House panel expands probe

They also want to subpoena Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno for the memos, and Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr for evidence related to a key figure in the campaign finance scandal, a committee aide said.

The panel will vote on the subpoenas at a meeting today after a hearing on the consequences of perjury. “The committee is in receipt of information that indicates the Labella memo may contain allegations of criminal wrongdoing by the president,” the Republican aide said. “We are duty-bound to look at this material before we complete ourtask.”

Panel chairman Henry Hyde blasted Clinton for his evasiveness and lack of cooperation in the impeachment inquiry, Hyde said the committee would push ahead on its plan to vote on articles of impeachment.

“He has made it very clear he is going to stick with his reliance on bizarre technical definitions and legalistic defences,” Hyde said of Clinton’s responses last week to 81 questions about the Monica Lewinsky scandal, adding: “We will move forward based on the established record of corroborated evidence.”

Hyde said in a statement that Clinton had not challenged the truthfulness of the evidence. “Rather, his responses revealed a selective ability to recall information.”

Clinton broke no new ground in his answers, denying the central allegations of perjury, obstruction of justice and abuse of power in the Lewinsky affair but acknowledging he misled the public and top aides.

“The president made a good faith effort to respond to politically motivated questions,” White House spokesman JimKennedy said of Hyde’s charges.

The committee, pushing toward a historic vote on articles of impeachment next week, will meet in closed session today to discuss the subpoenas and the release of more evidence currently under wraps, including Clinton’s videotaped testimony in the Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit.

Meanwhile, the White House, in a statement today, said President Bill Clinton was unlikely to testify before the congressional panel considering impeachment charges against him for his efforts to conceal his affair with Monica Lewinsky.

“I don’t think it’s very likely that you’ll see the president appear before that committee,” White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said, referring to the House judiciary committee.

The panel’s impeachment inquiry stems from allegations that Clinton committed perjury, obstructed justice and abused his power in seeking to conceal his affair with Lewinsky, a former White House intern.

Lockhart also derided the panel’s plan to call convicted perjurers totestify tomorrow as a “stunt” and said its work had been partisan and unfair from the start.

“What this has been is about trying to score political points,” Lockhart said at his daily briefing. “If you look at the process to date, there has been very little comfort for those who were looking for something fair and nonpartisan.”