from the department of justice all before the president's deposition. >> we have information that the president of the united states is already involved in an endeavor to obstruct justice in a civil-right's case. we don't want the president to know that we know all about that. >> the prosecutors were about to be forced to move even faster. >> i get a phone call from a source. you're not going to believe what's going on. linda tripp had gone to ken starr. ken starr's office had opened up a secret criminal investigation into obstruction. >> michael isikoff ofnewsweek came in, and it turned out he knew a great deal. in some ways, he seemed to know more than we did. he'd been in touch with linda tripp for a long time. >> suddenly, all this stuff seemed to be in sort of this murky netherworld that might never become an actual news story