A. Introduction
This Referral presents substantial and credible information
that President Clinton criminally obstructed the judicial
process, first in a sexual harassment lawsuit in which he was the
defendant and then in a grand jury investigation. The opening
section of the Narrative provides an overview of the object of
the President's cover-up, the sexual relationship between the
President and Ms. Lewinsky. Subsequent sections recount the
evolution of the relationship chronologically, including the
sexual contacts, the President's efforts to get Ms. Lewinsky a
job, Ms. Lewinsky's subpoena in Jones v. Clinton, the role of
Vernon Jordan, the President's discussions with Ms. Lewinsky
about her affidavit and deposition, the President's deposition
testimony in Jones, the President's attempts to coach a potential
witness in the harassment case, the President's false and
misleading statements to aides and to the American public after
the Lewinsky story became public, and, finally, the President's
testimony before a federal grand jury.
B. Evidence Establishing Nature of Relationship
1. Physical Evidence
Physical evidence conclusively establishes that the
President and Ms. Lewinsky had a sexual relationship. After
reaching an immunity and cooperation agreement with the Office of
the Independent Counsel on July 28, 1998, Ms. Lewinsky turned
over a navy blue dress that she said she had worn during a sexual
encounter with the President on February 28, 1997. According to
Ms. Lewinsky, she noticed stains on the garment the next time she
took it from her closet. From their location, she surmised that
the stains were the President's semen.(1)
Initial tests revealed that the stains are in fact semen.(2)
Based on that result, the OIC asked the President for a blood
sample.(3) After requesting and being given assurances that the
OIC had an evidentiary basis for making the request, the
President agreed.(4) In the White House Map Room on August 3,
1998, the White House Physician drew a vial of blood from the
President in the presence of an FBI agent and an OIC attorney.(5)
By conducting the two standard DNA comparison tests, the FBI
Laboratory concluded that the President was the source of the DNA
obtained from the dress.(6) According to the more sensitive RFLP
test, the genetic markers on the semen, which match the
President's DNA, are characteristic of one out of 7.87 trillion
Caucasians.(7)
In addition to the dress, Ms. Lewinsky provided what she
said were answering machine tapes containing brief messages from
the President, as well as several gifts that the President had
given her.
2. Ms. Lewinsky's Statements
Ms. Lewinsky was extensively debriefed about her
relationship with the President. For the initial evaluation of
her credibility, she submitted to a detailed "proffer" interview
on July 27, 1998.(8) After entering into a cooperation agreement,
she was questioned over the course of approximately 15 days. She
also provided testimony under oath on three occasions: twice
before the grand jury, and, because of the personal and sensitive
nature of particular topics, once in a deposition. In addition,
Ms. Lewinsky worked with prosecutors and investigators to create
an 11-page chart that chronologically lists her contacts with
President Clinton, including meetings, phone calls, gifts, and
messages.(9) Ms. Lewinsky twice verified the accuracy of the chart
under oath.(10)
In the evaluation of experienced prosecutors and
investigators, Ms. Lewinsky has provided truthful information.
She has not falsely inculpated the President. Harming him, she
has testified, is "the last thing in the world I want to do."(11)
Moreover, the OIC's immunity and cooperation agreement with
Ms. Lewinsky includes safeguards crafted to ensure that she tells
the truth. Court-ordered immunity and written immunity
agreements often provide that the witness can be prosecuted only
for false statements made during the period of cooperation, and
not for the underlying offense. The OIC's agreement goes
further, providing that Ms. Lewinsky will lose her immunity
altogether if the government can prove to a federal district
judge -- by a preponderance of the evidence, not the higher
standard of beyond a reasonable doubt -- that she lied.
Moreover, the agreement provides that, in the course of such a
prosecution, the United States could introduce into evidence the
statements made by Ms. Lewinsky during her cooperation. Since
Ms. Lewinsky acknowledged in her proffer interview and in
debriefings that she violated the law, she has a strong incentive
to tell the truth: If she did not, it would be relatively
straightforward to void the immunity agreement and prosecute her,
using her own admissions against her.
3. Ms. Lewinsky's Confidants
Between 1995 and 1998, Ms. Lewinsky confided in 11 people
about her relationship with the President. All have been
questioned by the OIC, most before a federal grand jury: Andrew
Bleiler, Catherine Allday Davis, Neysa Erbland, Kathleen Estep,
Deborah Finerman, Dr. Irene Kassorla, Marcia Lewis, Ashley
Raines, Linda Tripp, Natalie Ungvari, and Dale Young.(12) Ms.
Lewinsky told most of these confidants about events in her
relationship with the President as they occurred, sometimes in
considerable detail.
Some of Ms. Lewinsky's statements about the relationship
were contemporaneously memorialized. These include deleted email
recovered from her home computer and her Pentagon computer, email
messages retained by two of the recipients, tape recordings of
some of Ms. Lewinsky's conversations with Ms. Tripp, and notes
taken by Ms. Tripp during some of their conversations. The Tripp
notes, which have been extensively corroborated, refer
specifically to places, dates, and times of physical contacts
between the President and Ms. Lewinsky.(13)
Everyone in whom Ms. Lewinsky confided in detail believed
she was telling the truth about her relationship with the
President. Ms. Lewinsky told her psychologist, Dr. Irene
Kassorla, about the affair shortly after it began. Thereafter,
she related details of sexual encounters soon after they occurred
(sometimes calling from her White House office).(14) Ms. Lewinsky
showed no indications of delusional thinking, according to Dr.
Kassorla, and Dr. Kassorla had no doubts whatsoever about the
truth of what Ms. Lewinsky told her.(15) Ms. Lewinsky's friend
Catherine Allday Davis testified that she believed Ms. Lewinsky's
accounts of the sexual relationship with the President because "I
trusted in the way she had confided in me on other things in her
life. . . . I just trusted the relationship, so I trusted
her."(16) Dale Young, a friend in whom Ms. Lewinsky confided
starting in mid-1996, testified:
[I]f she was going to lie to me, she would have said to me,
"Oh, he calls me all the time. He does wonderful things.
He can't wait to see me." . . . [S]he would have
embellished the story. You know, she wouldn't be telling
me, "He told me he'd call me, I waited home all weekend and
I didn't do anything and he didn't call and then he didn't
call for two weeks."(17)
4. Documents
In addition to her remarks and email to friends, Ms.
Lewinsky wrote a number of documents, including letters and draft
letters to the President. Among these documents are (i) papers
found in a consensual search of her apartment; (ii) papers that
Ms. Lewinsky turned over pursuant to her cooperation agreement,
including a calendar with dates circled when she met or talked by
telephone with the President in 1996 and 1997; and (iii) files
recovered from Ms. Lewinsky's computers at home and at the
Pentagon.
5. Consistency and Corroboration
The details of Ms. Lewinsky's many statements have been
checked, cross-checked, and corroborated. When negotiations with
Ms. Lewinsky in January and February 1998 did not culminate in an
agreement, the OIC proceeded with a comprehensive investigation,
which generated a great deal of probative evidence.
In July and August 1998, circumstances brought more direct
and compelling evidence to the investigation. After the courts
rejected a novel privilege claim, Secret Service officers and
agents testified about their observations of the President and
Ms. Lewinsky in the White House. Ms. Lewinsky agreed to submit
to a proffer interview (previous negotiations had deadlocked over
her refusal to do so), and, after assessing her credibility in
that session, the OIC entered into a cooperation agreement with
her. Pursuant to the cooperation agreement, Ms. Lewinsky turned
over the dress that proved to bear traces of the President's
semen. And the President, who had spurned six invitations to
testify, finally agreed to provide his account to the grand jury.
In that sworn testimony, he acknowledged "inappropriate intimate
contact" with Ms. Lewinsky.
Because of the fashion in which the investigation had
unfolded, in sum, a massive quantity of evidence was available to
test and verify Ms. Lewinsky's statements during her proffer
interview and her later cooperation. Consequently, Ms.
Lewinsky's statements have been corroborated to a remarkable
degree. Her detailed statements to the grand jury and the OIC in
1998 are consistent with statements to her confidants dating back
to 1995, documents that she created, and physical evidence.(18)
Moreover, her accounts generally match the testimony of White
House staff members; the testimony of Secret Service agents and
officers; and White House records showing Ms. Lewinsky's entries
and exits, the President's whereabouts, and the President's
telephone calls.
C. Sexual Contacts
1. The President's Accounts
a. Jones Testimony
In the Jones deposition on January 17, 1998, the President
denied having had "a sexual affair," "sexual relations," or "a
sexual relationship" with Ms. Lewinsky.(19) He noted that "[t]here
are no curtains on the Oval Office, there are no curtains on my
private office, there are no curtains or blinds that can close
[on] the windows in my private dining room," and added: "I have
done everything I could to avoid the kind of questions you are
asking me here today. . . ."(20)
During the deposition, the President's attorney, Robert
Bennett, sought to limit questioning about Ms. Lewinsky. Mr.
Bennett told Judge Susan Webber Wright that Ms. Lewinsky had
executed "an affidavit which [Ms. Jones's lawyers] are in
possession of saying that there is absolutely no sex of any kind
in any manner, shape or form, with President Clinton." In a
subsequent colloquy with Judge Wright, Mr. Bennett declared that
as a result of "preparation of [President Clinton] for this
deposition, the witness is fully aware of Ms. Lewinsky's
affidavit."(21) The President did not dispute his legal
representative's assertion that the President and Ms. Lewinsky
had had "absolutely no sex of any kind in any manner, shape or
form," nor did he dispute the implication that Ms. Lewinsky's
affidavit, in denying "a sexual relationship," meant that there
was "absolutely no sex of any kind in any manner, shape or form."
In subsequent questioning by his attorney, President Clinton
testified under oath that Ms. Lewinsky's affidavit was
"absolutely true."(22)
b. Grand Jury Testimony
Testifying before the grand jury on August 17, 1998, seven
months after his Jones deposition, the President acknowledged
"inappropriate intimate contact" with Ms. Lewinsky but maintained
that his January deposition testimony was accurate.(23) In his
account, "what began as a friendship [with Ms. Lewinsky] came to
include this conduct."(24) He said he remembered "meeting her, or
having my first real conversation with her during the government
shutdown in November of '95." According to the President, the
inappropriate contact occurred later (after Ms. Lewinsky's
internship had ended), "in early 1996 and once in early 1997."(25)
The President refused to answer questions about the precise
nature of his intimate contacts with Ms. Lewinsky, but he did
explain his earlier denials.(26) As to his denial in the Jones
deposition that he and Ms. Lewinsky had had a "sexual
relationship," the President maintained that there can be no
sexual relationship without sexual intercourse, regardless of
what other sexual activities may transpire. He stated that "most
ordinary Americans" would embrace this distinction.(27)
The President also maintained that none of his sexual
contacts with Ms. Lewinsky constituted "sexual relations" within
a specific definition used in the Jones deposition.(28) Under that
definition:
[A] person engages in "sexual relations" when the person
knowingly engages in or causes -- (1) contact with the
genitalia, anus, groin, breast, inner thigh, or buttocks of
any person with an intent to arouse or gratify the sexual
desire of any person . . . . "Contact" means intentional
touching, either directly or through clothing.(29)
According to what the President testified was his understanding,
this definition "covers contact by the person being deposed with
the enumerated areas, if the contact is done with an intent to
arouse or gratify," but it does not cover oral sex performed on
the person being deposed.(30) He testified:
[I]f the deponent is the person who has oral sex performed
on him, then the contact is with -- not with anything on
that list, but with the lips of another person. It seems to
be self-evident that that's what it is. . . . Let me remind
you, sir, I read this carefully.(31)
In the President's view, "any person, reasonable person" would
recognize that oral sex performed on the deponent falls outside
the definition.(32)
If Ms. Lewinsky performed oral sex on the President, then --
under this interpretation -- she engaged in sexual relations but
he did not. The President refused to answer whether Ms. Lewinsky
in fact had performed oral sex on him.(33) He did testify that
direct contact with Ms. Lewinsky's breasts or genitalia would
fall within the definition, and he denied having had any such
contact.(34)
2. Ms. Lewinsky's Account
In his grand jury testimony, the President relied heavily on
a particular interpretation of "sexual relations" as defined in
the Jones deposition. Beyond insisting that his conduct did not
fall within the Jones definition, he refused to answer questions
about the nature of his physical contact with Ms. Lewinsky, thus
placing the grand jury in the position of having to accept his
conclusion without being able to explore the underlying facts.
This strategy -- evidently an effort to account for possible
traces of the President's semen on Ms. Lewinsky's clothing
without undermining his position that he did not lie in the Jones
deposition -- mandates that this Referral set forth evidence of
an explicit nature that otherwise would be omitted.
In light of the President's testimony, Ms. Lewinsky's
accounts of their sexual encounters are indispensable for two
reasons. First, the detail and consistency of these accounts
tend to bolster Ms. Lewinsky's credibility. Second, and
particularly important, Ms. Lewinsky contradicts the President on
a key issue. According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President touched
her breasts and genitalia -- which means that his conduct met the
Jones definition of sexual relations even under his theory. On
these matters, the evidence of the President's perjury cannot be
presented without specific, explicit, and possibly offensive
descriptions of sexual encounters.
According to Ms. Lewinsky, she and the President had ten
sexual encounters, eight while she worked at the White House and
two thereafter.(35) The sexual encounters generally occurred in or
near the private study off the Oval Office -- most often in the
windowless hallway outside the study.(36) During many of their
sexual encounters, the President stood leaning against the
doorway of the bathroom across from the study, which, he told Ms.
Lewinsky, eased his sore back.(37)
Ms. Lewinsky testified that her physical relationship with
the President included oral sex but not sexual intercourse.(38)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, she performed oral sex on the
President; he never performed oral sex on her.(39) Initially,
according to Ms. Lewinsky, the President would not let her
perform oral sex to completion. In Ms. Lewinsky's understanding,
his refusal was related to "trust and not knowing me well
enough."(40) During their last two sexual encounters, both in
1997, he did ejaculate.(41)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, she performed oral sex on the
President on nine occasions. On all nine of those occasions, the
President fondled and kissed her bare breasts. He touched her
genitals, both through her underwear and directly, bringing her
to orgasm on two occasions. On one occasion, the President
inserted a cigar into her vagina. On another occasion, she and
the President had brief genital-to-genital contact.(42)
Whereas the President testified that "what began as a
friendship came to include [intimate contact]," Ms. Lewinsky
explained that the relationship moved in the opposite direction:
"[T]he emotional and friendship aspects . . . developed after the
beginning of our sexual relationship."(43)
D. Emotional Attachment
As the relationship developed over time, Ms. Lewinsky grew
emotionally attached to President Clinton. She testified: "I
never expected to fall in love with the President. I was
surprised that I did."(44) Ms. Lewinsky told him of her feelings.(45)
At times, she believed that he loved her too.(46) They were
physically affectionate: "A lot of hugging, holding hands
sometimes. He always used to push the hair out of my face."(47)
She called him "Handsome"; on occasion, he called her "Sweetie,"
"Baby," or sometimes "Dear."(48) He told her that he enjoyed
talking to her -- she recalled his saying that the two of them
were "emotive and full of fire," and she made him feel young.(50)
He said he wished he could spend more time with her.(51)
Ms. Lewinsky told confidants of the emotional underpinnings
of the relationship as it evolved. According to her mother,
Marcia Lewis, the President once told Ms. Lewinsky that she "had
been hurt a lot or something by different men and that he would
be her friend or he would help her, not hurt her."(52) According
to Ms. Lewinsky's friend Neysa Erbland, President Clinton once
confided in Ms. Lewinsky that he was uncertain whether he would
remain married after he left the White House. He said in
essence, "[W]ho knows what will happen four years from now when I
am out of office?" Ms. Lewinsky thought, according to Ms.
Erbland, that "maybe she will be his wife."(53)
E. Conversations and Phone Messages
Ms. Lewinsky testified that she and the President "enjoyed
talking to each other and being with each other." In her
recollection, "We would tell jokes. We would talk about our
childhoods. Talk about current events. I was always giving him
my stupid ideas about what I thought should be done in the
administration or different views on things."(54) One of Ms.
Lewinsky's friends testified that, in her understanding, "[The
President] would talk about his childhood and growing up, and
[Ms. Lewinsky] would relay stories about her childhood and
growing up. I guess normal conversations that you would have
with someone that you're getting to know."(55)
The longer conversations often occurred after their sexual
contact. Ms. Lewinsky testified: "[W]hen I was working there
[at the White House] . . . we'd start in the back [in or near the
private study] and we'd talk and that was where we were
physically intimate, and we'd usually end up, kind of the pillow
talk of it, I guess, . . . sitting in the Oval Office . . . ."(56)
During several meetings when they were not sexually intimate,
they talked in the Oval Office or in the area of the study.(57)
Along with face-to-face meetings, according to Ms. Lewinsky,
she spoke on the telephone with the President approximately 50
times, often after 10 p.m. and sometimes well after midnight.(58)
The President placed the calls himself or, during working hours,
had his secretary, Betty Currie, do so; Ms. Lewinsky could not
telephone him directly, though she sometimes reached him through
Ms. Currie.(59) Ms. Lewinsky testified: "[W]e spent hours on the
phone talking."(60) Their telephone conversations were "[s]imilar
to what we discussed in person, just how we were doing. A lot of
discussions about my job, when I was trying to come back to the
White House and then once I decided to move to New York. . . .
