Keeping Up With the Jones Dump

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There were slim pickings in the latest online dump of materials from the Paula Jones case Monday. What little filtered through, however, does not appear to help President Clinton’s case. For one, his attorney Bob Bennett can be seen obstructing Ken Starr’s efforts to obtain information from the sexual harassment lawsuit. In the minutes of a February 6 closed-door hearing, Bennett says he will move to quash a Starr subpoena because he is "not comfortable with handing over sealed documents" to the independent counsel. Starr, he adds, "cannot be trusted" with a videotape of the President’s deposition.

Which, given the leaky nature of the OIC in those days, may be a fair comment -- but Bennett is effectively handing Starr more evidence for the obstruction of justice charge contained in his impeachment referral, and counteracting Clinton’s pledge to "cooperate fully" with the investigation. Another perfectly legal move that looks shifty is Bennett’s bid to stop the Jones team from talking to White House volunteer -– and fellow sexual accuser –- Kathleen Willey back in November 1997. Similarly, Jones lawyers are seen scrambling to block depositions from men who testified that Jones was eager to have sex with them. Unfortunately for Clinton, both moves can be put under the heading of White House dirty tricks. But the question remains –- does anyone still care about this stuff?