WASHINGTON (AP) - Making the most of his latest court victories, Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr is calling key members of the White House legal team before a grand jury. Administration officials fear he may even summon the chief counsel to the president.
Legal strategist Lanny Breuer testified Tuesday, striding into the courthouse only two hours after Chief Justice William Rehnquist refused an administration request to block his testimony. But he ended his day before the presiding judge, along with his personal attorney and Starr's aides, indicating there was a dispute immediately over his testimony.
Breuer was scheduled to appear Wednesday morning for a sealed proceeding before U.S. District Judge Norma Holloway Johnson that was prompted by his initial refusal to answer certain questions.
The rulings that cleared the way for Breuer's testimony left open the possibility that the White House could try to block certain questioning by making additional claims of attorney-client privilege or resurrecting its earlier claim of executive privilege, which it dropped earlier this spring.
Former White House deputy chief of staff Harold Ickes arrived this morning to give testimony to the grand jury.
And on Capitol Hill Wednesday, the investigation of a possible presidential affair and cover-up could be discussed during a meeting between the president and House Democrats.
Johnson, the U.S. Court of Appeals and now the Supreme Court all have previously declined to block the White House lawyers' testimony, including that of Clinton confidant Bruce Lindsey, a deputy White House counsel.
The administration might be trying to build a record for a possible Supreme Court case later on, to uphold the attorney-client principle.
The appeals court ruled that while an attorney-client privilege exists between government lawyers and their government clients, there is a higher obligation to cooperate with a criminal investigation.
The administration said it feels so strongly about preserving attorney-client confidentiality that it will push to have the high court hear the case months after the White House lawyers' testimony. Lindsey, who is under subpoena, is recuperating from back surgery.
''This is a very important principle that we will continue to pursue,'' White House spokesman Barry Toiv said.
Toiv said the White House concern was not about ''one or more people testifying'' but rather ''the ability of not just this president but more importantly future presidents to have the benefit of the attorney-client privilege, which is a bedrock of our legal system.''
In its legal papers trying to block the testimony, the White House made clear it fears that more of its lawyers, possibly even chief counsel Charles Ruff, will be summoned.