We talked about everything under the sun."(61) On 10 to 15
occasions, she and the President had phone sex.(62) After phone
sex late one night, the President fell asleep mid-conversation.(63)
On four occasions, the President left very brief messages on
Ms. Lewinsky's answering machine, though he told her that he did
not like doing so because (in her recollection) he "felt it was a
little unsafe."(64) She saved his messages and played the tapes
for several confidants, who said they believed that the voice was
the President's.(65)
By phone and in person, according to Ms. Lewinsky, she and
the President sometimes had arguments. On a number of occasions
in 1997, she complained that he had not brought her back from the
Pentagon to work in the White House, as he had promised to do
after the election.(66) In a face-to-face meeting on July 4, 1997,
the President reprimanded her for a letter she had sent him that
obliquely threatened to disclose their relationship.(67) During an
argument on December 6, 1997, according to Ms. Lewinsky, the
President said that "he had never been treated as poorly by
anyone else as I treated him," and added that "he spent more time
with me than anyone else in the world, aside from his family,
friends and staff, which I don't know exactly which category that
put me in."(68)
Testifying before the grand jury, the President confirmed
that he and Ms. Lewinsky had had personal conversations, and he
acknowledged that their telephone conversations sometimes
included "inappropriate sexual banter."(69) The President said
that Ms. Lewinsky told him about "her personal life," "her
upbringing," and "her job ambitions."(70) After terminating their
intimate relationship in 1997, he said, he tried "to be a friend
to Ms. Lewinsky, to be a counselor to her, to give her good
advice, and to help her."(71)
F. Gifts
Ms. Lewinsky and the President exchanged numerous gifts. By
her estimate, she gave him about 30 items, and he gave her about
18.(72) Ms. Lewinsky's first gift to him was a matted poem given
by her and other White House interns to commemorate "National
Boss Day," October 24, 1995.(73) This was the only item reflected
in White House records that Ms. Lewinsky gave the President
before (in her account) the sexual relationship began, and the
only item that he sent to the archives instead of keeping.(74) On
November 20 -- five days after the intimate relationship began,
according to Ms. Lewinsky -- she gave him a necktie, which he
chose to keep rather than send to the archives.(75) According to
Ms. Lewinsky, the President telephoned the night she gave him the
tie, then sent her a photo of himself wearing it.(76) The tie was
logged pursuant to White House procedures for gifts to the
President.(77)
In a draft note to the President in December 1997, Ms.
Lewinsky wrote that she was "very particular about presents and
could never give them to anyone else -- they were all bought with
you in mind."(78) Many of the 30 or so gifts that she gave the
President reflected his interests in history, antiques, cigars,
and frogs. Ms. Lewinsky gave him, among other things, six
neckties, an antique paperweight showing the White House, a
silver tabletop holder for cigars or cigarettes, a pair of
sunglasses, a casual shirt, a mug emblazoned "Santa Monica," a
frog figurine, a letter opener depicting a frog, several novels,
a humorous book of quotations, and several antique books.(79) He
gave her, among other things, a hat pin, two brooches, a blanket,
a marble bear figurine, and a special edition of Walt Whitman's
Leaves of Grass.(80)
Ms. Lewinsky construed it as a sign of affection when the
President wore a necktie or other item of clothing she had given
him. She testified: "I used to say to him that 'I like it when
you wear my ties because then I know I'm close to your heart.'
So -- literally and figuratively."(81) The President was aware of
her reaction, according to Ms. Lewinsky, and he would sometimes
wear one of the items to reassure her -- occasionally on the day
they were scheduled to meet or the day after they had met in
person or talked by telephone.(82) The President would sometimes
say to her, "Did you see I wore your tie the other day?"(83)
In his grand jury testimony, the President acknowledged that
he had exchanged a number of gifts with Ms. Lewinsky. After
their intimate relationship ended in 1997, he testified, "[S]he
continued to give me gifts. And I felt that it was a right thing
to do to give her gifts back."(84)
G. Messages
According to Ms. Lewinsky, she sent the President a number
of cards and letters. In some, she expressed anger that he was
"not paying enough attention to me"; in others, she said she
missed him; in still others, she just sent "a funny card that I
saw."(85) In early January 1998, she sent him, along with an
antique book about American presidents, "[a]n embarrassing mushy
note."(86) She testified that the President never sent her any
cards or notes other than formal thank-you letters.(87)
Testifying before the grand jury, the President acknowledged
having received cards and notes from Ms. Lewinsky that were
"somewhat intimate" and "quite affectionate," even after the
intimate relationship ended.(88)
H. Secrecy
1. Mutual Understanding
Both Ms. Lewinsky and the President testified that they took
steps to maintain the secrecy of the relationship. According to
Ms. Lewinsky, the President from the outset stressed the
importance of keeping the relationship secret. In her
handwritten statement to this Office, Ms. Lewinsky wrote that
"the President told Ms. L to deny a relationship, if ever asked
about it. He also said something to the effect of if the two
people who are involved say it didn't happen -- it didn't
happen."(89) According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President sometimes
asked if she had told anyone about their sexual relationship or
about the gifts they had exchanged; she (falsely) assured him
that she had not.(90) She told him that "I would always deny it, I
would always protect him," and he responded approvingly.(91) The
two of them had, in her words, "a mutual understanding" that they
would "keep this private, so that meant deny it and . . . take
whatever appropriate steps needed to be taken."(92) When she and
the President both were subpoenaed to testify in the Jones case,
Ms. Lewinsky anticipated that "as we had on every other occasion
and every other instance of this relationship, we would deny
it."(93)
In his grand jury testimony, the President confirmed his
efforts to keep their liaisons secret.(94) He said he did not want
the facts of their relationship to be disclosed "in any context,"
and added: "I certainly didn't want this to come out, if I could
help it. And I was concerned about that. I was embarrassed
about it. I knew it was wrong."(95) Asked if he wanted to avoid
having the facts come out through Ms. Lewinsky's testimony in
Jones, he said: "Well, I did not want her to have to testify and
go through that. And, of course, I didn't want her to do that,
of course not."(96)
2. Cover Stories
For her visits to see the President, according to Ms.
Lewinsky, "[T]here was always some sort of a cover."(97) When
visiting the President while she worked at the White House, she
generally planned to tell anyone who asked (including Secret
Service officers and agents) that she was delivering papers to
the President.(98) Ms. Lewinsky explained that this artifice may
have originated when "I got there kind of saying, 'Oh, gee, here
are your letters,' wink, wink, wink, and him saying, 'Okay,
that's good.'"(99) To back up her stories, she generally carried a
folder on these visits.(100) (In truth, according to Ms. Lewinsky,
her job never required her to deliver papers to the President.(101))
On a few occasions during her White House employment, Ms.
Lewinsky and the President arranged to bump into each other in
the hallway; he then would invite her to accompany him to the
Oval Office.(102) Later, after she left the White House and started
working at the Pentagon, Ms. Lewinsky relied on Ms. Currie to
arrange times when she could see the President. The cover story
for those visits was that Ms. Lewinsky was coming to see Ms.
Currie, not the President.(103)
While the President did not expressly instruct her to lie,
according to Ms. Lewinsky, he did suggest misleading cover
stories.(104) And, when she assured him that she planned to lie
about the relationship, he responded approvingly. On the
frequent occasions when Ms. Lewinsky promised that she would
"always deny" the relationship and "always protect him," for
example, the President responded, in her recollection, "'That's
good,' or -- something affirmative. . . . [N]ot -- 'Don't deny
it.'"(105)
Once she was named as a possible witness in the Jones case,
according to Ms. Lewinsky, the President reminded her of the
cover stories. After telling her that she was a potential
witness, the President suggested that, if she were subpoenaed,
she could file an affidavit to avoid being deposed. He also told
her she could say that, when working at the White House, she had
sometimes delivered letters to him, and, after leaving her White
House job, she had sometimes returned to visit Ms. Currie.(106)
(The President's own testimony in the Jones case mirrors the
recommendations he made to Ms. Lewinsky for her testimony. In
his deposition, the President testified that he saw Ms. Lewinsky
"on two or three occasions" during the November 1995 government
furlough, "one or two other times when she brought some documents
to me," and "sometime before Christmas" when Ms. Lewinsky "came
by to see Betty."(107))
In his grand jury testimony, the President acknowledged that
he and Ms. Lewinsky "might have talked about what to do in a
nonlegal context" to hide their relationship, and that he "might
well have said" that Ms. Lewinsky should tell people that she was
bringing letters to him or coming to visit Ms. Currie.(108) But he
also stated that "I never asked Ms. Lewinsky to lie."(109)
3. Steps to Avoid Being Seen or Heard
After their first two sexual encounters during the November
1995 government shutdown, according to Ms. Lewinsky, her
encounters with the President generally occurred on weekends,
when fewer people were in the West Wing.(110) Ms. Lewinsky
testified:
He had told me . . . that he was usually around on the
weekends and that it was okay to come see him on the
weekends. So he would call and we would arrange either to
bump into each other in the hall or that I would bring
papers to the office.(111)
From some of the President's comments, Ms. Lewinsky gathered that
she should try to avoid being seen by several White House
employees, including Nancy Hernreich, Deputy Assistant to the
President and Director of Oval Office Operations, and Stephen
Goodin, the President's personal aide.(112)
Out of concern about being seen, the sexual encounters most
often occurred in the windowless hallway outside the study.(113)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President was concerned that the
two of them might be spotted through a White House window. When
they were in the study together in the evenings, he sometimes
turned out the light.(114) Once, when she spotted a gardener
outside the study window, they left the room.(115) Ms. Lewinsky
testified that, on December 28, 1997, "when I was getting my
Christmas kiss" in the doorway to the study, the President was
"looking out the window with his eyes wide open while he was
kissing me and then I got mad because it wasn't very romantic."
He responded, "Well, I was just looking to see to make sure no
one was out there."(116)
Fear of discovery constrained their sexual encounters in
several respects, according to Ms. Lewinsky. The President
ordinarily kept the door between the private hallway and the Oval
Office several inches ajar during their encounters, both so that
he could hear if anyone approached and so that anyone who did
approach would be less likely to suspect impropriety.(117) During
their sexual encounters, Ms. Lewinsky testified, "[W]e were both
aware of the volume and sometimes . . . I bit my hand -- so that
I wouldn't make any noise."(118) On one occasion, according to Ms.
Lewinsky, the President put his hand over her mouth during a
sexual encounter to keep her quiet.(119) Concerned that they might
be interrupted abruptly, according to Ms. Lewinsky, the two of
them never fully undressed.(120)
While noting that "the door to the hallway was always
somewhat open," the President testified that he did try to keep
the intimate relationship secret: "I did what people do when
they do the wrong thing. I tried to do it where nobody else was
looking at it."(121)
4. Ms. Lewinsky's Notes and Letters
The President expressed concern about documents that might
hint at an improper relationship between them, according to Ms.
Lewinsky. He cautioned her about messages she sent:
There were . . . some occasions when I sent him cards or
notes that I wrote things that he deemed too personal to put
on paper just in case something ever happened, if it got
lost getting there or someone else opened it. So there were
several times when he remarked to me, you know, you
shouldn't put that on paper.(122)
She said that the President made this point to her in their last
conversation, on January 5, 1998, in reference to what she
characterized as "[a]n embarrassing mushy note" she had sent
him.(123) In addition, according to Ms. Lewinsky, the President
expressed concerns about official records that could establish
aspects of their relationship. She said that on two occasions
she asked the President if she could go upstairs to the Residence
with him. No, he said, because a record is kept of everyone who
accompanies him there.(124)
The President testified before the grand jury: "I remember
telling her she should be careful what she wrote, because a lot
of it was clearly inappropriate and would be embarrassing if
somebody else read it."(125)
5. Ms. Lewinsky's Evaluation of Their Secrecy Efforts
In two conversations recorded after she was subpoenaed in
the Jones case, Ms. Lewinsky expressed confidence that her
relationship with the President would never be discovered.(126) She
believed that no records showed her and the President alone in
the area of the study.(127) Regardless of the evidence, in any
event, she would continue denying the relationship. "If someone
looked in the study window, it's not me," she said.(128) If someone
produced tapes of her telephone calls with the President, she
would say they were fakes.(129)
In another recorded conversation, Ms. Lewinsky said she was
especially comforted by the fact that the President, like her,
would be swearing under oath that "nothing happened."(130) She
said:
[T]o tell you the truth, I'm not concerned all that much
anymore because I know I'm not going to get in trouble. I
will not get in trouble because you know what? The story
I've signed under -- under oath is what someone else is
saying under oath.(131)
Monica Lewinsky began her White House employment as an
intern in the Chief of Staff's office in July 1995. At White
House functions in the following months, she made eye contact
with the President. During the November 1995 government
shutdown, the President invited her to his private study, where
they kissed. Later that evening, they had a more intimate sexual
encounter. They had another sexual encounter two days later, and
a third one on New Year's Eve.
A. Overview of Monica Lewinsky's White House Employment
Monica Lewinsky worked at the White House, first as an
intern and then as an employee, from July 1995 to April 1996.
With the assistance of family friend Walter Kaye, a prominent
contributor to political causes, she obtained an internship
starting in early July, when she was 21 years old.(132) She was
assigned to work on correspondence in the office of Chief of
Staff Leon Panetta in the Old Executive Office Building.(133)
As her internship was winding down, Ms. Lewinsky applied for
a paying job on the White House staff. She interviewed with
Timothy Keating, Special Assistant to the President and Staff
Director for Legislative Affairs.(134) Ms. Lewinsky accepted a
position dealing with correspondence in the Office of Legislative
Affairs on November 13, 1995, but did not start the job (and,
thus, continued her internship) until November 26.(135) She
remained a White House employee until April 1996, when -- in her
view, because of her intimate relationship with the President --
she was dismissed from the White House and transferred to the
Pentagon.(136)
B. First Meetings with the President
The month after her White House internship began, Ms.
Lewinsky and the President began what she characterized as
"intense flirting."(137) At departure ceremonies and other events,
she made eye contact with him, shook hands, and introduced
herself.(138) When she ran into the President in the West Wing
basement and introduced herself again, according to Ms. Lewinsky,
he responded that he already knew who she was.(139) Ms. Lewinsky
told her aunt that the President "seemed attracted to her or
interested in her or something," and told a visiting friend that
"she was attracted to [President Clinton], she had a big crush on
him, and I think she told me she at some point had gotten his
attention, that there was some mutual eye contact and
recognition, mutual acknowledgment."(140)
In the autumn of 1995, an impasse over the budget forced the
federal government to shut down for one week, from Tuesday,
November 14, to Monday, November 20.(141) Only essential federal
employees were permitted to work during the furlough, and the
White House staff of 430 shrank to about 90 people for the week.
White House interns could continue working because of their
unpaid status, and they took on a wide range of additional
duties.(142)
During the shutdown, Ms. Lewinsky worked in Chief of Staff
Panetta's West Wing office, where she answered phones and ran
errands.(143) The President came to Mr. Panetta's office frequently
because of the shutdown, and he sometimes talked with Ms.
Lewinsky.(144) She characterized these encounters as "continued
flirtation."(145) According to Ms. Lewinsky, a Senior Adviser to
the Chief of Staff, Barry Toiv, remarked to her that she was
getting a great deal of "face time" with the President.(146)
C. November 15 Sexual Encounter
Ms. Lewinsky testified that Wednesday, November 15, 1995 --
the second day of the government shutdown -- marked the beginning
of her sexual relationship with the President.(147) On that date,
she entered the White House at 1:30 p.m., left sometime
thereafter (White House records do not show the time), reentered
at 5:07 p.m., and departed at 12:18 a.m. on November 16.(148) The
President was in the Oval Office or the Chief of Staff's office
(where Ms. Lewinsky worked during the furlough) for almost the
identical period that Ms. Lewinsky was in the White House that
evening, from 5:01 p.m. on November 15 to 12:35 a.m. on November
16.(149)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, she and the President made eye
contact when he came to the West Wing to see Mr. Panetta and
Deputy Chief of Staff Harold Ickes, then again later at an
informal birthday party for Jennifer Palmieri, Special Assistant
to the Chief of Staff.(150) At one point, Ms. Lewinsky and the
President talked alone in the Chief of Staff's office. In the
course of flirting with him, she raised her jacket in the back
and showed him the straps of her thong underwear, which extended
above her pants.(151)
En route to the restroom at about 8 p.m., she passed George
Stephanopoulos's office. The President was inside alone, and he
beckoned her to enter.(152) She told him that she had a crush on
him. He laughed, then asked if she would like to see his private
office.(153) Through a connecting door in Mr. Stephanopoulos's
office, they went through the President's private dining room
toward the study off the Oval Office. Ms. Lewinsky testified:
"We talked briefly and sort of acknowledged that there had been a
chemistry that was there before and that we were both attracted
to each other and then he asked me if he could kiss me." Ms.
Lewinsky said yes. In the windowless hallway adjacent to the
study, they kissed.(154) Before returning to her desk, Ms. Lewinsky
wrote down her name and telephone number for the President.(155)
At about 10 p.m., in Ms. Lewinsky's recollection, she was
alone in the Chief of Staff's office and the President
approached.(156) He invited her to rendezvous again in Mr.
Stephanopoulos's office in a few minutes, and she agreed.(157)
(Asked if she knew why the President wanted to meet with her, Ms.
Lewinsky testified: "I had an idea."(158)) They met in Mr.
Stephanopoulos's office and went again to the area of the private
study.(159) This time the lights in the study were off.(160)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, she and the President kissed.
She unbuttoned her jacket; either she unhooked her bra or he
lifted her bra up; and he touched her breasts with his hands and
mouth.(161) Ms. Lewinsky testified: "I believe he took a phone
call . . . and so we moved from the hallway into the back office
. . . . [H]e put his hand down my pants and stimulated me
manually in the genital area."(162) While the President continued
talking on the phone (Ms. Lewinsky understood that the caller was
a Member of Congress or a Senator), she performed oral sex on
him.(163) He finished his call, and, a moment later, told Ms.
