Mr. Starr and Mr. Kendall, the president's lawyer, traded charges about the alleged leaks this month, each side accusing the other of being the source. Mickey Kantor, the former commerce secretary who is working as a private lawyer for Mr. Clinton in the Lewinsky investigation, successfully fended off a threatened subpoena. He argued that it would violate attorney-client privilege. Such privilege has been ruled generally not to apply to government lawyers. Mr. Starr's office had already come under sharp criticism.
Critics say the former judge has cast too wide a net and employed unnecessarily harsh tactics.
These, they say, include the two days of questioning of Monica Lewinsky's mother, Marcia Lewis, that left her severely traumatized, according to her attorney. Ms. Lewis ''is going through hell,'' her attorney, Billy Martin, said Monday. It is still unclear whether she will return to testify. Ms. Lewinsky's brother, a college student in Pittsburgh, was also questioned by federal agents. Another subpoena that drew criticism was that of Robert Weiner, a press spokesman for the federal drug control office, who was asked about phone calls he made to Maryland officials urging them to push for an investigation of Linda Tripp, the woman who taped Ms. Lewinsky allegedly recounting details of an affair with Mr. Clinton.