Angry Clinton 'punched aide'

	International News	Electronic Telegraph
	Sunday 1 September 1996	Issue 466

Angry Clinton 'punched aide'
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in Washington

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THE White House was braced this weekend for a further flush of revelations over the sex scandal involving the disgraced Democrat campaign guru Dick Morris.

The Star magazine, the supermarket tabloid that broke the story of Morris's year-long dalliance with a Washington call-girl, has announced that it is about to publish a follow-up article that could cause further embarrassment to President Clinton as he enters the final two months of his campaign for re-election.

At issue is whether the Machiavellian figure behind Bill Clinton's political comeback - and his "family values" message - disclosed state secrets during his trysts with a cunning prostitute at the Madison Hotel.

The White House insists that Morris did not have access to classified information but the Star, which paid the woman for her story, alleges that she listened in to telephone conversations between Morris and the President, and was privy to national security data about Saudi Arabia and ship movements near Cuba.

Richard Gooding, the Star reporter on the story, says that the next instalment "won't effect the election" but warns that there is enough coming to keep the White House spinmeisters on their toes. He said that the woman, Sherry Rowlands, took copious notes after each meeting, writing down everything that Morris revealed to her about the President and the back-stabbing world of the White House.

So far the Morris flap has not inflicted any serious damage on President Clinton

The second story will include a description of a scuffle in which Clinton allegedly punched Morris in a tantrum. Gooding also said that Morris himself had been taking notes and had been negotiating a book contract with the Japanese in the ultimate tell-all betrayal of the President. "Everybody was trying to make money out of this, all down the line," he said.

So far the Morris flap has not inflicted any serious damage on President Clinton. A new poll by ABC News suggests that Clinton came out of the Chicago convention with a mild "bounce", increasing his lead over the Republican candidate Robert Dole from 15 to 17 points.

Other polls show a smaller gap but the consensus is that Clinton is building up an insurmountable lead. With time running out fast for Bob Dole, it looks probable that Clinton will become the first Democrat since Franklin Roosevelt to win re-election to the White House for a second term. The party chairman, Don Fowler, predicts that the Democrats will retake Congress if Clinton can sustain a lead of five to six points.

The Dole campaign is soldiering on with its simple message of a 15 per cent tax cut for all Americans.

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