Lewinsky to stop. In her recollection: "I told him that I
wanted . . . to complete that. And he said . . . that he needed
to wait until he trusted me more. And then I think he made a
joke . . . that he hadn't had that in a long time."(164)
Both before and after their sexual contact during that
encounter, Ms. Lewinsky and the President talked.(165) At one point
during the conversation, the President tugged on the pink intern
pass hanging from her neck and said that it might be a problem.
Ms. Lewinsky thought that he was talking about access -- interns
were not supposed to be in the West Wing without an escort --
and, in addition, that he might have discerned some "impropriety"
in a sexual relationship with a White House intern.(166)
White House records corroborate details of Ms. Lewinsky's
account. She testified that her November 15 encounters with the
President occurred at about 8 p.m. and 10 p.m., and that in each
case the two of them went from the Chief of Staff's office to the
Oval Office area.(167) Records show that the President visited the
Chief of Staff's office for one minute at 8:12 p.m. and for two
minutes at 9:23 p.m., in each case returning to the Oval
Office.(168) She recalled that the President took a telephone call
during their sexual encounter, and she believed that the caller
was a Member of Congress or a Senator.(169) White House records
show that after returning to the Oval Office from the Chief of
Staff's office, the President talked to two Members of Congress:
Rep. Jim Chapman from 9:25 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., and Rep. John
Tanner from 9:31 p.m. to 9:35 p.m.(170)
D. November 17 Sexual Encounter
According to Ms. Lewinsky, she and the President had a
second sexual encounter two days later (still during the
government furlough), on Friday, November 17. She was at the
White House until 8:56 p.m., then returned from 9:38 to 10:39
p.m.(171) At 9:45 p.m., a few minutes after Ms. Lewinsky's reentry,
the President went from the Oval Office to the Chief of Staff's
office (where Ms. Lewinsky worked during the furlough) for one
minute, then returned to the Oval Office for 30 minutes. From
there, he went back to the Chief of Staff's office until 10:34
p.m. (approximately when Ms. Lewinsky left the White House), then
went by the Oval Office and the Ground Floor before retiring to
the Residence at 10:40 p.m.(172)
Ms. Lewinsky testified:
We were again working late because it was during the
furlough and Jennifer Palmieri . . . had ordered pizza along
with Ms. Currie and Ms. Hernreich. And when the pizza came,
I went down to let them know that the pizza was there and it
was at that point when I walked into Ms. Currie's office
that the President was standing there with some other people
discussing something.
And they all came back to the office and Mr. -- I think
it was Mr. Toiv, somebody accidentally knocked pizza on my
jacket, so I went to go use the restroom to wash it off and
as I was coming out of the restroom, the President was
standing in Ms. Currie's doorway and said, "You can come out
this way."(173)
Ms. Lewinsky and the President went into the area of the private
study, according to Ms. Lewinsky. There, either in the hallway
or the bathroom, she and the President kissed. After a few
minutes, in Ms. Lewinsky's recollection, she told him that she
needed to get back to her desk. The President suggested that she
bring him some slices of pizza.(174)
A few minutes later, she returned to the Oval Office area
with pizza and told Ms. Currie that the President had requested
it. Ms. Lewinsky testified: "[Ms. Currie] opened the door and
said, 'Sir, the girl's here with the pizza.' He told me to come
in. Ms. Currie went back into her office and then we went into
the back study area again."(175) Several witnesses confirm that
when Ms. Lewinsky delivered pizza to the President that night,
the two of them were briefly alone.(176)
Ms. Lewinsky testified that she and the President had a
sexual encounter during this visit.(177) They kissed, and the
President touched Ms. Lewinsky's bare breasts with his hands and
mouth.(178) At some point, Ms. Currie approached the door leading
to the hallway, which was ajar, and said that the President had a
telephone call.(179) Ms. Lewinsky recalled that the caller was a
Member of Congress with a nickname.(180) While the President was on
the telephone, according to Ms. Lewinsky, "he unzipped his pants
and exposed himself," and she performed oral sex.(181) Again, he
stopped her before he ejaculated.(182)
During this visit, according to Ms. Lewinsky, the President
told her that he liked her smile and her energy. He also said:
"I'm usually around on weekends, no one else is around, and you
can come and see me."(183)
Records corroborate Ms. Lewinsky's recollection that the
President took a call from a Member of Congress with a nickname.
While Ms. Lewinsky was at the White House that evening (9:38 to
10:39 p.m.), the President had one telephone conversation with a
Member of Congress: From 9:53 to 10:14 p.m., he spoke with Rep.
H.L. "Sonny" Callahan.(184)
In his Jones deposition on January 17, 1998, President
Clinton -- who said he was unable to recall most of his
encounters with Ms. Lewinsky -- did remember her "back there with
a pizza" during the government shutdown. He said, however, that
he did not believe that the two of them were alone.(185) Testifying
before the grand jury on August 17, 1998, the President said that
his first "real conversation" with Ms. Lewinsky occurred during
the November 1995 furlough. He testified: "One night she
brought me some pizza. We had some remarks."(186)
E. December 31 Sexual Encounter
According to Ms. Lewinsky, she and the President had their
third sexual encounter on New Year's Eve. Ms. Lewinsky -- by
then a member of the staff of the Office of Legislative Affairs
-- was at the White House on Sunday, December 31, 1995, until
1:16 p.m.; her time of arrival is not shown.(187) The President was
in the Oval Office area from 12:11 p.m. until about the time that
Ms. Lewinsky left, 1:15 p.m., when he went to the Residence.(188)
Sometime between noon and 1 p.m., in Ms. Lewinsky's
recollection, she was in the pantry area of the President's
private dining room talking with a White House steward, Bayani
Nelvis. She told Mr. Nelvis that she had recently smoked her
first cigar, and he offered to give her one of the President's
cigars. Just then, the President came down the hallway from the
Oval Office and saw Ms. Lewinsky. The President dispatched Mr.
Nelvis to deliver something to Mr. Panetta.(189)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, she told the President that Mr.
Nelvis had promised her a cigar, and the President gave her
one.(190) She told him her name -- she had the impression that he
had forgotten it in the six weeks since their furlough encounters
because, when passing her in the hallway, he had called her
"Kiddo."(191) The President replied that he knew her name; in fact,
he added, having lost the phone number she had given him, he had
tried to find her in the phonebook.(192)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, they moved to the study. "And
then . . . we were kissing and he lifted my sweater and exposed
my breasts and was fondling them with his hands and with his
mouth."(193) She performed oral sex.(194) Once again, he stopped her
before he ejaculated because, Ms. Lewinsky testified, "he didn't
know me well enough or he didn't trust me yet."(195)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, a Secret Service officer named
Sandy was on duty in the West Wing that day.(196) Records show that
Sandra Verna was on duty outside the Oval Office from 7 a.m. to 2
p.m.(197)
F. President's Account of 1995 Relationship
As noted, the President testified before the grand jury that
on November 17, 1995, Ms. Lewinsky delivered pizza and exchanged
"some remarks" with him, but he never indicated that anything
sexual occurred then or at any other point in 1995.(198) Testifying
under oath before the grand jury, the President said that he
engaged in "conduct that was wrong" involving "inappropriate
intimate contact" with Ms. Lewinsky "on certain occasions in
early 1996 and once in early 1997."(199) By implicitly denying any
sexual contact in 1995, the President indicated that he and Ms.
Lewinsky had no sexual involvement while she was an intern.(200) In
the President's testimony, his relationship with Ms. Lewinsky
"began as a friendship," then later "came to include this
conduct."(201)
President Clinton and Ms. Lewinsky had additional sexual
encounters near the Oval Office in 1996. After their sixth
sexual encounter, the President and Ms. Lewinsky had their first
lengthy conversation. On President's Day, February 19, the
President terminated their sexual relationship, then revived it
on March 31.
A. January 7 Sexual Encounter
According to Ms. Lewinsky, she and the President had another
sexual encounter on Sunday, January 7, 1996. Although White
House records do not indicate that Ms. Lewinsky was at the White
House that day, her testimony and other evidence indicate that
she was there.(202) The President, according to White House
records, was in the Oval Office most of the afternoon, from 2:13
to 5:49 p.m.(203)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President telephoned her
early that afternoon. It was the first time he had called her at
home.(204) In her recollection: "I asked him what he was doing and
he said he was going to be going into the office soon. I said,
oh, do you want some company? And he said, oh, that would be
great."(205) Ms. Lewinsky went to her office, and the President
called to arrange their rendezvous:
[W]e made an arrangement that . . . he would have the door
to his office open, and I would pass by the office with some
papers and then . . . he would sort of stop me and invite me
in. So, that was exactly what happened. I passed by and
that was actually when I saw [Secret Service Uniformed
Officer] Lew Fox who was on duty outside the Oval Office,
and stopped and spoke with Lew for a few minutes, and then
the President came out and said, oh, hey, Monica . . . come
on in . . . . And so we spoke for about 10 minutes in the
[Oval] office. We sat on the sofas. Then we went into the
back study and we were intimate in the bathroom.(206)
Ms. Lewinsky testified that during this bathroom encounter, she
and the President kissed, and he touched her bare breasts with
his hands and his mouth.(207) The President "was talking about
performing oral sex on me," according to Ms. Lewinsky.(208) But she
stopped him because she was menstruating and he did not.(209) Ms.
Lewinsky did perform oral sex on him.(210)
Afterward, she and the President moved to the Oval Office
and talked. According to Ms. Lewinsky: "[H]e was chewing on a
cigar. And then he had the cigar in his hand and he was kind of
looking at the cigar in . . . sort of a naughty way. And so
. . . I looked at the cigar and I looked at him and I said, we
can do that, too, some time."(211)
Corroborating aspects of Ms. Lewinsky's recollection,
records show that Officer Fox was posted outside the Oval Office
the afternoon of January 7.(212) Officer Fox (who is now retired)
testified that he recalled an incident with Ms. Lewinsky one
weekend afternoon when he was on duty by the Oval Office:(213)
[T]he President of the United States came out, and he asked
me, he says, "Have you seen any young congressional staff
members here today?" I said, "No, sir." He said, "Well,
I'm expecting one." He says, "Would you please let me know
when they show up?" And I said, "Yes, sir."(214)
Officer Fox construed the reference to "congressional staff
members" to mean White House staff who worked with Congress --
i.e., staff of the Legislative Affairs Office, where Ms. Lewinsky
worked.(215)
Talking with a Secret Service agent posted in the hallway,
Officer Fox speculated on whom the President was expecting: "I
described Ms. Lewinsky, without mentioning the name, in detail,
dark hair -- you know, I gave a general description of what she
looked like."(216) Officer Fox had gotten to know Ms. Lewinsky
during her tenure at the White House, and other agents had told
him that she often spent time with the President.(217)
A short time later, Ms. Lewinsky approached, greeted Officer
Fox, and said, "I have some papers for the President." Officer
Fox admitted her to the Oval Office. The President said: "You
can close the door. She'll be here for a while."(218)
B. January 21 Sexual Encounter
On Sunday, January 21, 1996, according to Ms. Lewinsky, she
and the President had another sexual encounter. Her time of
White House entry is not reflected in records. She left at 3:56
p.m.(219) The President moved from the Residence to the Oval Office
at 3:33 p.m. and remained there until 7:40 p.m.(220)
On that day, according to Ms. Lewinsky, she saw the
President in a hallway by an elevator, and he invited her to the
Oval Office.(221) According to Ms. Lewinsky:
We had . . . had phone sex for the first time the week
prior, and I was feeling a little bit insecure about whether
he had liked it or didn't like it . . . . I didn't know if
this was sort of developing into some kind of a longer-term
relationship than what I thought it initially might have
been, that maybe he had some regular girlfriend who was
furloughed . . . .(222)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, she questioned the President about his
interest in her. "I asked him why he doesn't ask me any
questions about myself, and . . . is this just about sex . . . or
do you have some interest in trying to get to know me as a
person?"(223) The President laughed and said, according to Ms.
Lewinsky, that "he cherishes the time that he had with me."(224)
She considered it "a little bit odd" for him to speak of
cherishing their time together "when I felt like he didn't really
even know me yet."(225)
They continued talking as they went to the hallway by the
study. Then, with Ms. Lewinsky in mid-sentence, "he just started
kissing me."(226) He lifted her top and touched her breasts with
his hands and mouth.(227) According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President
"unzipped his pants and sort of exposed himself," and she
performed oral sex.(228)
At one point during the encounter, someone entered the Oval
Office. In Ms. Lewinsky's recollection, "[The President] zipped
up real quickly and went out and came back in . . . . I just
remember laughing because he had walked out there and he was
visibly aroused, and I just thought it was funny."(229)
A short time later, the President got word that his next
appointment, a friend from Arkansas, had arrived.(230) He took Ms.
Lewinsky out through the Oval Office into Ms. Hernreich's office,
where he kissed her goodbye.(231)
C. February 4 Sexual Encounter and Subsequent Phone Calls
On Sunday, February 4, according to Ms. Lewinsky, she and
the President had their sixth sexual encounter and their first
lengthy and personal conversation. The President was in the Oval
Office from 3:36 to 7:05 p.m.(232) He had no telephone calls in the
Oval Office before 4:45 p.m.(233) Records do not show Ms.
Lewinsky's entry or exit.
According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President telephoned her at
her desk and they planned their rendezvous. At her suggestion,
they bumped into each other in the hallway, "because when it
happened accidentally, that seemed to work really well," then
walked together to the area of the private study.(234)
There, according to Ms. Lewinsky, they kissed. She was
wearing a long dress that buttoned from the neck to the ankles.
"And he unbuttoned my dress and he unhooked my bra, and sort of
took the dress off my shoulders and . . . moved the bra . . . .
[H]e was looking at me and touching me and telling me how
beautiful I was."(235) He touched her breasts with his hands and
his mouth, and touched her genitals, first through underwear and
then directly.(236) She performed oral sex on him.(237)
After their sexual encounter, the President and Ms. Lewinsky
sat and talked in the Oval Office for about 45 minutes. Ms.
Lewinsky thought the President might be responding to her
suggestion during their previous meeting about "trying to get to
know me."(238) It was during that conversation on February 4,
according to Ms. Lewinsky, that their friendship started to
blossom.(239)
When she prepared to depart, according to Ms. Lewinsky, the
President "kissed my arm and told me he'd call me, and then I
said, yeah, well, what's my phone number? And so he recited both
my home number and my office number off the top of his head."(240)
The President called her at her desk later that afternoon and
said he had enjoyed their time together.(241)
D. President's Day (February 19) Break-up
According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President terminated their
relationship (only temporarily, as it happened), on Monday,
February 19, 1996 -- President's Day. The President was in the
Oval Office from 11 a.m. to 2:01 p.m. that day.(242) He had no
telephone calls between 12:19 and 12:42 p.m.(243) Records do not
reflect Ms. Lewinsky's presence at the White House.
In Ms. Lewinsky's recollection, the President telephoned her
at her Watergate apartment that day. From the tone of his voice,
she could tell something was wrong. She asked to come see him,
but he said he did not know how long he would be there.(244) Ms.
Lewinsky went to the White House, then walked to the Oval Office
sometime between noon and 2 p.m. (the only time she ever went to
the Oval Office uninvited).(245) Ms. Lewinsky recalled that she was
admitted by a tall, slender, Hispanic plainclothes agent on duty
near the door.(246)
The President told her that he no longer felt right about
their intimate relationship, and he had to put a stop to it.(247)
Ms. Lewinsky was welcome to continue coming to visit him, but
only as a friend. He hugged her but would not kiss her.(248) At
one point during their conversation, the President had a call
from a sugar grower in Florida whose name, according to Ms.
Lewinsky, was something like "Fanuli." In Ms. Lewinsky's
recollection, the President may have taken or returned the call
just as she was leaving.(249)
Ms. Lewinsky's account is corroborated in two respects.
First, Nelson U. Garabito, a plainclothes Secret Service agent,
testified that, on a weekend or holiday while Ms. Lewinsky worked
at the White House (most likely in the early spring of 1996), Ms.
Lewinsky appeared in the area of the Oval Office carrying a
folder and said, "I have these papers for the President."(250)
After knocking, Agent Garabito opened the Oval Office door, told
the President he had a visitor, ushered Ms. Lewinsky in, and
closed the door behind her.(251) When Agent Garabito's shift ended
a few minutes later, Ms. Lewinsky was still in the Oval Office.(252)
Second, concerning Ms. Lewinsky's recollection of a call
from a sugar grower named "Fanuli," the President talked with
Alfonso Fanjul of Palm Beach, Florida, from 12:42 to 1:04 p.m.(253)
Mr. Fanjul had telephoned a few minutes earlier, at 12:24 p.m.(254)
The Fanjuls are prominent sugar growers in Florida.(255)
E. Continuing Contacts
After the break-up on February 19, 1996, according to Ms.
