INTERN CONFIRMS SEX WITH CLINTON; STARR PROSECUTORS INTERVIEW LEWINSKY.

Byline: Pete Yost Associated Press 

In a day of dramatic advances for Kenneth Starr, former White House intern Monica Lewinsky ended six months of silence and told prosecutors in a face-to-face meeting Monday that she had sexual relations with President Clinton, according to several legal sources.

In a nearly five-hour interview in a midtown Manhattan residence, Lewinsky included information considered relevant to Starr's criminal investigation of possible obstruction by Clinton and others, but she did not say Clinton asked her to lie, said the sources.

Lewinsky's meeting with prosecutors startled beleaguered presidential supporters and could signal the coming of an immunity arrangement that would position the 25-year-old former White House intern against the president. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity in discussing the legal developments from varying perspectives, said it was not known whether Lewinsky would be offered immunity from prosecution if she agrees to tell her story to grand jurors.

While Lewinsky did not say that Clinton or anyone else asked her to lie, one source said ambiguously that she offered an account of conversations with the president and others that related to Starr's probe of whether Clinton and his confidants engaged in obstruction in the Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit. Clinton said under oath in the Jones case that he did not have sexual relations with Lewinsky, and has said so publicly.

Monday's interview broke the ice between the prosecutor's office and Lewinsky, and could lead to her appearance before the Washington grand jury. Clinton himself has been called to testify and his attorneys are in discussions with Starr deputies.

A senior adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity like so many others involved in the delicate legal and political situation, said Clinton is prepared to fight the subpoena if the testimony is not delivered on his own terms. The adviser said the president wants his appearance to be videotaped at the White House with his lawyer present.

The legal terrain got trickier Monday for the president when a federal appeals court ordered presidential confidant Bruce Lindsey to submit to questioning by the Lewinsky grand jury. The court said attorney-client privilege did not protect Clinton's conversations with Lindsey, a White House lawyer, about how to deal with the Lewinsky controversy.

The rapid-fire events are further proof of Independent Counsel Starr's drive to quickly wrap up his long-running inquiry.

A second meeting between Lewinsky and Starr's staff appeared likely. A meeting with investigators has been a requirement for her immunity since prosecutors first approached her with the allegations on Jan. 16. Her original attorney, William Ginsburg, had insisted on immunity for Lewinsky before she would talk to prosecutors. Ginsburg was replaced by prominent Washington lawyers Jacob Stein and Plato Cacheris in June.

Lewinsky's account closely tracked her lawyers' proffer of evidence to prosecutors early in the probe, according to a key source. In that proffer, Lewinsky was said to have admitted having a sexual relationship with the president, but did not say that Clinton or anyone else asked her to lie.

The source said the earlier proffer contains ``a fair amount of information'' dealing with Lewinsky's conversations with the president and his confidants about how she would deal with the Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit against Clinton.

Details of her responses Monday were not known, but prosecutors have been anxious to see whether her story matches 20 hours of tape-recorded telephone calls and an FBI tape in which Lewinsky describes an alleged sexual relationship and a cover-up to her onetime friend Linda Tripp.

``I have never had sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky,'' Clinton said in his sworn deposition in the Paula Jones case. ``I've never had an affair with her.''

Deputy Whitewater prosecutor Robert Bittman and Starr's ethics counselor, Sam Dash, participated in the questioning, the sources said, along with a female colleague. ``It wasn't a cross-examination; they weren't trying to browbeat her; they were just trying to get some answers,'' said one source. Present for Lewinsky were her lawyers, Stein and Cacheris.

John Douglass, a former prosecutor in the Iran-Contra investigation, said Clinton's lawyers would be wise to delay the president's testimony ``as long as possible'' if Lewinsky ends up cooperating with Starr's probe.

Defense lawyers talk to each other and ``the president would have a pretty good idea what she said'' before he goes in to testify, which would be an advantage for him, said Douglass, a University of Richmond law professor.

In the appeals court decision, judges rejected White House arguments that Lindsey's conversations with the president were protected by attorney-client privilege. Lindsey's role in the Lewinsky matter has been extensive, including talking to grand jury witnesses and their lawyers.

``A government attorney may not invoke the attorney-client privilege in response to grand jury questions seeking information relating to the possible commission of a federal crime,'' the ruling said.

Government lawyers' duty ``is not to defend clients against criminal charges and it is not to protect wrongdoers from public exposure,'' the court said.

The decision was made by U.S. Court of Appeals Judges Judith Rogers and David Tatel, both Clinton appointees, and Bush appointee Raymond Randolph. The White House has not decided whether to appeal.

``We are disappointed that the Court of Appeals has decided that unlike every other attorney and client in this country, government attorneys and their clients do not enjoy the right to have confidential communications,'' White House counsel Charles F.C. Ruff said in a statement. ``The practical result of the court's decision is that the president and all other government officials will be less likely to receive full and frank advice about their official obligations and duties from government attorneys.''

The court upheld the idea that consultations with someone, not as a lawyer but as a friend, adviser or negotiator, are not privileged. ``Thus, Lindsay's advice on political, strategic or policy issues, valuable as it may have been, would not be shielded from disclosure by the attorney-client privilege,'' the judges said.