Linda R. Tripp, a key figure in the investigation of President Clinton, was told a year ago that taping phone conversations without consent in Maryland was illegal, according to those familiar with testimony before a grand jury.
A RadioShack clerk who sold a recording device to Tripp and the manager of the store in the Mall in Columbia have testified before the Howard County grand jury, which is considering wiretapping charges against Tripp. Grand jurors also have reviewed records relating to the purchase of the device, RadioShack officials acknowledged yesterday.
The testimony and sales records are critical to the grand jury probe. To secure a conviction in Maryland, prosecutors must show that Tripp knew it was illegal to tape Monica Lewinsky without her consent.
Tripp used the recording device to tape nearly 20 hours of phone conversations with Lewinsky. Those tapes are now in the hands of Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr and have been a key part of his perjury and obstruction of justice investigation against Clinton.
RadioShack's parent company, the Tandy Corp., issued a brief statement yesterday in response to a series of inquiries from The Sun.
"Pursuant to a subpoena from the Maryland State Prosecutor, RadioShack has provided sales records of a recording device purchased by Linda Tripp," the statement says.
"A RadioShack store manager and sales associate were also subpoenaed and did testify before the Maryland grand jury. It is RadioShack's policy to inform customers who purchase recording devices that it is illegal to record someone without their consent in the state of Maryland."
State Prosecutor Stephen Montanarelli declined to discuss the case yesterday.
Tripp's current lawyers, who have not acknowledged that she tape-recorded Lewinsky, did not respond to requests for an interview yesterday. Tripp did not respond to a letter seeking comment delivered to her home in Columbia.
But through a spokesman, Tripp denied that she was told it was illegal to secretly record phone conversations in Maryland. "This is hardly the first time that false statements have been made with regard to Ms. Tripp," the spokesman said yesterday. "Sadly, it probably won't be the last."
The taping episode began about a year ago, shortly after Newsweek magazine reported Aug. 11, 1997, that Tripp had witnessed an event related to the since-dismissed Paula Corbin Jones sexual misconduct case.
As an executive assistant in the White House counsel's office in 1993, Tripp told the magazine that she bumped into Kathleen Willey shortly after Willey had an encounter with the president.
Tripp said that Willey, a Clinton volunteer who later appeared on "60 Minutes" to proclaim that the president groped her near the Oval Office, appeared to be "disheveled" after the encounter.
"Her face was red and her lipstick was off," Tripp told Newsweek.
Responding to the account, Clinton lawyer Robert S. Bennett said that Tripp "was not to be believed." The remark prompted Tripp to consider documenting future encounters and taping her phone conversations, she has said.
At the time of the Bennett remark, Tripp was talking to Manhattan literary agent Lucianne Goldberg, trying to peddle a book that would look behind the scenes at the Clinton White House. Tripp was also in touch with Lewinsky, who was telling her tales of sex with the president.
After Bennett's remark, Goldberg told Tripp that if she ever planned to use the information from Lewinsky or had to testify about it, she better make sure she had proof.
Goldberg suggested that Tripp buy a recording device and a tape recorder, and start taping her conversations with Lewinsky. Tripp went to the Mall in Columbia and purchased a RadioShack Telephone Recording Control, according to those familiar with the probe and RadioShack.
The clerk who sold her the device testified before the grand jury that he told her it was illegal to use without first obtaining consent from the other party, according to those familiar with the case.
The store manager also testified before the panel, telling grand jurors that it is store policy to notify all customers purchasing recording devices that it is illegal to use them without prior consent.
Warning label
The device that Tripp purchased also carries a warning on the back of the package.
"It is illegal in some states to record a conversation without the consent of all parties to the conversation," the warning says. "Check the laws in your area before using the Recording Control."
The warning is repeated on instructions accompanying the device.
Antoine Burrell, 21, who worked in the Columbia store at the time Tripp purchased the recording device, said in an interview last week that Tripp was told about the state wiretap statute.
"I know she was told," said Burrell, who still works for Radio-Shack. He declined to elaborate.
Artie Peterson, the manager of the Columbia store, declined to comment or say whether he testified before the grand jury. He referred questions to the company's attorneys in Fort Worth, Texas.
Under Maryland's wiretap statute, a person convicted of illegally intercepting a telephone conversation could face up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Whether Tripp was aware of the law is a key factor in the case because of a 1995 Court of Special Appeals ruling.
In that case, involving the secret wiretapping of a former Hagerstown police officer, the court ruled that an offender cannot be convicted unless he or she knew that such secret taping was illegal.
Decision to turn over tapes
In November, Tripp received a subpoena from lawyers in the Jones sexual misconduct case. She eventually decided to turn over the tapes to Starr.
She said that she made the tapes and turned them over to Starr to protect herself. She said Lewinsky was asking her to lie about what she knew about the former White House intern's relationship with the president.
In a statement in January, Tripp said she approached Starr "to report potential crimes, which included the possibility of obstruction of justice and perjury. I was being solicited to participate in a plan to conceal and cover up the true nature of the relationship between Monica Lewinsky and President Clinton."
But some reports have suggested less noble motives on Tripp's part -- namely, that she helped orchestrate the scandal, with Goldberg, to generate grist for a book about the White House.
Once Tripp approached Starr, the independent counsel asked her to wear a hidden microphone to record one more conversation with Lewinsky. Tripp agreed.
In exchange for her cooperation, Tripp was granted immunity by the independent counsel, ensuring that the evidence she turned over -- including the tapes -- would not be used against her by the federal government.
What's more, Tripp received a sealed immunity order from a federal judge. That deal compelled her to waive her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination by barring any federal prosecutor from using the evidence she had provided against her.
Tripp's immunity grants do not prevent Montanarelli, the state prosecutor, from bringing charges against her, according to those involved. But the federal immunity deals could limit what is available as evidence to the state prosecutor as he pursues his case.
Immunity deals in hand
With the immunity deals in hand, Tripp met Lewinsky for tea Jan. 14 at a hotel near the Pentagon, where she secretly recorded Lewinsky's comments about the president.
Two days later, they met at the hotel again. But this time, to Lewinsky's shock, their get-together was interrupted by Starr's agents, who began questioning Lewinsky.
That evening, Tripp agreed to brief Jones' lawyers on the relationship between Lewinsky and Clinton, and the attorneys rushed to her Columbia home. The next day, the Jones team questioned the president for six hours in the office of his attorney, armed with details about Lewinsky they had learned the night before from Tripp.
Tripp, who earns $88,000 a year as a Pentagon public affairs specialist and has been working from home since the scandal broke, testified before Starr's grand jury for eight days this summer, longer than any other witness.
At the conclusion of her testimony, she spoke from the courthouse steps, stating, "I have been vilified for taking the path of truth."
Pub Date: 8/28/98