Lewinsky, "there continued to sort of be this flirtation . . .
when we'd see each other."(256) After passing Ms. Lewinsky in a
hallway one night in late February or March, the President
telephoned her at home and said he was disappointed that, because
she had already left the White House for the evening, they could
not get together. Ms. Lewinsky testified that the call "sort of
implied to me that he was interested in starting up again."(257) On
March 10, 1996, Ms. Lewinsky took a visiting friend, Natalie
Ungvari, to the White House. They bumped into the President, who
said to Ms. Ungvari when Ms. Lewinsky introduced them: "You must
be her friend from California."(258) Ms. Ungvari was "shocked" that
the President knew where she was from.(259)
Ms. Lewinsky testified that on Friday, March 29, 1996, she
was walking down a hallway when she passed the President, who was
wearing the first necktie she had given him. She asked where he
had gotten the tie, and he replied: "Some girl with style gave
it to me."(260) Later, he telephoned her at her desk and asked if
she would like to see a movie. His plan was that she would
position herself in the hallway by the White House Theater at a
certain time, and he would invite her to join him and a group of
guests as they entered. Ms. Lewinsky responded that she did not
want people to think she was lurking around the West Wing
uninvited.(261) She asked if they could arrange a rendezvous over
the weekend instead, and he said he would try.(262) Records confirm
that the President spent the evening of March 29 in the White
House Theater.(263) Mrs. Clinton was in Athens, Greece.(264)
F. March 31 Sexual Encounter
On Sunday, March 31, 1996, according to Ms. Lewinsky, she
and the President resumed their sexual contact.(265) Ms. Lewinsky
was at the White House from 10:21 a.m. to 4:27 p.m. on that
day.(266) The President was in the Oval Office from 3:00 to 5:46
p.m.(267) His only call while in the Oval Office was from 3:06 to
3:07 p.m.(268) Mrs. Clinton was in Ireland.(269)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President telephoned her at
her desk and suggested that she come to the Oval Office on the
pretext of delivering papers to him.(270) She went to the Oval
Office and was admitted by a plainclothes Secret Service agent.(271)
In her folder was a gift for the President, a Hugo Boss
necktie.(272)
In the hallway by the study, the President and Ms. Lewinsky
kissed. On this occasion, according to Ms. Lewinsky, "he focused
on me pretty exclusively," kissing her bare breasts and fondling
her genitals.(273) At one point, the President inserted a cigar
into Ms. Lewinsky's vagina, then put the cigar in his mouth and
said: "It tastes good."(274) After they were finished, Ms.
Lewinsky left the Oval Office and walked through the Rose
Garden.(275)
With White House and Secret Service employees remarking on
Ms. Lewinsky's frequent presence in the West Wing, a deputy chief
of staff ordered Ms. Lewinsky transferred from the White House to
the Pentagon. On April 7 -- Easter Sunday -- Ms. Lewinsky told
the President of her dismissal. He promised to bring her back
after the election, and they had a sexual encounter.
A. Earlier Observations of Ms. Lewinsky in the West Wing
Ms. Lewinsky's visits to the Oval Office area had not gone
unnoticed. Officer Fox testified that "it was pretty commonly
known that she did frequent the West Wing on the weekends."(276)
Another Secret Service uniformed officer, William Ludtke III,
once saw her exit from the pantry near the Oval Office; she
seemed startled and possibly embarrassed to be spotted.(277)
Officer John Muskett testified that "if the President was known
to be coming into the Diplomatic Reception Room, a lot of times
[Ms. Lewinsky] just happened to be walking down the corridor, you
know, maybe just to see the President."(278) Ms. Lewinsky
acknowledged that she tried to position herself to see the
President.(279)
Although they could not date them precisely, Secret Service
officers and agents testified about several occasions when Ms.
Lewinsky and the President were alone in the Oval Office.
William C. Bordley, a former member of the Presidential
Protective Detail, testified that in late 1995 or early 1996, he
stopped Ms. Lewinsky outside the Oval Office because she did not
have her pass.(280) The President opened the Oval Office door,
indicated to Agent Bordley that Ms. Lewinsky's presence was all
right, and ushered Ms. Lewinsky into the Oval Office.(281) Agent
Bordley saw Ms. Lewinsky leave about half an hour later.(282)
Another former member of the Presidential Protective Detail,
Robert C. Ferguson, testified that one Saturday in winter, the
President told him that he was expecting "some staffers."(283) A
short time later, Ms. Lewinsky arrived and said that "[t]he
President needs me."(284) Agent Ferguson announced Ms. Lewinsky and
admitted her to the Oval Office.(285) About 10 or 15 minutes later,
Agent Ferguson rotated to a post on the Colonnade outside the
Oval Office.(286) He glanced through the window into the Oval
Office and saw the President and Ms. Lewinsky go through the door
leading toward the private study.(287)
Deeming her frequent visits to the Oval Office area a
"nuisance," one Secret Service Officer complained to Evelyn
Lieberman, the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations.(288) Ms.
Lieberman was already aware of Ms. Lewinsky. In December 1995,
according to Ms. Lewinsky, Ms. Lieberman chided her for being in
the West Wing and told her that interns are not permitted around
the Oval Office. Ms. Lewinsky (who had begun her Office of
Legislative Affairs job) told Ms. Lieberman that she was not an
intern anymore. After expressing surprise that Ms. Lewinsky had
been hired, Ms. Lieberman said she must have Ms. Lewinsky
confused with someone else.(289) Ms. Lieberman confirmed that she
reprimanded Ms. Lewinsky, whom she considered "what we used to
call a 'clutch' . . . always someplace she shouldn't be."(290)
In Ms. Lewinsky's view, some White House staff members
seemed to think that she was to blame for the President's evident
interest in her:
[P]eople were wary of his weaknesses, maybe, and . . . they
didn't want to look at him and think that he could be
responsible for anything, so it had to all be my fault . . .
I was stalking him or I was making advances towards him.(292)
B. Decision to Transfer Ms. Lewinsky
Ms. Lieberman testified that, because Ms. Lewinsky was so
persistent in her efforts to be near the President, "I decided to
get rid of her."(293) First she consulted Chief of Staff Panetta.
According to Mr. Panetta, Ms. Lieberman told him about a woman on
the staff who was "spending too much time around the West Wing."
Because of "the appearance that it was creating," Ms. Lieberman
proposed to move her out of the White House. Mr. Panetta -- who
testified that he valued Ms. Lieberman's role as "a tough
disciplinarian" and "trusted her judgment" -- replied, "Fine."(294)
Although Ms. Lieberman said she could not recall having
heard any rumors linking the President and Ms. Lewinsky, she
acknowledged that "the President was vulnerable to these kind of
rumors . . . yes, yes, that was one of the reasons" for moving
Ms. Lewinsky out of the White House.(295) Later, in September 1997,
Marcia Lewis (Ms. Lewinsky's mother) complained about her
daughter's dismissal to Ms. Lieberman, whom she met at a Voice of
America ceremony. Ms. Lieberman, according to Ms. Lewis,
responded by "saying something about Monica being cursed because
she's beautiful." Ms. Lewis gathered from the remark that Ms.
Lieberman, as part of her effort to protect the President, "would
want to have pretty women moved out."(296)
Most people understood that the principal reason for Ms.
Lewinsky's transfer was her habit of hanging around the Oval
Office and the West Wing.(297) In a memo in October 1996, John
Hilley, Assistant to the President and Director of Legislative
Affairs, reported that Ms. Lewinsky had been "got[ten] rid of" in
part "because of 'extracurricular activities'" (a phrase, he
maintained in the grand jury, that meant only that Ms. Lewinsky
was often absent from her work station).(298)
White House officials arranged for Ms. Lewinsky to get
another job in the Administration.(299) "Our direction is to make
sure she has a job in an Agency," Patsy Thomasson wrote in an
email message on April 9, 1996.(300) Ms. Thomasson's office
(Presidential Personnel) sent Ms. Lewinsky's resume to Charles
Duncan, Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense and White
House Liaison, and asked him to find a Pentagon opening for
her.(301) Mr. Duncan was told that, though Ms. Lewinsky had
performed her duties capably, she was being dismissed for hanging
around the Oval Office too much.(302) According to Mr. Duncan --
who had received as many as 40 job referrals per day from the
White House -- the White House had never given such an
explanation for a transfer.(303)
C. Ms. Lewinsky's Notification of Her Transfer
On Friday, April 5, 1996, Timothy Keating, Staff Director
for Legislative Affairs, informed Ms. Lewinsky that she would
have to leave her White House job.(304) According to Mr. Keating,
he told her that she was not being fired, merely "being given a
different opportunity." In fact, she could tell people it was a
promotion if she cared to do so.(305) Upon hearing of her
dismissal, Ms. Lewinsky burst into tears and asked if there was
any way for her to stay in the White House, even without pay.(306)
No, Mr. Keating said. According to Ms. Lewinsky, "He told me I
was too sexy to be working in the East Wing and that this job at
the Pentagon where I'd be writing press releases was a sexier
job."(307)
Ms. Lewinsky was devastated. She felt that she was being
transferred simply because of her relationship with the
President.(308) And she feared that with the loss of her White
House job, "I was never going to see the President again. I
mean, my relationship with him would be over."(309)
D. Conversations with the President about Her Transfer
1. Easter Telephone Conversations and Sexual Encounter
On Easter Sunday, April 7, 1996, Ms. Lewinsky told the
President of her dismissal and they had a sexual encounter. Ms.
Lewinsky entered the White House at 4:56 and left at 5:28 p.m.(310)
The President was in the Oval Office all afternoon, from 2:21 to
7:48 p.m.(311)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President telephoned her at
home that day. After they spoke of the death of the Commerce
Secretary the previous week, she told him of her dismissal:
I had asked him . . . if he was doing okay with Ron Brown's
death, and then after we talked about that for a little bit
I told him that my last day was Monday. And . . . he seemed
really upset and sort of asked me to tell him what had
happened. So I did and I was crying and I asked him if I
could come see him, and he said that that was fine.(312)
At the White House, according to Ms. Lewinsky, she told Secret
Service Officer Muskett that she needed to deliver papers to the
President.(313) Officer Muskett admitted her to the Oval Office,
and she and the President proceeded to the private study.(314)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President seemed troubled
about her upcoming departure from the White House:
He told me that he thought that my being transferred had
something to do with him and that he was upset. He said,
"Why do they have to take you away from me? I trust you."
And then he told me -- he looked at me and he said, "I
promise you if I win in November I'll bring you back like
that."(315)
He also indicated that she could have any job she wanted after
the election.(316) In addition, the President said he would find
out why Ms. Lewinsky was transferred and report back to her.(317)
When asked if he had promised to get Ms. Lewinsky another
White House job, the President told the grand jury:
What I told Ms. Lewinsky was that . . . I would do what I
could to see, if she had a good record at the Pentagon, and
she assured me she was doing a good job and working hard,
that I would do my best to see that the fact that she had
been sent away from the Legislative Affairs section did not
keep her from getting a job in the White House, and that is,
in fact, what I tried to do. . . . But I did not tell her I
would order someone to hire her, and I never did, and I
wouldn't do that. It wouldn't be right.(318)
Ms. Lewinsky, when asked if the President had said that he would
bring her back to the White House only if she did a good job at
the Pentagon, responded: "No."(319)
After this Easter Sunday conversation, the President and Ms.
Lewinsky had a sexual encounter in the hallway, according to Ms.
Lewinsky.(320) She testified that the President touched her breasts
with his mouth and hands.(321) According to Ms. Lewinsky: "I think
he unzipped [his pants] . . . because it was sort of this running
joke that I could never unbutton his pants, that I just had
trouble with it."(322) Ms. Lewinsky performed oral sex. The
President did not ejaculate in her presence.(323)
During this encounter, someone called out from the Oval
Office that the President had a phone call.(324) He went back to
the Oval Office for a moment, then took the call in the study.
The President indicated that Ms. Lewinsky should perform oral sex
while he talked on the phone, and she obliged.(325) The telephone
conversation was about politics, and Ms. Lewinsky thought the
caller might be Dick Morris.(326) White House records confirm that
the President had one telephone call during Ms. Lewinsky's visit:
from "Mr. Richard Morris," to whom he talked from 5:11 to 5:20
p.m.(327)
A second interruption occurred a few minutes later,
according to Ms. Lewinsky. She and the President were in the
study.(328) Ms. Lewinsky testified:
Harold Ickes has a very distinct voice and . . . I heard him
holler "Mr. President," and the President looked at me and I
looked at him and he jetted out into the Oval Office and I
panicked and . . . thought that maybe because Harold was so
close with the President that they might just wander back
there and the President would assume that I knew to leave.(329)
Ms. Lewinsky testified that she exited hurriedly through the
dining room door.(330) That evening, the President called and asked
Ms. Lewinsky why she had run off. "I told him that I didn't know
if he was going to be coming back . . . . [H]e was a little
upset with me that I left."(331)
In addition to the record of the Dick Morris phone call, the
testimony of Secret Service Officer Muskett corroborates Ms.
Lewinsky's account. Officer Muskett was posted near the door to
the Oval Office on Easter Sunday.(332) He testified that Ms.
Lewinsky (whom he knew) arrived at about 4:45 p.m. carrying a
manila folder and seeming "a little upset."(333) She told Officer
Muskett that she needed to deliver documents to the President.(334)
Officer Muskett or the plainclothes agent on duty with him opened
the door, and Ms. Lewinsky entered.(335)
About 20 to 25 minutes later, according to Officer Muskett,
the telephone outside the Oval Office rang. The White House
operator said that the President had an important call but he was
not picking up.(336) The agent working alongside Officer Muskett
knocked on the door to the Oval Office. When the President did
not respond, the agent entered. The Oval Office was empty, and
the door leading to the study was slightly ajar.(337) (Ms. Lewinsky
testified that the President left the door ajar during their
sexual encounters.(338)) The agent called out, "Mr. President?"
There was no response. The agent stepped into the Oval Office
and called out more loudly, "Mr. President?" This time there was
a response from the study area, according to Officer Muskett:
"Huh?" The agent called out that the President had a phone call,
and the President said he would take it.(339)
A few minutes later, according to Officer Muskett, Mr. Ickes
approached and said he needed to see President Clinton. Officer
Muskett admitted him through Ms. Currie's office.(340) Less than a
minute after Mr. Ickes entered Ms. Currie's reception area,
according to Officer Muskett, the pantry or dining room door
closed audibly. Officer Muskett stepped down the hall to check
and saw Ms. Lewinsky walking away briskly.(341)
At 5:30 p.m., two minutes after Ms. Lewinsky left the White
House, the President called the office of the person who had
decided to transfer Ms. Lewinsky, Evelyn Lieberman.(342)
2. April 12-13: Telephone Conversations
Ms. Lewinsky testified that the President telephoned her the
following Friday, April 12, 1996, at home. They talked for about
20 minutes. According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President said he had
checked on the reason for her transfer:
[H]e had come to learn . . . that Evelyn Lieberman had sort
of spearheaded the transfer, and that she thought he was
paying too much attention to me and I was paying too much
attention to him and that she didn't necessarily care what
happened after the election but everyone needed to be
careful before the election.(343)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President told her to give the
Pentagon a try, and, if she did not like it, he would get her a
job on the campaign.(344)
In the grand jury, Ms. Lieberman testified that the
President asked her directly about Ms. Lewinsky's transfer:
After I had gotten rid of her, when I was in there, during
the course of a conversation, [President Clinton] said, "I
got a call about --" I don't know if he said her name. He
said maybe "-- an intern you fired." And she was evidently
very upset about it. He said, "Do you know anything about
this?" I said, "Yes." He said, "Who fired her?" I said,
"I did." And he said, "Oh, okay."(345)
According to Ms. Lieberman, the President did not pursue the
matter further.(346)
Three other witnesses confirm that the President knew why
Ms. Lewinsky was transferred to the Pentagon. In 1997, the
President told Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles "that there was a
young woman -- her name was Monica Lewinsky -- who used to work
at the White House; that Evelyn . . . thought she hung around the
Oval Office too much and transferred her to the Pentagon."(347)
According to Betty Currie, the President believed that Ms.
Lewinsky had been unfairly transferred.(348) The President's close
friend, Vernon Jordan, testified that the President said to him
in December 1997 that "he knew about [Ms. Lewinsky's] situation,
which was that she was pushed out of the White House."(349)
After Ms. Lewinsky began her Pentagon job on April 16, 1996,
she had no further physical contact with the President for the
remainder of the year. She and the President spoke by phone (and
had phone sex) but saw each other only at public functions. Ms.
Lewinsky grew frustrated after the election because the President
did not bring her back to work at the White House.
A. Pentagon Job
On April 16, 1996, Ms. Lewinsky began working at the
Pentagon as Confidential Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of
Defense for Public Affairs.(350)
B. No Physical Contact
According to Ms. Lewinsky, she had no physical contact with
the President for the rest of 1996.(351) "I wasn't alone with him
so when I saw him it was in some sort of event or group setting,"
she testified.(352)
C. Telephone Conversations
Ms. Lewinsky and the President did talk by telephone,
especially in her first weeks at the new job.(353) By Ms.
Lewinsky's estimate, the President phoned her (sometimes leaving
a message) four or five times in the month after she started
working at the Pentagon, then two or three times a month
thereafter for the rest of 1996.(354) During the fall 1996
campaign, the President sometimes called from trips when Mrs.
Clinton was not accompanying him.(355) During at least seven of the
1996 calls, Ms. Lewinsky and the President had phone sex.(356)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President telephoned her at
about 6:30 a.m. on July 19, the day he was leaving for the 1996
Olympics in Atlanta, and they had phone sex, after which the
President exclaimed, "[G]ood morning!" and then said: "What a
way to start a day."(357) A call log shows that the President
called the White House operator at 12:11 a.m. on July 19 and
asked for a wake-up call at 7 a.m., then at 6:40 a.m., the
President called and said he was already up.(358) In Ms. Lewinsky's
recollection, she and the President also had phone sex on May 21,
July 5 or 6, October 22, and December 2, 1996.(359) On those dates,
Mrs. Clinton was in Denver (May 21), Prague and Budapest (July 5-6), Las Vegas (October 22), and en route to Bolivia (December
2).(360)
Ms. Lewinsky repeatedly told the President that she disliked
her Pentagon job and wanted to return to the White House.(361) In a
recorded conversation, Ms. Lewinsky recounted one call:
[A] month had passed and -- so he had called one night, and
I said, "Well," I said, "I'm really unhappy," you know. And
[the President] said, "I don't want to talk about your job
tonight. I'll call you this week, and then we'll talk about
it. I want to talk about other things" -- which meant phone
sex.(362)
She expected to talk with him the following weekend, and she was
"ready to broach the idea of . . . going to the campaign," but he
did not call.(363)
Ms. Lewinsky and the President also talked about their
relationship. During a phone conversation on September 5,
according to Ms. Lewinsky, she told the President that she wanted
to have intercourse with him. He responded that he could not do
so because of the possible consequences. The two of them argued,
and he asked if he should stop calling her. No, she responded.(364)
D. Public Encounters
During this period, Ms. Lewinsky occasionally saw the
President in public. She testified:
I'm an insecure person . . . and I was insecure about the
relationship at times and thought that he would come to
forget me easily and if I hadn't heard from him . . . it was
very difficult for me . . . . [U]sually when I'd see him,
it would kind of prompt him to call me. So I made an
effort. I would go early and stand in the front so I could
see him . . . .(365)
On May 2, 1996, Ms. Lewinsky saw the President at a reception for
the Saxophone Club, a political organization.(366) On June 14, Ms.
