WASHINGTON - Wrestling with the meaning of the term ''fund raising'' and insisting there was no price tag on White House coffees, Vice President Al Gore engaged in sometimes sharp exchanges with a Justice Department prosecutor who now wants a special counsel to investigate the truthfulness of Gore's answers.
Gore's attendance at a fund-raiser in a Buddhist temple and his hosting of coffee gatherings linked to a massive drive for 1996 campaign donations were the key topics at a sworn interview April 18 that the vice president released verbatim Friday.
Gore's decision to open the 123 pages of fund-raising testimony up to public scrutiny is a risky attempt to right his Democratic presidential campaign. It was thrown off track Thursday when word leaked out that Robert Conrad, the Justice Department prosecutor who questioned the vice president, is recommending a special counsel.
Gore insists he doesn't know ''to this day'' that he was attending a fund-raising event when he went to the Buddhist temple in California.
''I sure as hell did not have any conversations with anyone saying this is a fund-raising event,'' Gore testified as he flatly denied knowing anything about the $60,000 in illegal donations that followed his appearance that day.
Word of Conrad's recommendation for a special counsel leaked to Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who then spread the word.
''We're not going to put up with this kind of dirty tricks and political skullduggery,'' Gore spokesman Chris Lehane said of the leak.
Democrats even raised questions about whether Conrad is politically motivated, pointing reporters to a $250 donation to Republican Sen. Jesse Helms by attorney ''Robert Conrad Jr.'' of Charlotte, N.C., where the prosecutor lived before he came to Washington. Conrad could not be reached for comment.
While Gore said he is releasing the transcript of his interview with Conrad so that the American people can see that ''I've told the truth,'' the testimony is being held up by Republicans as just one more reason for voting for presumptive GOP nominee George W. Bush.
Questions about Gore's fund raising are ''indicative of what has gone on'' in the Clinton administration, said Bush. ''People are sick and tired of all this stuff.''
Gore's answers turned legalistic, reminiscent of President Clinton's answers in the Monica Lewinsky scandal who at one point said an answer depended on the definition of the word ''is.''
In Gore's case, his answer turned on the meaning of ''fund raising.''
''With respect to raising ... $108 million, did you have discussions with anybody concerning the role coffees would play in raising that type of money?'' Conrad asked.
''Well, let me define the term 'raising,' if I could, because if you mean by it, would they be events at which money was raised, the answer is no,'' Gore replied.
''There simply was no quid pro quo of attendance at a coffee, payment to follow?'' Conrad asked.
''That is absolutely my impression,'' Gore replied.
''You are not familiar with the cost of $50,000 being ... the cost to attend the fund-raiser ... a coffee?'' asked Conrad.
''Absolutely not,'' Gore replied. ''And it is my belief that that would have been considered wildly inappropriate, if not worse.''
Gore exhibited a failing memory about aggressive fund-raising plans from the 1996 campaign. Conrad confronted him with talking points prepared in advance of a meeting by the vice president with Clinton.
''Tipper (his wife) and I were supposed to do $1.1 million, and it looks like we will be closer to $1.3 million,'' the talking points said.
''So we can raise the money - BUT ONLY IF - the president and I actually do the events, the calls, the coffees, etc.''
Gore told Conrad and the FBI that he couldn't recall the meeting with the president.
