A Bit Player Gets a Bad Case of the Willeys

Ken Starr's indictment last week of Julie Hiatt Steele raised eyebrows among defense lawyers. Steele is accused of obstructing justice and making false statements when she denied that Kathleen Willey told her Clinton made a pass at Willey in 1993. But stranger than the fact of the indictment of this bit player, say lawyers with no dog in the fight, is that it's based in part on Steele's telling her allegedly false version to the press, specifically Newsweek and the National Enquirer--and in 1997, before Starr had even begun this phase of his probe. Lawyers for Steele, who denies the charges, are considering a First Amendment challenge. Steele's attorney, Nancy Luque, blasted the indictment as "a transparent attempt to unfairly influence the pending impeachment proceeding." Perhaps so. The day after, House managers met to consider Willey as a witness.

However, she may not be one for Starr himself. Sources tell TIME he has had concerns about the veracity of some of her statements. He met with Willey after he sent his impeachment referral to Capitol Hill but apparently did not feel he could build a strong enough case to send a follow-up referral based on her allegations.