Lewinsky and her family attended the taping of the President's
weekly radio address and had photos taken with the President.(367)
On August 18, Ms. Lewinsky attended the President's 50th birthday
party at Radio City Music Hall, and she got into a cocktail party
for major donors where she saw the President.(368) According to Ms.
Lewinsky, when the President reached past her at the rope line to
shake hands with another guest, she reached out and touched his
crotch in a "playful" fashion.(369) On October 23, according to Ms.
Lewinsky, she talked with the President at a fundraiser for
Senate Democrats.(370) The two were photographed together at the
event.(371) The President was wearing a necktie she had given him,
according to Ms. Lewinsky, and she said to him, "Hey, Handsome --
I like your tie."(372) The President telephoned her that night.
She said she planned to be at the White House on Pentagon
business the next day, and he told her to stop by the Oval
Office. At the White House the next day, Ms. Lewinsky did not
see the President because Ms. Lieberman was nearby.(373) On
December 17, Ms. Lewinsky attended a holiday reception at the
White House.(374) A photo shows her shaking hands with the
President.(375)
E. Ms. Lewinsky's Frustrations
Continuing to believe that her relationship with the
President was the key to regaining her White House pass, Ms.
Lewinsky hoped that the President would get her a job immediately
after the election. "I kept a calendar with a countdown until
election day," she later wrote in an unsent letter to him. The
letter states:
I was so sure that the weekend after the election you would
call me to come visit and you would kiss me passionately and
tell me you couldn't wait to have me back. You'd ask me
where I wanted to work and say something akin to "Consider
it done" and it would be. Instead I didn't hear from you
for weeks and subsequently your phone calls became less
frequent.(376)
Ms. Lewinsky grew increasingly frustrated over her
relationship with President Clinton.(377) One friend understood
that Ms. Lewinsky complained to the President about not having
seen each other privately for months, and he replied, "Every day
can't be sunshine."(378) In email to another friend in early 1997,
Ms. Lewinsky wrote: "I just don't understand what went wrong,
what happened? How could he do this to me? Why did he keep up
contact with me for so long and now nothing, now when we could be
together?"(379)
In 1997, President Clinton and Ms. Lewinsky had further
private meetings, which now were arranged by Betty Currie, the
President's secretary. After the taping of the President's
weekly radio address on February 28, the President and Ms.
Lewinsky had a sexual encounter. On March 24, they had what
proved to be their final sexual encounter. Throughout this
period, Ms. Lewinsky continued to press for a job at the White
House, to no avail.
A. Resumption of Meetings with the President
1. Role of Betty Currie
a. Arranging Meetings
In 1997, with the presidential election past, Ms. Lewinsky
and the President resumed their one-on-one meetings and sexual
encounters. The President's secretary, Betty Currie, acted as
intermediary.
According to Ms. Currie, Ms. Lewinsky would often call her
and say she wanted to see the President, sometimes to discuss a
particular topic.(380) Ms. Currie would ask President Clinton, and,
if he agreed, arrange the meeting.(381) Ms. Currie also said it was
"not unusual" that Ms. Lewinsky would talk by phone with the
President and then call Ms. Currie to set up a meeting.(382) At
times, Ms. Currie placed calls to Ms. Lewinsky for President
Clinton and put him on the line.(383)
The meetings between the President and Ms. Lewinsky often
occurred on weekends.(384) When Ms. Lewinsky would arrive at the
White House, Ms. Currie generally would be the one to authorize
her entry and take her to the West Wing.(385) Ms. Currie
acknowledged that she sometimes would come to the White House for
the sole purpose of having Ms. Lewinsky admitted and bringing her
to see the President.(386) According to Ms. Currie, Ms. Lewinsky
and the President were alone together in the Oval Office or the
study for 15 to 20 minutes on multiple occasions.(387)
Secret Service officers and agents took note of Ms. Currie's
role. Officer Steven Pape once observed Ms. Currie come to the
White House for the duration of Ms. Lewinsky's visit, then
leave.(388) When calling to alert the officer at the West Wing
lobby that Ms. Lewinsky was en route, Ms. Currie would sometimes
say, "[Y]ou know who it is."(389) On one occasion, Ms. Currie
instructed Officer Brent Chinery to hold Ms. Lewinsky at the
lobby for a few minutes because she needed to move the President
to the study.(390) On another occasion, Ms. Currie told Officer
Chinery to have Ms. Lewinsky held at the gate for 30 to 40
minutes because the President already had a visitor.(391)
Ms. Lewinsky testified that she once asked the President why
Ms. Currie had to clear her in, and why he could not do so
himself. "[H]e said because if someone comes to see him, there's
a list circulated among the staff members and then everyone would
be questioning why I was there to see him."(392)
b. Intermediary for Gifts
Ms. Lewinsky also sent over a number of packages -- six or
eight, Ms. Currie estimated.(393) According to Ms. Currie, Ms.
Lewinsky would call and say she was sending something for the
President.(394) The package would arrive addressed to Ms. Currie.(395)
Courier receipts show that Ms. Lewinsky sent seven packages to
the White House between October 7 and December 8, 1997.(396)
Evidence indicates that Ms. Lewinsky on occasion also dropped
parcels off with Ms. Currie or had a family member do so,(397) and
brought gifts to the President when visiting him.(398) Ms. Currie
testified that most packages from Ms. Lewinsky were intended for
the President.(399)
Although Ms. Currie generally opened letters and parcels to
the President, she did not open these packages from Ms.
Lewinsky.(400) She testified that "I made the determination not to
open" such letters and packages because "I felt [they were]
probably personal."(401) Instead, she would leave the package in
the President's box, and "[h]e would pick it up."(402) To the best
of her knowledge, such parcels always reached the President.(403)
c. Secrecy
Ms. Currie testified that she suspected impropriety in the
President's relationship with Ms. Lewinsky.(404) She told the grand
jury that she "had concern." In her words: "[H]e was spending a
lot of time with a 24-year-old young lady. I know he has said
that young people keep him involved in what's happening in the
world, so I knew that was one reason, but there was a concern of
mine that she was spending more time than most."(405) Ms. Currie
understood that "the majority" of the President's meetings with
Ms. Lewinsky were "more personal in nature as opposed to
business."(406)
Ms. Currie also testified that she tried to avoid learning
details of the relationship between the President and Ms.
Lewinsky. On one occasion, Ms. Lewinsky said of herself and the
President, "As long as no one saw us -- and no one did -- then
nothing happened." Ms. Currie responded: "Don't want to hear
it. Don't say any more. I don't want to hear any more."(407)
Ms. Currie helped keep the relationship secret. When the
President wanted to talk with Ms. Lewinsky, Ms. Currie would dial
the call herself rather than go through White House operators,
who keep logs of presidential calls made through the
switchboard.(408) When Ms. Lewinsky phoned and Ms. Currie put the
President on the line, she did not log the call, though the
standard procedure was to note all calls, personal and
professional.(409) According to Secret Service uniformed officers,
Ms. Currie sometimes tried to persuade them to admit Ms. Lewinsky
to the White House compound without making a record of it.(410)
In addition, Ms. Currie avoided writing down or retaining
most messages from Ms. Lewinsky to the President. In response to
a grand jury subpoena, the White House turned over only one note
to the President concerning Ms. Lewinsky -- whereas evidence
indicates that Ms. Lewinsky used Ms. Currie to convey requests
and messages to the President on many occasions.(411)
When bringing Ms. Lewinsky in from the White House gate, Ms.
Currie said she sometimes chose a path that would reduce the
likelihood of being seen by two White House employees who
disapproved of Ms. Lewinsky: Stephen Goodin and Nancy
Hernreich.(412) Ms. Currie testified that she once brought Ms.
Lewinsky directly to the study, "sneaking her back" via a
roundabout path to avoid running into Mr. Goodin.(413) When Ms.
Lewinsky visited the White House on weekends and at night, being
spotted was not a problem -- in Ms. Currie's words, "there would
be no need to sneak" -- so Ms. Lewinsky would await the President
in Ms. Currie's office.(414)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, she once expressed concern about
records showing the President's calls to her, and Ms. Currie told
her not to worry.(415) Ms. Lewinsky also suspected that Ms. Currie
was not logging in all of her gifts to the President.(416) In Ms.
Lewinsky's evaluation, many White House staff members tried to
regulate the President's behavior, but Ms. Currie generally did
as he wished.(417)
2. Observations by Secret Service Officers
Officers of the Secret Service Uniformed Division noted Ms.
Lewinsky's 1997 visits to the White House. From radio traffic
about the President's movements, several officers observed that
the President often would head for the Oval Office within minutes
of Ms. Lewinsky's entry to the complex, especially on weekends,
and some noted that he would return to the Residence a short time
after her departure.(418) "It was just like clockwork," according
to one officer.(419) Concerned about the President's reputation,
another officer suggested putting Ms. Lewinsky on a list of
people who were not to be admitted to the White House. A
commander responded that it was none of their business whom the
President chose to see, and, in any event, nobody would ever find
out about Ms. Lewinsky.(420)
B. Valentine's Day Advertisement
On February 14, 1997, the Washington Post published a
Valentine's Day "Love Note" that Ms. Lewinsky had placed. The ad
said:
HANDSOME
With love's light wings did
I o'er perch these walls
For stony limits cannot hold love out,
And what love can do that dares love attempt.
-- Romeo and Juliet 2:2
Happy Valentine's Day.
C. February 24 Message
On February 24, Ms. Lewinsky visited the White House on
Pentagon business.(422) She went by Ms. Currie's office.(423) Ms.
Currie sent a note to the President -- the only such note turned
over by the White House in response to a grand jury subpoena:
"Monica Lewinsky stopped by. Do you want me to call her?"(424)
D. February 28 Sexual Encounter
According to Ms. Lewinsky, she and the President had a
sexual encounter on Thursday, February 28 -- their first in
nearly 11 months. White House records show that Ms. Lewinsky
attended the taping of the President's weekly radio address on
February 28.(425) She was at the White House from 5:48 to 7:07
p.m.(426) The President was in the Roosevelt Room (where the radio
address was taped) from 6:29 to 6:36 p.m., then moved to the Oval
Office, where he remained until 7:24 p.m.(427) He had no telephone
calls while Ms. Lewinsky was in the White House.(428)
Wearing a navy blue dress from the Gap, Ms. Lewinsky
attended the radio address at the President's invitation (relayed
by Ms. Currie), then had her photo taken with the President.(429)
Ms. Lewinsky had not been alone with the President since she had
worked at the White House, and, she testified, "I was really
nervous."(430) President Clinton told her to see Ms. Currie after
the photo was taken because he wanted to give her something.(431)
"So I waited a little while for him and then Betty and the
President and I went into the back office," Ms. Lewinsky
testified.(432) (She later learned that the reason Ms. Currie
accompanied them was that Stephen Goodin did not want the
President to be alone with Ms. Lewinsky, a view that Mr. Goodin
expressed to the President and Ms. Currie.(433)) Once they had
passed from the Oval Office toward the private study, Ms. Currie
said, "I'll be right back," and walked on to the back pantry or
the dining room, where, according to Ms. Currie, she waited for
15 to 20 minutes while the President and Ms. Lewinsky were in the
study.(434) Ms. Currie (who said she acted on her own initiative)
testified that she accompanied the President and Ms. Lewinsky out
of the Oval Office because "I didn't want any perceptions, him
being alone with someone."(435)
In the study, according to Ms. Lewinsky, the President
"started to say something to me and I was pestering him to kiss
me, because . . . it had been a long time since we had been
alone."(436) The President told her to wait a moment, as he had
presents for her.(437) As belated Christmas gifts, he gave her a
hat pin and a special edition of Walt Whitman's Leaves of
Grass.(438)
Ms. Lewinsky described the Whitman book as "the most
sentimental gift he had given me . . . it's beautiful and it
meant a lot to me."(439) During this visit, according to Ms.
Lewinsky, the President said he had seen her Valentine's Day
message in the Washington Post, and he talked about his fondness
for "Romeo and Juliet."(440)
Ms. Lewinsky testified that after the President gave her the
gifts, they had a sexual encounter:
[W]e went back over by the bathroom in the hallway, and
we kissed. We were kissing and he unbuttoned my dress and
fondled my breasts with my bra on, and then took them out of
my bra and was kissing them and touching them with his hands
and with his mouth.
And then I think I was touching him in his genital area
through his pants, and I think I unbuttoned his shirt and
was kissing his chest. And then . . . I wanted to perform
oral sex on him . . . and so I did. And then . . . I think
he heard something, or he heard someone in the office. So,
we moved into the bathroom.
And I continued to perform oral sex and then he pushed
me away, kind of as he always did before he came, and then I
stood up and I said . . . I care about you so much; . . . I
don't understand why you won't let me . . . make you come;
it's important to me; I mean, it just doesn't feel complete,
it doesn't seem right.(441)
Ms. Lewinsky testified that she and the President hugged, and "he
said he didn't want to get addicted to me, and he didn't want me
to get addicted to him." They looked at each other for a
moment.(442) Then, saying that "I don't want to disappoint you,"
the President consented.(443) For the first time, she performed
oral sex through completion.(444)
When Ms. Lewinsky next took the navy blue Gap dress from her
closet to wear it, she noticed stains near one hip and on the
chest.(445) FBI Laboratory tests revealed that the stains are the
President's semen.(446)
In his grand jury testimony, the President -- who, because
the OIC had asked him for a blood sample (and had represented
that it had ample evidentiary justification for making such a
request), had reason to suspect that Ms. Lewinsky's dress might
bear traces of his semen -- indicated that he and Ms. Lewinsky
had had sexual contact on the day of the radio address. He
testified:
I was sick after it was over and I, I was pleased at that
time that it had been nearly a year since any inappropriate
contact had occurred with Ms. Lewinsky. I promised myself
it wasn't going to happen again. The facts are complicated
about what did happen and how it happened. But,
nonetheless, I'm responsible for it.(447)
Later the President added, referring to the evening of the radio
address: "I do believe that I was alone with her from 15 to 20
minutes. I do believe that things happened then which were
inappropriate."(448) He said of the intimate relationship with Ms.
Lewinsky: "I never should have started it, and I certainly
shouldn't have started it back after I resolved not to in
1996."(449)
E. March 29 Sexual Encounter
According to Ms. Lewinsky, she had what proved to be her
final sexual encounter with the President on Saturday, March 29,
1997. Records show that she was at the White House from 2:03 to
3:16 p.m., admitted by Ms. Currie.(450) The President was in the
Oval Office during this period (he left shortly after Ms.
Lewinsky did, at 3:24 p.m.), and he did not have any phone calls
during her White House visit.(451)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, Ms. Currie arranged the meeting
after the President said by telephone that he had something
important to tell her. At the White House, Ms. Currie took her
to the study to await the President. He came in on crutches, the
result of a knee injury in Florida two weeks earlier.(452)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, their sexual encounter began with
a sudden kiss: "[T]his was another one of those occasions when I
was babbling on about something, and he just kissed me, kind of
to shut me up, I think."(453) The President unbuttoned her blouse
and touched her breasts without removing her bra.(454) "[H]e went
to go put his hand down my pants, and then I unzipped them
because it was easier. And I didn't have any panties on. And so
he manually stimulated me."(455) According to Ms. Lewinsky, "I
wanted him to touch my genitals with his genitals," and he did
so, lightly and without penetration.(456) Then Ms. Lewinsky
performed oral sex on him, again until he ejaculated.(457)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, she and the President had a
lengthy conversation that day. He told her that he suspected
that a foreign embassy (he did not specify which one) was tapping
his telephones, and he proposed cover stories. If ever
questioned, she should say that the two of them were just
friends. If anyone ever asked about their phone sex, she should
say that they knew their calls were being monitored all along,
and the phone sex was just a put-on.(458)
In his grand jury testimony, the President implicitly denied
this encounter. He acknowledged "inappropriate intimate contact"
with Ms. Lewinsky "on certain occasions in early 1996 and once in
early 1997."(459) The President indicated that "the one occasion in
1997" was the radio address.(460)
F. Continuing Job Efforts
With the 1996 election past, meanwhile, Ms. Lewinsky had
continued striving to get a job at the White House. She
testified that she first broached the issue in a telephone call
with the President in January 1997, and he said he would speak to
Bob Nash, Director of Presidential Personnel.(461) She understood
that Mr. Nash was supposed to "find a position for me to come
back to the White House."(462)
Over the months that followed, Ms. Lewinsky repeatedly asked
the President to get her a White House job. In her recollection,
the President replied that various staff members were working on
it, including Mr. Nash and Marsha Scott, Deputy Assistant to the
President and Deputy Director for Presidential Personnel.(463)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President told her:
"Bob Nash is handling it," "Marsha's going to handle it" and
"We just sort of need to be careful." You know, and . . .
he would always sort of . . . validate what I was feeling by
telling me something that I don't necessarily know is true.
