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HenchPAC NewsTapes of telephone calls between President Clinton and his former lover Gennifer Flowers will play a key evidentiary role in Clinton's probable indictment, the Houston Chronicle reported on Sunday, citing sources both on and off the record.
"If (Independent Counsel Robert) Ray is thinking of bringing a perjury charge, you could use the tapes of those phone calls to show how this man has in the past coached witnesses," former U.S. Attorney Joseph DiGenova told the Chronicle.
A former prosecutor with Starr's office, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was "strong sentiment" in 1998 to include the devastating audio tapes as part of the impeachment case against Clinton.
"(Clinton) almost said word for word to Gennifer Flowers on those tapes what he said to Monica about covering up their affair," said the lawyer. "Mr. Starr decided it would be too explosive to use the Flowers tapes during the impeachment."
"But if you were going to take Clinton to trial, it would be extremely potent evidence," the one-time Starr deputy added.
In one recorded exchange, Clinton urges Flowers to commit perjury in a hearing about how she obtained her Arkansas state job.
In an exclusive interview in October with NewsMax.com, the key Clinton witness first revealed that the Office of Independent Counsel had contacted her and requested original recordings of coversations she had with Clinton in 1990 and 1991.
Flowers, who did not speak to the Chronicle, told NewsMax.com that neither Starr nor his investigators had ever contacted her, either for her tapes or any relevant testimony she might be able to supply.
She speculated that Ray's prosecutors wanted to test her original tapes for authenticity, since audio copies have been publicly available since 1993. Flowers herself had the recordings analyzed in 1992 by Truth Verification Labs, which certified that they had not been tampered with or doctored in any way.
The former Clinton girlfriend spoke to NewsMax.com while attending presidential debates sponsored by the Washington, D.C. based public interest lawfirm Judicial Watch.
Flowers was deposed by lawyers for Clinton sexual harassment accuser Paula Jones in September 1997. Four months later, Clinton was questioned about Flowers in his Jones case deposition.
Clinton admitted to a single sexual encounter with the TV reporter-turned nightclub singer, while she maintained they had a physical relationship that lasted over twelve years.
It was in that Jan. 1998 deposition that the president gave deliberately false and misleading answers about his relationship to 23-year-old White House intern Monica Lewinsky, which lead to his impeachment eleven months later.
In one telling anecdote, friends of Hillary Clinton say she pledged to "crucify" Flowers when the entertainer first went public with her tapes.
Working through Judicial Watch, Flowers has since sued both Clintons and their former top aides, George Stephanopoulos and James Carville, claiming defamation.
The Chronicle said that Clinton's indictment appears likely within weeks after leaving office, citing the account of Freda Alexander, who was grand jury forewoman when Starr's prosecutors first investigated Clinton's Monica Lewinsky cover-up.
In March 1999 Alexander told reporters, "I don't think there is any question the grand jury that first heard the evidence would have brought indictments."
Ray Moving on Clinton
Indictment, Seeks Flowers' Tapes
Carl Limbacher
Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2000
The office of independent counsel Robert Ray has asked
longtime Clinton paramour Gennifer Flowers for original copies of her famous
taped phone calls with President Clinton, NewsMax.com has learned exclusively.
"They didn't tell me what he wants them for,"
Flowers said, noting that while independent counsel Ken Starr was in charge of
the president's prosecution, investigators never asked to talk to her and showed
no interest in her Clinton recordings.
Flowers tipped NewsMax.com to Ray's request while she
was attending a reception for Judicial Watch's Oct. 20 presidential debate in
Washington. She asked at the time that the information remain confidential
pending advice of counsel.
CNN reported Friday that a grand jury convened by Ray
had begun contacting witnesses with an eye toward possibly indicting the
president after he leaves office.
The Los Angeles Times revealed Tuesday that Ray intended
to interview Monica Lewinsky yet again, despite reams of testimony from the
former White House intern already gathered for Clinton's impeachment.
"There's really no reason for Ray to re-interview
Lewinsky unless he's figuring to do something with that new grand jury in the
way of an indictment," said Washington lawyer Joseph Di Genova, a former
independent counsel himself.
By the same measure, Flowers' tapes, complete with
transcripts, have been publicly available since 1993.
Ray's request for her originals suggests that
investigators have already determined they are somehow relevant to Clinton's
prosecution and now merely seek to establish the authenticity of the recordings.
"I'll tell you one thing: Wherever those tapes go,
I go," Flowers told NewsMax.com, still concerned that her tapes could be
tampered with by anyone seeking to discredit her.
The Clinton witness said that while most of the
recordings were clear, others were hard to understand.
"I made those tapes on a $20 tape recorder,"
she explained. "I had no idea at the time how important they eventually
would become."
In 1992 Flowers had the tapes examined by Truth
Verification Labs after Clinton "War Room" operators James Carville
and George Stephanopoulos claimed they were "doctored." TVL certified
them as 100 percent authentic.
Working with lawyers for Judicial Watch, Flowers has
since sued the Clinton spinmeisters for defamation. A Las Vegas judge dismissed
the case in September, but Flowers intends to file an appeal.
In one 1991 tape-recorded conversation, Clinton urged
Flowers to commit perjury about her state job in testimony before an Arkansas
state labor grievance review board.
FLOWERS: The only thing that concerns me – where I'm
concerned at this point – is the state job.
CLINTON: Yeah, I never thought about that. But as long
as you say you'd just been looking for one, if they ever ask if you've talked to
me about it, you can say no.
Clinton, then governor of Arkansas, was counseling
Flowers to lie under oath in answer to a complaint brought by Charlette Perry, a
state clerical worker who lost her promotion after Clinton gave the job to
Flowers instead.
Though the statute of limitations would have long ago
lapsed on Clinton's 10-year-old attempt to suborn Flowers' perjury, prosecutors
could use the tape-recorded exchange to demonstrate a pattern of witness
tampering and obstruction of justice to grand jurors.
In August, a member of the three-judge panel overseeing
Ray's office first revealed that a grand jury had been seated to hear Clinton's
case.
In September of last year, Ray confirmed to PBS's Jim
Lehrer that he was working with a grand jury. His comments to Lehrer left little
doubt in some observers' minds that he intended to indict Clinton after the
president leaves office.
Ray told Lehrer that "there are constitutional
reasons why it is appropriate to not render that judgment until such time as the
president leaves office. I think as a practical matter, as I have explained in
other context, even if one were convinced that it was appropriate to bring
charges and to bring them now, that would be a constitutional issue about
whether or not a sitting United States president could be indicted.
"For that issue to be resolved, and it would have
to ultimately be resolved by the United States Supreme Court, that would take us
well beyond January 2001, and I do not render decisions in a vacuum. An
appropriate decision, as I have said, will be rendered in January 2001.
"Now, I well understand that the viability of my
office continues during the life of this administration and not much beyond it.
And I fully intend to render a judgment with regard to that matter
promptly."
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