WASHINGTON Among the gifts that former president Bill Clinton kept as personal presents when he left the White House were $28,000 worth of furnishings given to the National Park Service in 1993 as part of the permanent White House collection, the **** Washington Post **** reported Monday.

The news follows an announcement by the Clintons on Friday that they would pay back $86,000 for various gifts they received in 2000, less than half the value of the $190,000 in gifts they kept when leaving the White House.

At issue in the latest case is whether the gifts were intended for the Clintons personally or the White House.

The Park Service serves as a steward for the White House and is the only unit with the legal authority to accept gifts for the White House, according to the *** Post ****. A gift meant for the current White House occupants, by contrast, is routed through the White House Gifts Office, a separate unit.

Two of the furniture makers whose donations Clinton took with him told the post their gifts were part of a widely publicized, $396,000 redecoration of the executive mansion and not meant for Clinton personally.

"When we've been asked to donate, it was always hyphenated with the words, 'White House,'" New York manufacturer Steve Mittman said of his family-owned business, which gave two sofas, an easy chair and an ottoman, worth $19,900 and listed by Clinton as part of the gifts he took with him.

"To us, it was not a donation to a particular person," the *** Post **** quoted him as saying.

A spokesman for the Clintons, Jim Kennedy, rejected the notion that the gifts in question had been made to the White House rather than to the Clintons, according to the **** Post ****.

(Reuter)