"Oh, I'll talk to her," "I'll -- you know, I'll see blah,
blah, blah," and it was just "I'll do," "I'll do," "I'll
do." And didn't, didn't, didn't.(464)
Ms. Lewinsky came to wonder if she was being "strung along."(465)
Testifying before the grand jury, the President acknowledged
that Ms. Lewinsky had complained to him about her job situation:
You know, she tried for months and months to get a job back
in the White House, not so much in the West Wing but
somewhere in the White House complex, including the Old
Executive Office Building. . . . She very much wanted to
come back. And she interviewed for some jobs but never got
one. She was, from time to time, upset about it.(466)
In May 1997, amid indications that Ms. Lewinsky had been
indiscreet, President Clinton terminated the sexual relationship.
A. Questions about Ms. Lewinsky's Discretion
In April or May 1997, according to Ms. Lewinsky, the
President asked if she had told her mother about their intimate
relationship. She responded: "No. Of course not."(468) (In
truth, she had told her mother.(469)) The President indicated that
Ms. Lewinsky's mother possibly had said something about the
nature of the relationship to Walter Kaye, who had mentioned it
to Marsha Scott, who in turn had alerted the President.(470)
Corroborating Ms. Lewinsky's account, Mr. Kaye testified
that he told Ms. Lewinsky's aunt, Debra Finerman, that he
understood that "her niece was very aggressive," a remark that
angered Ms. Finerman. Ms. Finerman told Mr. Kaye that the
President was the true aggressor: He was telephoning Ms.
Lewinsky late at night. Ms. Finerman, in Mr. Kaye's
recollection, attributed this information to Marcia Lewis, Ms.
Lewinsky's mother (and Ms. Finerman's sister). Mr. Kaye -- who
had disbelieved stories he had heard from Democratic National
Committee people about an affair between Ms. Lewinsky and the
President -- testified that he was "shocked" to hear of the late-night phone calls.(471)
B. May 24: Break-up
On Saturday, May 24, 1997, according to Ms. Lewinsky, the
President ended their intimate relationship. Ms. Lewinsky was at
the White House that day from 12:21 to 1:54 p.m.(472) The President
was in the Oval Office during most of this period, from 11:59
a.m. to 1:47 p.m.(473) He did not have any telephone calls.(474)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, she got a call from Ms. Currie at
about 11 a.m. that day, inviting her to come to the White House
at about 1 p.m. Ms. Lewinsky arrived wearing a straw hat with
the hat pin the President had given her, and bringing gifts for
him, including a puzzle and a Banana Republic shirt. She gave
him the gifts in the dining room, and they moved to the area of
the study.(475)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President explained that they
had to end their intimate relationship.(476) Earlier in his
marriage, he told her, he had had hundreds of affairs; but since
turning 40, he had made a concerted effort to be faithful.(477) He
said he was attracted to Ms. Lewinsky, considered her a great
person, and hoped they would remain friends. He pointed out that
he could do a great deal for her. The situation, he stressed,
was not Ms. Lewinsky's fault.(478) Ms. Lewinsky, weeping, tried to
persuade the President not to end the sexual relationship, but he
was unyielding, then and subsequently.(479) Although she and the
President kissed and hugged thereafter, according to Ms.
Lewinsky, the sexual relationship was over.(480)
Three days after this meeting, on May 27, 1997, the Supreme
Court unanimously rejected President Clinton's claim that the
Constitution immunized him from civil lawsuits. The Court
ordered the sexual harassment case Jones v. Clinton to proceed.(481)
Ms. Lewinsky tried to return to the White House staff and to
revive her sexual relationship with the President, but she failed
at both.
A. Continuing Job Efforts
Although Ms. Lewinsky was not offered another White House
job, some testimony indicates that the President tried to get her
one.
According to Betty Currie, the President instructed her and
Marsha Scott to help Ms. Lewinsky find a White House job.(482) Ms.
Currie testified that she resisted the request, because her
opinion of Ms. Lewinsky had shifted over time. At first, she
testified, she considered Ms. Lewinsky "a friend" who "had been
wronged" and had been "maligned improperly."(483) But "[l]ater on,
I considered her as a pain in the neck, more or less."(484) The
change of heart resulted in part from Ms. Currie's many phone
calls in 1997 from Ms. Lewinsky, who was often distraught and
sometimes in tears over her inability to get in touch with the
President.(485) Deeming her "a little bit pushy," Ms. Currie argued
against bringing Ms. Lewinsky back to work at the White House,
but the President told her and Ms. Scott, in Ms. Currie's words,
"to still pursue her coming back."(486) Indeed, according to Ms.
Currie, the President "was pushing us hard" on the matter.(487) To
the best of Ms. Currie's recollection, it was the only time the
President instructed her to try to get someone a White House
job.(488)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President told her to talk
with Ms. Scott about a White House job in spring 1997.(489) On June
16, she met with Ms. Scott.(490) The meeting did not go as Ms.
Lewinsky anticipated. She later recounted in an email message:
There is most certainly a disconnect on what [the President]
said he told her and how she acted. She didn't even know
what my title or my job was . . . . She didn't have any job
openings to offer. Instead, she made me go over what
happened when I had to leave (who told me), and then
proceeded to confirm the Evelyn [Lieberman] story about my
"inappropriate behavior." Then she asked me: with such
nasty women there and people gossiping about me, why did I
want to come back? I was so upset. I really did not feel
it was her place to question me about that. Later on, I
said something about being told I could come back after
November and she wanted to know who told me that! So I have
placed a call to him but I don't know what is going to
happen.
Ms. Lewinsky added that she was inclined "to walk away from it
all," but acknowledged that "I'm always saying this and then I
change my mind."(491)
Though she characterized her recollection as "all jumbled,"
Ms. Scott corroborated much of Ms. Lewinsky's account.(492) Ms.
Scott said that at some point she did ask Ms. Lewinsky why she
wanted to return to the White House.(493) Ms. Scott also said that
she was unaware of Ms. Lewinsky's job title before their
meeting.(494)
Over the next three weeks, Ms. Lewinsky tried repeatedly,
without success, to talk with the President about her job quest.
In a draft of a letter to Ms. Currie, she wrote that the
President "said to me that he had told [Ms. Scott] I had gotten a
bum deal, and I should get a good job in the West Wing," but Ms.
Scott did not seem eager to arrange for Ms. Lewinsky's return.
Ms. Lewinsky wrote:
I was surprised that she would question his judgment and not
just do what he asked of her. Is it possible that, in fact,
he did not tell her that? Does he really not want me back
in the complex? He has not responded to my note, nor has he
called me. Do you know what is going on? If so, are you
able to share it with me?(495)
Ms. Currie testified to "a vague recollection" of having seen
this letter.(496)
On June 29, 1997, Ms. Lewinsky wrote several notes. In a
draft letter to Ms. Scott, Ms. Lewinsky wrote that "our last
conversation was very upsetting to me," and added:
Marsha, I was told that I could come back after the
election. I knew why I had to leave last year by mid-April,
and I have been beyond patient since then. I do not think
it is fair to . . . be told by the person whom I was told
would get me a job that there is nothing for me and she
doesn't really hear about positions [in] the complex anyway.
I know that in your eyes I am just a hindrance -- a woman
who doesn't have a certain someone's best interests at
heart, but please trust me when I say I do.(497)
Ms. Lewinsky also drafted a note to the President pleading for a
brief meeting the following Tuesday. Referring to her inability
to get in touch with him, she wrote: "Please do not do this to
me. I feel disposable, used and insignificant. I understand
your hands are tied, but I want to talk to you and look at some
options."(498) Around this time, Ms. Lewinsky told a friend that
she was considering moving to another city or country.(499)
B. July 3 Letter
"[V]ery frustrated" over her inability to get in touch with
the President to discuss her job situation, Ms. Lewinsky wrote
him a peevish letter on July 3, 1997.(500) Opening "Dear Sir," the
letter took the President to task for breaking his promise to get
her another White House job.(501) Ms. Lewinsky also obliquely
threatened to disclose their relationship. If she was not going
to return to work at the White House, she wrote, then she would
"need to explain to my parents exactly why that wasn't
happening." Some explanation was necessary because she had told
her parents that she would be brought back after the election.(502)
(Ms. Lewinsky testified that she would not actually have told her
father about the relationship -- she had already told her mother
-- but she wanted to remind the President that she had "left the
White House like a good girl in April of '96," whereas other
people might have threatened disclosure in order to retain the
job.(503))
Ms. Lewinsky also raised the possibility of a job outside
Washington. If returning to the White House was impossible, she
asked in this letter, could he get her a job at the United
Nations in New York?(504) It was the first time that she had told
the President that she was considering moving.(505)
Although not questioned about this particular letter, the
President testified that he believed Ms. Lewinsky might disclose
their intimate relationship once he stopped it. He testified:
After I terminated the improper contact with her, she wanted
to come in more than she did. She got angry when she didn't
get in sometimes. I knew that that might make her more
likely to speak, and I still did it because I had to limit
the contact.(506)
After receiving the July 3 letter, though, the President
agreed to see Ms. Lewinsky. In her account, Ms. Currie called
that afternoon and told her to come to the White House at 9 a.m.
the next day.(507)
C. July 4 Meeting
On Friday, July 4, 1997, Ms. Lewinsky had what she
characterized as a "very emotional" visit with the President.(508)
Records show that Ms. Lewinsky entered the White House at 8:51
a.m.; no exit time is recorded.(509) Logs indicate that the
President was in the Oval Office from 8:40 until after 11 a.m.(510)
In Ms. Lewinsky's recollection, their meeting began
contentiously, with the President scolding her: "[I]t's illegal
to threaten the President of the United States."(511) He then told
her that he had not read her July 3 letter beyond the "Dear Sir"
line; he surmised that it was threatening because Ms. Currie
looked upset when she brought it to him. (Ms. Lewinsky suspected
that he actually had read the whole thing.)(512) Ms. Lewinsky
complained about his failure to get her a White House job after
her long wait. Although the President claimed he wanted to be
her friend, she said, he was not acting like it. Ms. Lewinsky
began weeping, and the President hugged her. While they hugged,
she spotted a gardener outside the study window, and they moved
into the hallway by the bathroom.(513)
There, the President was "the most affectionate with me he'd
ever been," Ms. Lewinsky testified. He stroked her arm, toyed
with her hair, kissed her on the neck, praised her intellect and
beauty.(514) In Ms. Lewinsky's recollection:
[H]e remarked . . . that he wished he had more time for me.
And so I said, well, maybe you will have more time in three
years. And I was . . . thinking just when he wasn't
President, he was going to have more time on his hands. And
he said, well, I don't know, I might be alone in three
years. And then I said something about . . . us sort of
being together. I think I kind of said, oh, I think we'd be
a good team, or something like that. And he . . . jokingly
said, well, what are we going to do when I'm 75 and I have
to pee 25 times a day? And . . . I told him that we'd deal
with that. . . .(515)
Ms. Lewinsky testified that "I left that day sort of emotionally
stunned," for "I just knew he was in love with me."(516)
Just before leaving, according to Ms. Lewinsky, she told the
President "that I wanted to talk to him about something serious
and that while I didn't want to be the one to talk about this
with him, I thought it was important he know."(517) She informed
him that Newsweek was working on an article about Kathleen
Willey, a former White House volunteer who claimed that the
President had sexually harassed her during a private meeting in
the Oval Office on November 23, 1993. (Ms. Lewinsky knew of the
article from Ms. Tripp, who had worked at the White House at the
time of the alleged incident and had heard about the incident
from Ms. Willey. Michael Isikoff of Newsweek had talked with Ms.
Tripp about the episode in March 1997 and again shortly before
July 4, and Ms. Tripp had subsequently related the Isikoff
conversations to Ms. Lewinsky.(518)) Ms. Lewinsky told the
President what she had learned from Ms. Tripp (whom she did not
name), including the fact that Ms. Tripp had tried to get in
touch with Deputy White House Counsel Bruce Lindsey, who had not
returned her calls.(519)
Ms. Lewinsky testified about why she conveyed this
information to the President: "I was concerned that the
President had no idea this was going on and that this woman was
going to be another Paula Jones and he didn't really need
that."(520) She understood that Ms. Willey was looking for a job,
and she thought that the President might be able to "make this go
away" by finding her a job.(521)
The President responded that the harassment allegation was
ludicrous, because he would never approach a small-breasted woman
like Ms. Willey.(522) He further said that, during the previous
week, Ms. Willey had called Nancy Hernreich to warn that a
reporter was working on a story about Ms. Willey and the
President; Ms. Willey wondered how she could get out of it.(523)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President had no telephone
calls during her time with him. At 10:19 a.m., probably after
her departure (her exit time is not shown on logs), he placed two
calls, both potentially follow-ups to the conversation about the
Newsweek article. First, he spoke with Bruce Lindsey for three
minutes, then with Nancy Hernreich for 11 minutes.(524)
D. July 14-15 Discussions of Linda Tripp
On the evening of Monday, July 14, 1997, just after Ms.
Lewinsky had returned from an overseas trip, the President had
her come to the White House to discuss Linda Tripp and
Newsweek.(525) Ms. Lewinsky entered the White House at 9:34 p.m.
and exited at 11:22 p.m.(526) The President was in the Oval Office
area from 9:28 to 11:25 p.m.(527)
Ms. Lewinsky testified that, at around 7:30 p.m. that
evening, Ms. Currie telephoned and said that the President wanted
to talk to her or see her. At about 8:30 or 9:00 p.m., Ms.
Currie called again and asked Ms. Lewinsky to come to the White
House.(528)
Ms. Lewinsky testified that the President met her in Ms.
Currie's office, then took her into Ms. Hernreich's office.(529)
(Records show that seven minutes after Ms. Lewinsky's entry to
the White House complex, the President left the Oval Office for
the appointment secretary's office.)(530) According to Ms.
Lewinsky:
It was an unusual meeting . . . . It was very distant and
very cold. . . . [A]t one point he asked me if the woman
that I had mentioned on July 4th was Linda Tripp. And I
hesitated and then answered yes, and he talked about that
there was some issue . . . to do with Kathleen Willey and
that, as he called it, that there was something on the
Sludge Report, that there had been some information.(531)
The President told Ms. Lewinsky that Ms. Willey had called the
White House again, this time to report that Mr. Isikoff somehow
knew of her earlier White House call.(532) The President wondered
if Ms. Lewinsky had mentioned the Willey call to Ms. Tripp, who
in turn might have told Mr. Isikoff. Ms. Lewinsky acknowledged
that she had done so. Ms. Lewinsky testified: "[H]e was
concerned about Linda, and I reassured him. He asked me if I
trusted her, and I said yes."(533) The President asked Ms. Lewinsky
to try to persuade Ms. Tripp to call Mr. Lindsey.(534) The
President, according to Ms. Lewinsky, also asked if she had
confided anything about their relationship to Ms. Tripp. Ms.
Lewinsky said (falsely) that she had not.(535)
The President left to participate in a conference call,
which Ms. Lewinsky understood was with his attorneys, while Ms.
Lewinsky sat with Ms. Currie.(536) According to White House
records, at 10:03 p.m. the President participated in a 51-minute
conference call with Robert Bennett, his private attorney in the
Jones case, and Charles Ruff, White House Counsel. Immediately
after completing that call, the President had a six-minute phone
conversation with Bruce Lindsey.(537)
Afterward, the President returned and told Ms. Lewinsky, in
her recollection, to notify Ms. Currie the following day,
"without getting into details with her, even mentioning names
with her," whether Ms. Lewinsky had "'mission-accomplished' . . .
with Linda."(538)
The next day, according to Ms. Lewinsky, she did talk with
Ms. Tripp, then called Ms. Currie and said she needed to talk
with the President. He called her that evening. She told him
"that I had tried to talk to Linda and that she didn't seem very
receptive to trying to get in touch with Bruce Lindsey again, but
that I would continue to try."(539) The President was in a sour
mood, according to Ms. Lewinsky, and their conversation was
brief.(540)
E. July 16 Meeting with Marsha Scott
On July 16, 1997, Ms. Lewinsky met again with Ms. Scott
about returning to the White House.(541) Ms. Scott said she would
try to detail Ms. Lewinsky from the Pentagon to Ms. Scott's
office on a temporary basis, according to Ms. Lewinsky.(542) In
that way, Ms. Scott said, Ms. Lewinsky could prove herself. Ms.
Scott also said that "they had to be careful and protect [the
President]."(543) Both Ms. Scott and Ms. Currie confirmed that Ms.
Scott talked with Ms. Lewinsky about the possibility of being
detailed to work at the White House.(544) Ms. Scott testified that
she tried to arrange the detail on her own, without any direction
from the President; Ms. Currie, however, testified that the
President instructed her and Ms. Scott to try to get Ms. Lewinsky
a job.(545)
F. July 24 Meeting
On Thursday, July 24, 1997, the day after her 24th birthday,
Ms. Lewinsky visited the White House from 6:04 to 6:26 p.m.,
admitted by Ms. Currie.(546) The President was in the Oval Office
when she arrived; he moved to the study at 6:14 p.m. and remained
there until her departure.(547) He had no telephone calls during
Ms. Lewinsky's visit.(548)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, she went to the White House to
pick up a photograph from Ms. Currie, who said the President
might be available for a quick meeting. Ms. Currie put Ms.
Lewinsky in the Cabinet Room while the President finished another
meeting, then took her to see him. They chatted for five to ten
minutes, and the President gave Ms. Lewinsky, as a birthday
present, an antique pin.(549)
G. Newsweek Article and Its Aftermath
Newsweek published the Kathleen Willey story in its August
11, 1997, edition (which appeared a week before the cover date).
