NBC: Clinton and Perjury

In Washington and across the country people are asking, "Why doesn't the President just admit he lied - isn't that what moderate Republicans want to hear?"

Yes, but at the White House they're approaching that only as a last resort - and may not even then. Why?

NBC's Pete Williams explains the jeopardies it unleashes.

For legal, political, and personal reasons, this would not be an easy option for the president -- to change his story NOW and say that he DID lie under oath.

The first problem -- LEGAL jeopardy. He'd be making a direct ADMISSION of a crime. That would be the most damaging possible evidence in a criminal case.

And Ken Starr, the independent counsel, could always prosecute the president later for perjury.

But suppose congressional leaders agree to lobby Starr not to prosecute. What then? The president should never make ANY admission in the hope of getting a deal, says former prosecutor Reid Weingarten, who is now a defense lawyer: "Confession may be good for the soul. But in this instance, if President Clinton admitted to lying to the grand jury, he would make himself extremely vulnerable to an extremely aggressive prosecutor."

The second problem with an admission -- POLITICAL danger. Some members of Congress warn that such a change in his story NOW could backfire. Leading political analyst Charlie Cook says if the president declares that he DID commit perjury, it could COST him more votes in the House he would GAIN: "A lot of the people that are remaining in the Clinon camp are doing so by saying it wasn't perjury: he may have lied about having an affair but it wasn't perjury. The moment he concedes that he committed perjury, I think he pulls the rug out from under those folks."

And a third problem -- an admission would be PERSONALLY difficult for the president. Because, his harshest critis say, he has trouble with the truth, whether it's about this affair, or about inhaling marijuana or avoiding the Vietnam draft. And while the president's defenders insist his testimony was TRUTHFUL, a psychologist who studies lying says, there's only one word for statements so calculated to mislead the public: "He says something, designed to DEPAULO SOT lead us to believe nothing at all PROF. BELLA DePAULO inappropriate happened. Which, to UNIV. OF VIRGINIA me, is a lie," says Professor Bella DePaulo of the University of Virginia.