INVESTIGATION TURNS TO PRESIDENTIAL GIFTS.

Byline: Don Van Natta Jr. The New York Times

During their final White House meeting Dec. 28, President Clinton gave Monica Lewinsky more than a half-dozen ``going-away'' presents, including an Alaskan stone carving and a decorative pin, said several lawyers familiar with Clinton's grand-jury testimony Monday.

The president met in the Oval Office for 20 minutes early that December morning with Lewinsky, who was under subpoena to testify in the Paula Corbin Jones sexual misconduct lawsuit against Clinton, the lawyers said Friday. At the time, the former White House intern was preparing to leave Washington for a job in New York that Clinton's close friend, Vernon Jordan Jr., was helping her try to secure.

The gifts that Lewinsky received from Clinton - the list was even more extensive than previously disclosed - also had been subpoenaed by Jones' lawyers. They included such items as a signed copy of a State of the Union address and a souvenir from Radio City Music Hall, where Clinton celebrated his 50th birthday at a fund-raising party in August 1996.

Much of the original interest in the gifts was aimed at determining the degree of intimacy of their relationship. But on Monday, both in his grand jury testimony and in his speech to the nation, Clinton acknowledged an intimate relationship with Lewinsky.

Nonetheless, how Clinton dealt with the gifts remains part of his most serious problem as Starr investigates whether the president committed perjury and obstructed justice in the Jones case. In questions posed this week to both Clinton and Lewinsky before a grand jury, prosecutors have tried to determine whether the president sought to conceal the relationship from the Jones lawyers by instructing Lewinsky to turn the gifts over to his secretary, Betty Currie.

Some presidential aides argued that Clinton's willingness to give Lewinsky new gifts in December after the subpoena had been issued demonstrates he was not trying to obstruct justice. He had earlier given Lewinsky a book of poetry and a dress.

``If he was so worried about the gifts and told her to get them, why would he turn around and get her more gifts?'' said one adviser to the president, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Another adviser said the president did not view the gifts to Lewinsky as signifying anything serious because he routinely gives keepsake items as mementos to many people. That adviser, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that none of the gifts was especially valuable or personal.

But prosecutors pursued a vigorous line of questioning on this issue in sessions this week with both Clinton and Lewinsky, said two lawyers with knowledge of the testimony. Prosecutors were asking whether the president's gifts were part of an attempt to keep Lewinsky quiet about the relationship. In December and January, Jordan helped Lewinsky find a job in New York.

Lawyers familiar with Lewinsky's testimony said she told Clinton that the Jones subpoena had demanded the gifts he had given her. They talked about it, and Clinton told her that she could not turn over the gifts if they were not in her possession, Lewinsky was said to have testified.

The following day, Lewinsky received a phone call from Currie, who said, ``I hear you have something for me,'' Lewinsky told the grand jury, the lawyers said. And later that day, they said Lewinsky testified, Currie went to her apartment to retrieve the gifts.

But the president in his testimony Monday adamantly denied telling Currie or anyone else to retrieve the gifts, said a lawyer familiar with the testimony. In fact, the president said he did not know that Lewinsky had given the gifts to Currie until after Starr's inquiry became public Jan. 21.

Throughout their 18-month relationship, Clinton and Lewinsky exchanged numerous gifts. He gave her a T-shirt, a book of poetry, a brooch, a hat pin and a stuffed animal. She gave him six ties and several books, including the novel ``Vox'' by Nicholson Baker.

At the meeting in the Oval Office, Lewinsky also discussed her plans to find a job in New York. They ended the meeting with a kiss, Lewinsky has told friends.

Meanwhile, prosecutors were preparing Friday to present further testimony to the grand jury next week. They might call back Currie and Linda Tripp, the Pentagon employee who surreptitiously tape-recorded Lewinsky for 20 hours as she discussed her relationship with the president.