The article quoted Ms. Tripp as saying that Ms. Willey, after
leaving the Oval Office on the day of the President's alleged
advances, looked "disheveled," "flustered, happy, and joyful."
The article also quoted Robert Bennett as saying that Ms. Tripp
was "not to be believed."(550)
After the article appeared, Ms. Tripp wrote a letter to
Newsweek charging that she had been misquoted, but the magazine
did not publish it.(551) Ms. Lewinsky subsequently told the
President about Ms. Tripp's letter. He replied, Ms. Lewinsky
said in a recorded conversation, "Well, that's good because it
sure seemed like she screwed me from that article."(552)
H. August 16 Meeting
On Saturday, August 16, 1997, Ms. Lewinsky tried,
unsuccessfully, to resume her sexual relationship with the
President. She visited the White House on that day from 9:02 to
10:20 a.m.(553) The President moved from the Residence to the Oval
Office at 9:20 a.m. and remained in the Oval Office until 10:03
a.m.(554) After a one-minute call to Betty Currie at her desk at
9:18 a.m., evidently from the Residence, the President had no
calls while Ms. Lewinsky was at the White House.(555) The next day
he left for a vacation on Martha's Vineyard.(556)
Ms. Lewinsky testified that she brought birthday gifts for
the President (his birthday is August 19):
I had set up in his back office, I had brought an apple
square and put a candle and had put his birthday presents
out. And after he came back in and I sang happy birthday
and he got his presents, I asked him . . . if we could share
a birthday kiss in honor of our birthdays, because mine had
been just a few weeks before. So, he said that that was
okay and we could kind of bend the rules that day. And so
. . . we kissed.(557)
Ms. Lewinsky touched the President's genitals through his pants
and moved to perform oral sex, but the President rebuffed her.(558)
In her recollection: "[H]e said, I'm trying not to do this and
I'm trying to be good. . . . [H]e got visibly upset. And so
. . . I hugged him and I told him I was sorry and not to be
upset."(559) Later, in a draft note to "Handsome," Ms. Lewinsky
referred to this visit: "It was awful when I saw you for your
birthday in August. You were so distant that I missed you as I
was holding you in my arms."(560)
I. Continuing Job Efforts
Ms. Lewinsky and Ms. Scott talked by phone on September 3,
1997, for 47 minutes.(561) According to notes that Ms. Lewinsky
wrote to two friends, Ms. Scott told her that the detail slot in
her office had been eliminated.(562) Ms. Lewinsky told one friend:
So for now, there isn't any place for me to be detailed. So
I should be PATIENT. I told her I was very upset and
disappointed (even though I really didn't want to work for
her) and then she and I got into it. She didn't understand
why I wanted to come back when there were still people there
who would give me a hard time and that it isn't the right
political climate for me to come back. . . . She asked me
why I kept pushing the envelope on coming back there --
after all, I had the experience of being there already. So
it's over. I don't know what I will do now but I can't wait
any more and I can't go through all of this crap anymore.
In some ways I hope I never hear from him again because
he'll just lead me on because he doesn't have the balls to
tell me the truth.(563)
Ms. Scott testified that "[t]he gist" of Ms. Lewinsky's email
message describing the conversation "fits with what I remember
telling her."(564)
Ms. Lewinsky expressed her escalating frustration in a note
to the President that she drafted (but did not send).(565) She
wrote:
I believe the time has finally come for me to throw in the
towel. My conversation with Marsha left me disappointed,
frustrated, sad and angry. I can't help but wonder if you
knew she wouldn't be able to detail me over there when I
last saw you. Maybe that would explain your coldness. The
only explanation I can reason for your not bringing me back
is that you just plain didn't want to enough or care about
me enough.
Ms. Lewinsky went on to discuss other women rumored to be
involved with the President who enjoy "golden positions," above
criticism, "because they have your approval." She continued: "I
just loved you -- wanted to spend time with you, kiss you, listen
to you laugh -- and I wanted you to love me back." She closed:
"As I said in my last letter to you I've waited long enough. You
and Marsha win. I give up. You let me down, but I
shouldn't have trusted you in the first place.(566)
Ms. Lewinsky continued trying to discuss her situation with
the President. On Friday, September 12, 1997, she arrived at the
White House without an appointment, called Ms. Currie, and had a
long wait at the gate. When Ms. Currie came to meet her, Ms.
Lewinsky was crying. Ms. Currie explained that sometimes the
President's hands are tied -- but, she said, she had gotten his
authorization to ask John Podesta, the Deputy Chief of Staff, to
help Ms. Lewinsky return to work at the White House.(567)
J. Black Dog Gifts
Before the President had left for vacation, Ms. Lewinsky had
sent a note asking if he could bring her a T-shirt from the Black
Dog, a popular Vineyard restaurant.(568) In early September, Ms.
Currie gave several Black Dog items to Ms. Lewinsky.(569) In an
email message to Catherine Davis, Ms. Lewinsky wrote: "Well, I
found out from Betty yesterday that he not only brought me a t-shirt, he got me 2 t-shirts, a hat and a dress!!!! Even though
he's a big schmuck, that is surprisingly sweet -- even that he
remembered!"(570)
K. Lucy Mercer Letter and Involvement of Chief of Staff
A letter dated September 30, 1997, styled as an official
memo, was found in Ms. Lewinsky's apartment. According to Ms.
Lewinsky, she sent this letter or a similar one to the
President.(572) Addressed to "Handsome" and bearing the subject
line "The New Deal," the faux memo proposed a visit that evening
after "everyone else goes home." Ms. Lewinsky wrote: "You will
show me that you will let me visit you sans a crisis, and I will
be on my best behavior and not stressed out when I come (to see
you, that is)." She closed with an allusion to a woman rumored
to have been involved with an earlier President: "Oh, and
Handsome, remember FDR would never have turned down a visit with
Lucy Mercer!"(573)
Ms. Lewinsky did not visit the White House the night of
September 30, but the President called her late the night of
September 30 or October 1.(574) According to Ms. Lewinsky, he may
have mentioned during this call that he would get Erskine Bowles
to help her find a White House job.(575)
At around this time, the President did ask the White House
Chief of Staff to help in the job search. Mr. Bowles testified
about a conversation with the President in the Oval Office: "He
told me that there was a young woman -- her name was Monica
Lewinsky -- who used to work at the White House; that Evelyn
. . . thought she hung around the Oval Office too much and
transferred her to the Pentagon."(576) The President asked Mr.
Bowles to try to find Ms. Lewinsky a job in the Old Executive
Office Building.(577) Mr. Bowles assigned his deputy, John Podesta,
to handle it.(578)
L. News of Job Search Failure
On October 6, 1997, according to Ms. Lewinsky, she was told
that she would never work at the White House again. Ms. Tripp
conveyed the news, which she indicated had come from a friend on
the White House staff. Ms. Lewinsky testified:
Linda Tripp called me at work on October 6th and told me
that her friend Kate in the NSC . . . had heard rumors about
me and that I would never work in the White House again
. . . . [Kate's] advice to me was "get out of town."(579)
For Ms. Lewinsky, who had previously considered moving to New
York, this call was the "straw that broke the camel's back."(580)
She was enraged.(581)
In a note she drafted (but did not send), Ms. Lewinsky
expressed her frustration. She wrote:
Any normal person would have walked away from this and said,
"He doesn't call me, he doesn't want to see me -- screw it.
It doesn't matter." I can't let go of you. . . . I want to
be a source of pleasure and laughter and energy to you. I
want to make you smile.
She went on to relate that she had heard second-hand from a White
House employee "that I was 'after the President' and would never
be allowed to work [in] the complex." Ms. Lewinsky said she
could only conclude "that all you have promised me is an empty
promise. . . . I am once again totally humiliated. It is very
clear that there is no way I am going to be brought back." She
closed the note: "I will never do anything to hurt you. I am
simply not that kind of person. Moreover, I love you."(582)
When terminating their sexual relationship on May 24, the
President had told Ms. Lewinsky that he hoped they would remain
friends, for he could do a great deal for her.(583) Now, having
learned that he could not (or would not) get her a White House
job, Ms. Lewinsky decided to ask him for a job in New York,
perhaps at the United Nations -- a possibility that she had
mentioned to him in passing over the summer. On the afternoon of
October 6, Ms. Lewinsky spoke of this plan to Ms. Currie, who
quoted the President as having said earlier: "Oh, that's no
problem. We can place her in the UN like that."(584)
In a recorded conversation later on October 6, Ms. Lewinsky
said she wanted two things from the President. The first was
contrition: He needed to "acknowledge . . . that he helped fuck
up my life."(585) The second was a job, one that she could obtain
without much effort: "I don't want to have to work for this
position . . . . I just want it to be given to me."(586) Ms.
Lewinsky decided to write the President a note proposing that the
two of them "get together and work on some way that I can come
out of this situation not feeling the way I do."(587) After
composing the letter, she said: "I want him to feel a little
guilty, and I hope that this letter did that."(588)
In this letter, which was sent via courier on October 7, Ms.
Lewinsky said she understood that she would never be given a
White House job, and she asked for a prompt meeting to discuss
her job situation.(589) She went on to advance a specific request:
I'd like to ask you to help me secure a position in NY
beginning 1 December. I would be very grateful, and I am
hoping this is a solution for both of us. I want you to
know that it has always been and remains more important to
me to have you in my life than to come back. . . . Please
don't let me down.(590)
IX. October-November 1997:
United Nations' Job Offer
Having learned that she would not be able to return to the
White House, Ms. Lewinsky sought the President's help in finding
a job in New York City. The President offered to place her at
the United Nations. After initial enthusiasm, Ms. Lewinsky
cooled on the idea of working at the U.N., and she prodded the
President to get her a job in the private sector.
A. October 10: Telephone Conversation
According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President telephoned her at
approximately 2:00 to 2:30 a.m. on Friday, October 10.(591) They
spent much of the hour-and-a-half call arguing. "[H]e got so mad
at me, he must have been purple," she later recalled.(592)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President said: "If I had
known what kind of person you really were, I wouldn't have gotten
involved with you."(593) He reminded Ms. Lewinsky that she had
earlier promised, "[i]f you just want to stop doing this, I'll
. . . be no trouble."(594) Ms. Lewinsky said she challenged the
President: "[T]ell me . . . when I've caused you trouble."(595)
The President responded, "I've never worried about you. I've
never been worried you would do something to hurt me."(596)
When the conversation shifted to her job search, Ms.
Lewinsky complained that the President had not done enough to
help her. He responded that, on the contrary, he was eager to
help.(597) The President said that he regretted Ms. Lewinsky's
transfer to the Pentagon and assured her that he would not have
permitted it had he foreseen the difficulty in returning her to
the White House.(598) Ms. Lewinsky told him that she wanted a job
in New York by the end of October, and the President promised to
do what he could.(599)
B. October 11 Meeting
At approximately 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, October 11,
according to Ms. Lewinsky, Ms. Currie called and told her that
the President wished to see her.(600) Ms. Lewinsky entered the
White House at 9:36 a.m. and departed at 10:54 a.m.(601) The
President entered the Oval Office at 9:52 a.m.(602)
Ms. Lewinsky met with the President in the study, and they
discussed her job search.(603) Ms. Lewinsky told the President that
she wanted to pursue jobs in the private sector, and he told her
to prepare a list of New York companies that interested her.(604)
Ms. Lewinsky asked the President whether Vernon Jordan, a well-known Washington attorney who she knew was a close friend of the
President and had many business contacts, might help her find a
job.(605) According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President was receptive to
the idea.(606)
In a recorded conversation, Ms. Lewinsky said that, at the
end of the October 11 meeting, she and the President joined Ms.
Currie in the Oval Office. The President grabbed Ms. Lewinsky's
arm and kissed her on the forehead.(607) He told her: "I talked to
Erskine [Bowles] about . . . trying to get John Hilley to give
you . . . a good recommendation for your work here."(608)
Later, Ms. Lewinsky and Ms. Tripp discussed their concerns
about the President's involvement in Ms. Lewinsky's job search.
Specifically, Ms. Lewinsky was nervous about involving the
President's Chief of Staff:
Ms. Lewinsky: Well, see, I don't really think -- I'm
going to tell him that I don't think Erskine should have
anything to do with this. I don't think anybody who works
there should.
Ms. Tripp: I don't see how that's -- how that's a
problem.
Ms. Lewinsky: Because look at what happened with Webb
Hubbell.(609)
Ms. Lewinsky preferred that Vernon Jordan assist her in her job
search:
Ms. Tripp: Well, I don't remember during the Webb
Hubbell thing, was Vernon mentioned?
Ms. Lewinsky: Yeah, but there's a big difference. I
think somebody could construe, okay? Somebody could
construe or say, "Well, they gave her a job to shut her up.
They made her happy. . . . And he [Mr. Bowles] works for
the government and shouldn't have done that." And with the
other one [Mr. Jordan] you can't say that.(610)
C. October 16-17: The "Wish List"
On October 16, Ms. Lewinsky sent the President a packet,
which included what she called a "wish list" describing the types
of jobs that interested her in New York City.(611) The note began:
My dream had been to work in Communications
or Strategic Planning at the White House. I
am open to any suggestions that you may have
on work that is similar to that or may
intrigue me. The most important things to me
are that I am engaged and interested in my
work, I am not someone's administrative/
executive assistant, and my salary can
provide me a comfortable living in NY.(612)
She identified five public relations firms where she would like
to work.(613) Ms. Lewinsky concluded by saying of the United
Nations:
I do not have any interest in working there.
As a result of what happened in April '96, I
have already spent a year and a half at an
agency in which I have no interest. I want a
job where I feel challenged, engaged, and
interested. I don't think the UN is the
right place for me.(614)
In a recorded conversation, Ms. Lewinsky said she wanted the
President to take her list seriously and not ask her to settle
for a U.N. job.(615) She said she hoped "that if he starts to pick
a bone with me and the U.N., he sure as hell doesn't do it on the
phone. . . . I don't want to start getting into a screaming
match with him on the phone."(616)
In addition to the "wish list," Ms. Lewinsky said she
enclosed in the packet a pair of sunglasses and "a lot of things
in a little envelope," including some jokes, a card, and a
postcard.(617) She said that she had written on the card: "Wasn't
I right that my hugs are better in person than in cards?"(618) The
postcard featured a "very erotic" Egon Schiele painting.(619) Ms.
Lewinsky also enclosed a note with her thoughts on education
reform.(620)
Ms. Lewinsky testified that she felt that the President owed
her a job for several reasons: Her relationship with him was the
reason she had been transferred out of the White House; he had
promised her a job and so far had done nothing to help her find
one; and she had left the White House "quietly," without making
an issue of her relationship with the President.(623)
D. The President Creates Options
At some point around this time in the fall of 1997,
Ms. Currie asked John Podesta, the Deputy Chief of Staff, to help
Ms. Lewinsky find a job in New York.(624) Mr. Podesta testified
that, during a Presidential trip to Latin America, he approached
then-U.N. Ambassador William Richardson while aboard Air Force
One and asked the Ambassador to consider a former White House
intern for a position at the U.N.(626) At the time, Mr. Podesta
could not recall the intern's name.(627) Ambassador Richardson and
the President both testified that they never discussed Ms.
Lewinsky with each other.(628)
Ambassador Richardson returned from Latin America on Sunday,
October 19.(629) Within a few days, his Executive Assistant,
Isabelle Watkins, called Mr. Podesta's secretary and asked
whether "she knew anything about a resume that John was going to
send us."(630) Mr. Podesta's secretary knew nothing about it and
asked Mr. Podesta what to do; he instructed her to call
Ms. Currie.(631) At 3:09 p.m. on October 21, Ms. Currie faxed Ms.
Lewinsky's resume to the United Nations.(632)
At 7:01 p.m., a six-minute call was placed to Ms. Lewinsky's
apartment from a U.N. telephone number identified in State
Department records as "Ambassador Richardson's line."(633) Ms.
Lewinsky testified that she spoke to Ambassador Richardson. A
woman called, Ms. Lewinsky testified, and said, "[H]old for
Ambassador Richardson."(634) Then the Ambassador himself came on
the line: "I remember, because I was shocked and I was . . .
very nervous."(635) The purpose of the call was to schedule a job
interview at a Watergate apartment the following week.(636) At odds
with Ms. Lewinsky, the Ambassador and Ms. Watkins both testified
that Ms. Watkins, not the Ambassador, spoke with Ms. Lewinsky.(637)
A few days later, according to Ms. Lewinsky, the President
called her. She had been upset because no one at the White House
had prepared her for the Ambassador's recent call and because she
did not want the White House to railroad her into taking the U.N.
job.(638) She reiterated that she was eager to pursue other
opportunities, especially in the private sector.(639) The President
reassured her, promising that a U.N. position was just one of
many options.(640)
Ms. Lewinsky spoke to the President again one week later.
Ms. Lewinsky testified that she told Ms. Currie to ask the
President to call her to assuage her nervousness before the U.N.
interview.(641)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, on October 30, the night before
the interview, the President did call. She characterized the
conversation as a "pep talk": "[H]e was trying to kind of build
my confidence and reassure me."(642) The President told her to call
Ms. Currie after the interview.(644) In his Jones deposition, the
President indicated that he learned of her interview with
Ambassador Richardson not from Ms. Lewinsky herself but from Ms.
