Judge Cites Alleged Starr Leaks

By PETE YOST
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (Oct. 30) - A federal judge cited 24 news stories on the Monica Lewinsky affair in her order for an investigation into whether Kenneth Starr's office leaked grand jury information, according to court papers released Friday.

The White House praised U.S. District Judge Norma Holloway Johnson's ruling while a conservative group questioned why the judge would release the month-old decision on the Friday before an election.

''Due to serious and repetitive prima facie violations'' of grand jury secrecy rules, a thorough review must be undertaken, Johnson said in the ruling which she signed Sept. 24. She appointed a special master - whose name was deleted from the ruling - to complete a final report of findings ''preferably by the end of November 1998.''

The expert has wide-ranging authority to subpoena documents from Starr's office and question current or former members of the prosecutor's staff.

Starting last Jan. 21 and ending in August, the 24 stories ranged from accounts of Starr's ''next moves'' to the prosecutor's rejection of a proposed immunity deal for Ms. Lewinsky.

Some of the stories attributed information to ''federal law enforcement sources'' and ''prosecutors.''

Thirteen were from television networks, eight were from daily newspapers and three from magazines.

The last entry was a story from Brill's Content magazine, which quoted Starr as saying he and his top deputy briefed reporters but did not violate grand jury secrecy laws.

Starr has said he did not illegally leak evidence and has criticized the magazine piece as filled with factual errors.

''The law in this circuit makes it perfectly clear that government attorneys may not reveal documentary evidence that is likely to be presented to the grand jury,'' Johnson stated.

Clinton's private attorney, David Kendall, said ''we are gratified'' by the court decision, which ''agreed with us that as to every one of the 24 media reports we identified ... there is prima facie reason to believe that Mr. Starr's office is guilty.''

The judge's decision ''lends credence to what we have been saying all along'' - that ''we believe the Office of the Independent Counsel has been waging a campaign of leaks against the president,'' said White House lawyer Greg Craig, head of the president's anti-impeachment legal team.

Starr's office said in statement that Johnson's order is ''only a preliminary finding based upon an extremely low threshold of proof,'' adding that it is cooperating fully in the investigation.

''This office has not and does not disclose grand jury material,'' the statement said. ''As the journalists reporting the stories know, the information came from sources outside the OIC (Office of Independent Counsel).''

Mark Levin, president of the conservative Landmark Legal Foundation, said, ''It's remarkable to me that a judge would unseal this the Friday before a major election.''

News organizations had reported previously that the judge appointed a special master to investigate whether Starr's office illegally leaked grand jury information.

In several specific cases:

- Johnson stated that an NBC News report ''explicitly identifies 'prosecutors' as disclosing evidence gathered as part of the grand jury investigation.''

That story was a Jan. 22 account on NBC of the ''talking points'' document that Ms. Lewinsky said she wrote. It was a roadmap for Lewinsky friend Linda Tripp to provide testimony in the Paula Jones case that would be helpful to President Clinton.

''This evidence, the 'talking points' document, was likely to be presented to the grand jury,'' Johnson wrote.

- A Feb. 5 report on CNN referred to ''sources in Starr's office,'' suggesting that prosecutors were prepared to bring charges against Ms. Lewinsky if she did not negotiate an immunity deal.

''According to this news report, these OIC (Office of Independent Counsel) sources disclosed the status of immunity negotiations with a potential target of the grand jury and the possible indictment of this target,'' the judge wrote.

- A Feb. 4 New York Times article cited by the judge referred to an unidentified federal investigator saying that one of Ms. Lewinsky's dresses had tested negative when checked in a laboratory for evidence of a sexual encounter with the president. A similar report on a dress on Jan. 30 by ABC News was attributed to ''law enforcement sources.''

AP-NY-10-30-98 2244EST

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