENDALL: And indeed, Mr. Starr, there are 115 individual grand jury transcripts, which your office submitted to the House and, with the exception of the deposition of the president of the United States, you were present at none of those grand jury proc
eedings, were you?
STARR: That is correct.
KENDALL: Likewise, there were 19 depositions submitted and you were at least the reporter doesn't show you being present on any of those. Is that correct?
STARR: I think that's right. There were and I need to reflect on some of the Secret Service matters but I think you're correct. I was not actually present for any depositions themselves, including the Secret Service officers.
KENDALL: And there were 134 FBI form 302 interviews submitted. You're not shown to be present at any of those. Is that correct?
STARR: That's correct. I would ordinarily not be present for interview of a witness.
KENDALL: Mr. Starr, I bring this out not to cast aspersions or question your use of time, but you are here as and I believe you have already said this you are not a fact witness. Is that correct?
STARR: Yes, in terms well, I can testify to a number of facts in the investigation.
KENDALL: This is your own autobiography. I'm mean, I'm talking about the facts of this investigation.
STARR: No. Can I answer the question? I believe there are a number of facts that I can, in fact, testify to, but with respect specifically that irrelevant to this investigation and most particularly with respect to the abuse of power issues, but with r
espect to other questions the president's perjury and obstruction of justice and the like to the extent that one is talking about fact witnesses, you're quite right.
The function of the independent counsel himself or herself is ordinarily, ordinarily, depending on the size of the investigation, not one to accompany FBI agents. One relies upon the professionalism and the expertise of one's colleagues and the FBI, wh
o work ultimately under the aegis of Judge Freeh.
KENDALL: There were unlike the 1974 grand jury referral to the House Judiciary Committee this referral was not submitted to the chief judge of the district court, was it?
STARR: The answer to that and I may want to reserve part of my answer for executive session let me say that we did not seek the approval of the chief judge with respect to the contents of the report.
KENDALL: Was she every shown a copy of the referral?
STARR: I would prefer to go into executive session with respect to communications I may have had with the district court.
KENDALL: The grand jury did not vote to approve or forward this referral, is that correct?
STARR: That is correct because, as I have said, the decision with respect to the referral is the product of career prosecutors who came together from around the country. And I tried to make sure that the committee understood that the individuals who we
re involved in assisting me and in guiding me are career, Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney's Office prosecutors from around the country, but ultimately, this is, David, my judgment.
KENDALL: You are here really as an advocate for this referral, are you not?
STARR: I view myself no, I think that's not right. I do believe in the referral. I tried to answer questions with respect to the referral, although many questions did not relate to the referral but related to other matters. But I do believe in it. Bu
t the reason that I should not be advocating it is because it is this committee's judgment that they will come to by virtue of submission of this in writing with the supporting materials.
And then it's up to the committee to determine do they want to call additionally witnesses and the like. Our task was to put before them the information that we found, met the statutory standard of substantial and credible information.
KENDALL: In your testimony today, you indicated you had exonerated the president with regard to the travel office, if I heard you correctly. Is that correct?
STARR: Yes, what I indicated was we had no information that related to his involvement, although I also made it clear that that investigation is continuing, and we hope to announce decisions or actions very soon.
KENDALL: The travel office firings which you are investigating occurred in 1993, is that correct?
STARR: Yes, the firings were in 1993.
KENDALL: Also, if I heard you correctly this morning, you indicated you had exonerated the president with respect to the FBI files matter which had arisen in 1996. Is that correct?
STARR: Yes, that jurisdiction did come to us in 1996 from the attorney general. And yes, we have found, as I indicated, no evidence of any wrongdoing by anyone who is relevant to I believe at least, in my assessment, I can't speak for the committee
that would be relevant to the committee's assessment of our referral.
KENDALL: Mr. Starr, when did you come to those conclusions?
STARR: With respect to the travel office, I would frankly have to search my recollection to see exactly where we were and when we were there. As I indicated with respect to the travel office, we have, in fact, had to put part of the travel office inves
tigation and I'm now talking about the travel office I'll to come to the FBI files we had, in fact, had to put part of the travel office investigation on hold, as it were, because of issuing over privileged litigation, which we did not prevail in th
e Supreme Court. And there are other matters that we are presently examining, and which I can't talk about talk about here.
KENDALL: But were the two exonerations you announced today did you come to those conclusions before or after Nov. 1, 1998?
STARR: Before Nov. 1 of this year?
Well, I would say that we have not had information that would guide us to the view that we should be concerned about the president in respect of those two matters, and that's why, of course, there's no mention of either of those matters in the referral
.
But both matters were, in fact, continuing and no final prosecutorial decisions had been made with respect to either the travel office matter or now to address the FBI files matter.
STARR: With respect to that there is, as I have indicated, an unresolved question with respect to one individual.
I've not named that individual, but I do not have it remains unresolved. So it's predictive judgment, Mr. Kendall, that nothing we're likely to achieve in either of those investigations will be relevant to this committee's inquiry. And that's what I
view my duty as being.
KENDALL: And today was the first time you have announced that in respect to these two matters, is it not, Mr. Starr?
STARR: Yes, it's the first time that we have viewed it as appropriate to speak to issues that are still, David, under investigation.
We are still investigating both matters, and I hope I've made that point clear. Both investigations have very live, active elements to them, and we will make those decisions promptly.
But I felt it was my duty to inform this committee of the state of the record with respect to the president of the United States because the committee has been asking me 'Do you have any other information that is relevant?'.
I've received a lot of correspondence and Mr. Conyers...
KENDALL: Mr. Starr, I have only 30 minutes. If I could, I think you adequately answered my question.
Let me return to a question asked by Congressman Wexler this afternoon about a witness called Julie Hiatt Steele.
Have your investigators investigated the adoption of her 8 year-old child she adopted from a Romanian orphanage?
STARR: Mr. Kendall, my investigators work very hard and diligently to find relevant evidence. I believe that the questions, and I have conducted no specific investigation, and you just spent a good deal of time establishing that I don't go with my FBI
agents on every single interview.
Indeed, I don't go may I finish, you asked the question?
I don't go with them on interviews. They have a fair amount of discretion as professionals as to what is appropriate to inquire into.
But let me simply say this. There is an enormous amount of misinformation and false information that is being bantered about with respect to that particular witness and the circumstances of questioning.
And I will look forward at the appropriate time to be able to demonstrate that to any fair-minded person beyond any reasonable doubt.
KENDALL: Mr. Starr, I'm asking the question for the fact. I am not casting aspersions against...
STARR: But Mr. Kendall, you just said you were not present for the following persons Ms. Lewinsky, Marsha Lewis, and Vernon Jordan, and you are now asking me did FBI interviews and you talked about how many witnesses there were. Now you are asking
me specifically was a specific question asked of a particular witness.
I will be happy to find that out if it seems to be relevant to this committee.
KENDALL: Mr. Starr, I don't think it's unfair to try to find out the fact because there has been considerable publicity about Miss Steele's claim that that is, in fact, what your investigators have been doing. I was simply asking to clarify the record.
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