The deal David Kendall struck for Clinton's prompt -- and voluntary -- testimony is certainly a political victory. There will be no ugly constitutional showdown over dragging a sitting president into court, no gauntlet of reporters outside the courthouse to record for history the first presidential walk-by to a grand jury. Clinton will testify from the White House and gets the comfort of his lawyers' presence during testimony. But as those lawyers have undoubtedly told their client, political advantages hold little sway when your story doesn't jibe with the facts. For this speech, only Ken Starr -- and by extension, a hostile Congress -- is listening.
For Clinton, It's He Said, They Said
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WASHINGTON: The White House is betting that the credibility of the President trumps that of a garrulous 25-year-old girl in any he-said-she-said battle of the oaths. But as TIME Washington correspondent Michael Weisskopf points out, the wide net that Ken Starr has cast during the past six months may well have hauled in enough material to support the ex-intern: "The corroboration could tip the balance." For instance, inconsistencies that may arise between the President's testimony and that of Secret Service agents, his secretary Betty Currie and Monica herself over when she visited the Oval Office could be damning. "Starr has a great deal of circumstantial evidence to back up Lewinsky," notes Weisskopf.