Currie.(645)
E. The U.N. Interview and Job Offer
On Friday morning, October 31, Ambassador Richardson and two
of his assistants, Mona Sutphen and Rebecca Cooper, interviewed
Ms. Lewinsky at the Watergate.(646) According to Ambassador
Richardson, he "listen[ed] while Mona and Rebecca were
interviewing her."(647) Neither Ambassador Richardson nor any of
his staff made inquiries, before or after the interview, about
Ms. Lewinsky's prior work performance.(648)
On Sunday, November 2, Ms. Lewinsky drafted a letter to Ms.
Currie asking what to do in the event she received an offer from
the U.N.(649) She wrote:
I became a bit nervous this weekend when I
realized that Amb. Richardson said his staff
would be in touch with me this week. As you
know, the UN is supposed to be my back-up,
but because VJ [Vernon Jordan] has been out
of town, this is my only option right now.
What should I say to Richardson's people this
week when they call?(650)
Ms. Lewinsky asked Ms. Currie to speak to the President about her
problem: "If you feel it's appropriate, maybe you could ask 'the
big guy' what he wants me to do. Ahhhhh . . . anxiety!!!!!"(651)
Ms. Lewinsky also mentioned the President's promise to involve
Vernon Jordan in her job search:
I don't think I told you that in my
conversation last Thursday night with him
that he said that he would ask you to set up
a meeting between VJ and myself, once VJ got
back. I assume he'll mention this to you at
some point -- hopefully sooner rather than
later!(652)
Before Ms. Lewinsky sent this letter, in her recollection,
she received an offer from the U.N.(653) Phone records reflect
that, at 11:02 a.m. on November 3, a three-minute call was placed
to Ms. Lewinsky from the U.N. line identified in State Department
records as Ambassador Richardson's.(654) Ms. Lewinsky stated that
she believes she spoke to Ambassador Richardson, who extended her
a job offer.(655)
According to his assistant, Ambassador Richardson made the
decision to hire Ms. Lewinsky. Ms. Sutphen testified:
I said, are you sure; and he said, yeah,
yeah, I'm sure, why. And I said . . . are
you sure, though you don't want to talk to
anyone else . . . . And he said, no, no, I
think it's fine; why don't you go ahead and
give her an offer?(656)
Ambassador Richardson and Ms. Sutphen both testified that
Ms. Sutphen, not the Ambassador, extended the job offer to Ms.
Lewinsky. They recalled that the offer was made a week or 10
days after the interview, though Ms. Sutphen, when shown the
phone records, testified that the November 3 call to Ms. Lewinsky
probably was the job offer.(657)
Ms. Lewinsky testified that she told Ms. Currie about the
offer and she probably also told the President directly.(658) Ms.
Currie first testified that she had "probably" told the President
about Ms. Lewinsky's U.N. offer, then testified that she had in
fact told him, then testified that she could not remember, though
she acknowledged that the President was interested in
Ms. Lewinsky's getting a job.(659)
When the President was asked in the Jones deposition whether
he knew that Ms. Lewinsky had received the offer of a job at the
U.N., he testified: "I know that she interviewed for one. I
don't know if she was offered one or not."(660)
F. The U.N. Job Offer Declined
Three weeks after she received an offer, on November 24, Ms.
Lewinsky called Ms. Sutphen and asked for more time to consider
the offer because she wanted to pursue possibilities in the
private sector.(661) Ms. Sutphen told Ambassador Richardson, who,
according to Ms. Sutphen, said the delay would be fine.(662) Over a
month later, on January 5, 1998, Ms. Lewinsky finally turned down
the job.(663)
X. November 1997: Growing Frustration
Ms. Lewinsky met with Vernon Jordan, who promised to help
her find a job in New York. November proved, however, to be a
month of inactivity with respect to both Ms. Lewinsky's job
search and her relationship with the President. Mr. Jordan did
not meet with Ms. Lewinsky again, nor did he contact anyone in
New York City on her behalf. Ms. Lewinsky became increasingly
anxious about her inability to see the President. Except for a
momentary encounter in mid-November, Ms. Lewinsky did not meet
with the President between October 11 and December 5.
A. Interrogatories Answered
On November 3, 1997, the President answered Paula Jones's
Second Set of Interrogatories. Two of those interrogatories
asked the President to list any woman other than his wife with
whom he had "had," "proposed having," or "sought to have" sexual
relations during the time that he was Attorney General of
Arkansas, Governor of Arkansas, and President of the United
States.(664) President Clinton objected to the scope and relevance
of both interrogatories and refused to answer them.(665)
B. First Vernon Jordan Meeting
In mid-October, the President had agreed to involve Vernon
Jordan in Ms. Lewinsky's job search.(666) In a draft letter to Ms.
Currie dated November 2, Ms. Lewinsky wrote that the President
had "said he would ask you to set up a meeting between VJ and
myself."(667) According to Ms. Lewinsky, on November 3 or November
4, Ms. Currie told her to call Vernon Jordan's secretary to
arrange a meeting.(668) Ms. Currie said she had spoken with Mr.
Jordan and he was expecting Ms. Lewinsky's call.(669) In Ms.
Lewinsky's account, Ms. Currie sought Mr. Jordan's aid at the
President's direction.(670) Mr. Jordan likewise testified that, in
his understanding, the President was behind Ms. Currie's
request.(671)
Ms. Currie testified at various points that she contacted
Mr. Jordan on her own initiative; that the President "probably"
talked with her about Ms. Lewinsky's New York job hunt; and that
she could not recall whether the President was involved.(672) In
his Jones deposition, the President was asked whether he did
anything to facilitate a meeting between Mr. Jordan and Ms.
Lewinsky. He testified:
I can tell you what my memory is. My memory
is that Vernon said something to me about her
coming in, Betty had called and asked if he
[Mr. Jordan] would see her [Ms.
Lewinsky]. . . . I'm sure if he said
something to me about it I said something
positive about it. I wouldn't have said
anything negative about it.(673)
When pressed, the President testified that he did not think that
he was the "precipitating force" in arranging the meeting between
Mr. Jordan and Ms. Lewinsky.(674)
At 8:50 a.m. on November 5, Mr. Jordan spoke with the
President by telephone for five minutes.(675) Later that morning,
Mr. Jordan and Ms. Lewinsky met in his office for about twenty
minutes.(676) She told him that she intended to move to New York,
and she named several companies where she hoped to work.(677) She
showed him the "wish list" that she had sent the President on
October 16.(678) Mr. Jordan said that he had spoken with the
President about her and that she came "highly recommended."(679)
Concerning her job search, Mr. Jordan said: "We're in
business."(681)
In the course of the day, Mr. Jordan placed four calls to
Ms. Hernreich (whom he acknowledged calling when he wished to
speak to the President(682)) and one to Ms. Currie.(683) Mr. Jordan
testified that he could not remember the calls, but "[i]t is
entirely possible" that they concerned Monica Lewinsky.(684)
Mr. Jordan also visited the White House and met with the
President at 2:00 p.m. that day.(685) Again, Mr. Jordan testified
that he had "no recollection" of the substance of his
conversation with the President.(686)
On November 6, the day after meeting with Mr. Jordan, Ms.
Lewinsky wrote him a thank-you letter: "It made me happy to know
that our friend has such a wonderful confidant in you."(687) Also
on November 6, Ms. Lewinsky wrote in an email to a friend that
she expected to hear from Mr. Jordan "later next week."(688) The
evidence indicates, though, that Mr. Jordan took no steps to help
Ms. Lewinsky until early December, after she appeared on the
witness list in the Jones case.
Mr. Jordan initially testified that he had "no recollection
of having met with Ms. Lewinsky on November 5."(689) When shown
documentary evidence demonstrating that his first meeting with
Ms. Lewinsky occurred in early November, he acknowledged that an
early November meeting was "entirely possible."(690) Mr. Jordan's
failure to remember his November meeting with Ms. Lewinsky may
indicate the low priority he attached to it at the time.
C. November 13: The Zedillo Visit
On Thursday, November 13, while Ernesto Zedillo, the
President of Mexico, was in the White House, Ms. Lewinsky met
very briefly with President Clinton in the private study.(691) Ms.
Lewinsky's visit, which she described in an email as a
"hysterical escapade," was the culmination of days of phone calls
and notes to Ms. Currie and the President.(692)
Over the course of the week that preceded November 13, Ms.
Lewinsky made several attempts to arrange a visit with the
President. On Monday, November 10, in addition to making
frequent calls to Ms. Currie, she sent the President a note
asking for a meeting.(693)
She hoped to see him on Tuesday, November 11 (Veterans Day),
but he did not respond.(694) By courier,(695) she sent the President
another note:
I asked you three weeks ago to please be
sensitive to what I am going through right
now and to keep in contact with me, and yet
I'm still left writing notes in vain. I am
not a moron. I know that what is going on in
the world takes precedence, but I don't think
what I have asked you for is unreasonable.(696)
She added: "This is so hard for me. I am trying to deal with so
much emotionally, and I have nobody to talk to about it. I need
you right now not as president, but as a man. PLEASE be my
friend."(697)
That evening, November 12, according to Ms. Lewinsky, the
President called and invited her to the White House the following
day.(698) In an email to a friend, Ms. Lewinsky wrote that she and
the President "talked for almost an hour."(699) She added: "[H]e
thought [N]ancy [Hernreich] (one of the meanies) would be out for
a few hours on Thursday and I could come see him then."(700)
The following morning, November 13, Ms. Lewinsky tried to
arrange a visit with the President. She called repeatedly but
suspected that Ms. Currie was not telling the President of her
calls.(701) Around noon, Ms. Currie told Ms. Lewinsky that the
President had left to play golf. Ms. Lewinsky, in her own words,
"went ballistic."(702)
After the President returned from the Army-Navy Golf Course
in the late afternoon, Ms. Lewinsky told Ms. Currie that she was
coming to the White House to give him some gifts.(703) Ms. Currie
suggested that Ms. Lewinsky wait in Ms. Currie's car in the White
House parking lot. Ms. Lewinsky went to the White House only to
find that the doors to Ms. Currie's car were locked. Ms.
Lewinsky waited in the rain.(704)
Ms. Currie eventually met her in the parking lot, and, in
Ms. Lewinsky's words, they made a "bee-line" into the White
House, sneaking up the back stairs to avoid other White House
employees, particularly Presidential aide Stephen Goodin.(705) Ms.
Lewinsky left two small gifts for the President with Ms. Currie,
then waited alone for about half an hour in the Oval Office
study.(706) In the study, Ms. Lewinsky saw several gifts she had
given the President, including Oy Vey! The Things They Say: A
Guide to Jewish Wit, Nicholson Baker's novel Vox, and a letter
opener decorated with a frog.(707)
The President finally joined Ms. Lewinsky in the study,
where they were alone for only a minute or two.(708) Ms. Lewinsky
gave him an antique paperweight in the shape of the White
House.(709) She also showed him an email describing the effect of
chewing Altoid mints before performing oral sex. Ms. Lewinsky
was chewing Altoids at the time, but the President replied that
he did not have enough time for oral sex.(710) They kissed, and the
President rushed off for a State Dinner with President Zedillo.(711)
D. November 14-December 4: Inability to See the President
After this brief November 13 meeting, Ms. Lewinsky did not
see the President again until the first week in December. Hoping
to arrange a longer rendezvous, she sent the President several
notes, as well as a cassette on which she recorded a message.(712)
Along with her chagrin over not seeing the President, Ms.
Lewinsky was frustrated that her job search had apparently
stalled. A few days before Thanksgiving, she complained to Ms.
Currie that she had not heard from Mr. Jordan.(713) Ms. Currie
arranged for her to speak with him "before Thanksgiving," while
Ms. Lewinsky was in Los Angeles. Mr. Jordan told her to call him
the following week to arrange another meeting.(714)
In draft letters to the President, which were recovered from
her Pentagon computer, Ms. Lewinsky reflected on the change in
their relationship: "[B]oth professionally and personally, . . .
our personal relationship changing has caused me more pain. Do
you realize that?"(715) She asked for the President's
understanding: "I don't want you to think that I am not grateful
for what you are doing for me now -- I'd probably be in a mental
institute without it -- but I am consumed with this
disappointment, frustration, and anger." Ms. Lewinsky rued the
brevity of her November 13 visit with the President: "All you
. . . . ever have to do to pacify me is see me and hold me," she
wrote. "Maybe that's asking too much."(716)
XI. December 5-18, 1997:
The Witness List and Job Search
On Friday, December 5, Paula Jones's attorneys faxed a list
of their potential witnesses -- including Ms. Lewinsky -- to the
President's personal attorneys. The following day, President
Clinton saw Ms. Lewinsky in an unscheduled visit and then
discussed the Jones case with his attorneys and Deputy White
House Counsel Bruce Lindsey. A few days later, Ms. Lewinsky met
with Mr. Jordan at his office, and he arranged interviews for Ms.
Lewinsky at three companies. In the middle of the night on
December 17, the President called and informed Ms. Lewinsky that
she was on the witness list and that she might have to testify
under oath in the Jones case.
A. December 5: The Witness List
On Friday December 5, 1997, attorneys for Paula Jones
identified Ms. Lewinsky as a potential witness in Ms. Jones's
sexual harassment case.(717) At 5:40 p.m., they faxed their witness
list to the President's attorney, Robert Bennett.(718) Ms.
Lewinsky, however, would not learn of her potential involvement
in the Jones case for twelve more days, when the President
informed her.(719)
President Clinton was asked in the grand jury when he
learned that Ms. Lewinsky's name was on the witness list. The
President responded: "I believe that I found out late in the
afternoon on the sixth."(720)
B. December 5: Christmas Party at the White House
On Friday, December 5, Ms. Lewinsky returned from Department
of Defense travel in Europe.(721) She asked Ms. Currie if the
President could see her the next day, but Ms. Currie said he was
busy meeting with his lawyers.(722) In the late afternoon, she
attended a Christmas party at the White House with a Defense
Department colleague.(723) Ms. Lewinsky exchanged a few words with
the President in the reception line.(724)
The Christmas reception encounter heightened Ms. Lewinsky's
frustration. On the evening of December 5, she drafted an
anguished letter to the President.(725) "[Y]ou want me out of your
life," she wrote. "I guess the signs have been made clear for
awhile -- not wanting to see me and rarely calling. I used to
think it was you putting up walls."(727) She had purchased several
gifts for him, and, she wrote, "I wanted to give them to you in
person, but that is obviously not going to happen."(728) Ms.
Lewinsky reminded the President of his words during their October
10 telephone argument:
I will never forget what you said that night
we fought on the phone -- if you had known
what I was really like you would never have
gotten involved with me. I'm sure you're not
the first person to have felt that way about
me. I am sorry that this has been such a bad
experience.(729)
She concluded the letter: "I knew it would hurt to say goodbye
to you; I just never thought it would have to be on paper. Take
care."(730)
C. December 6: The Northwest Gate Incident
1. Initial Visit and Rejection
On the morning of Saturday, December 6, Ms. Lewinsky went to
the White House to deliver the letter and gifts to the President.
The gifts included a sterling silver antique cigar holder, a tie,
a mug, a "Hugs and Kisses" box, and an antique book about
Theodore Roosevelt.(731) Ms. Lewinsky planned to leave the parcel
with Ms. Currie, who had told Ms. Lewinsky that the President
would be busy with his lawyers and unable to see her.(732)
Ms. Lewinsky arrived at the White House at approximately
10:00 a.m. She told the Secret Service uniformed officers at the
Northwest Gate that she had gifts to drop off for the President,
but that Ms. Currie did not know she was coming.(733) Ms. Lewinsky
and the officers made several calls in an attempt to locate Ms.
Currie.(734) The officers eventually invited Ms. Lewinsky inside
the guard booth.(735) When Ms. Currie learned that Ms. Lewinsky was
at the Northwest Gate, she sent word that the President "already
had a guest in the [O]val," so the officers should have Ms.
Lewinsky wait there for about 40 minutes.(736)
While Ms. Lewinsky was waiting, one officer mentioned that
Eleanor Mondale was in the White House.(737) Ms. Lewinsky correctly
surmised that the President was meeting with Ms. Mondale, rather
than his lawyers, and she was "livid."(738) She stormed away,
called and berated Ms. Currie from a pay phone, and then returned
to her Watergate apartment.(740)
Hands shaking and almost crying, Ms. Currie informed
several Secret Service officers that the President was "irate"
that someone had disclosed to Ms. Lewinsky whom he was meeting
with.(741) Ms. Currie told Sergeant Keith Williams, a supervisory
uniformed Secret Service Officer, that if he "didn't find out
what was going on, someone could be fired."(742) She also told
Captain Jeffrey Purdie, the Secret Service watch commander for
the uniformed division at the time, that the President was "so
upset he wants somebody fired over this."(743)
2. Ms. Lewinsky Returns to the White House
From her apartment, Ms. Lewinsky reached the President on
the phone.(745) According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President was angry
that she had "made a stink" and said that "it was none of my
business . . . what he was doing."(746)
Then, to Ms. Lewinsky's surprise, the President invited her
to visit him.(747) She testified that "none of the other times that
we had really fought on the phone did it end up resulting in a
visit that day."(748) WAVES records reflect that Ms. Lewinsky was
cleared to enter the White House at 12:52 p.m. and exited at 1:36
p.m.(749)
During their meeting, Ms. Lewinsky told the President that
Mr. Jordan had done nothing to help her find a job.(750) The
President responded, "Oh, I'll talk to him. I'll get on it."(751)
Ms. Lewinsky testified that, overall, she had a "really
nice" and "affectionate" visit with the President.(752) In an email
to a friend a few days later, she wrote that, although "things
have been crazy with the creep, . . . I did have a wonderful
visit with him on Saturday. When he doesn't put his walls up, it
is always heavenly."(753)
3. "Whatever Just Happened Didn't Happen"
Later that day (December 6), the uniformed Secret Service
officers at the Northwest Gate were told that no one would be
fired -- so long as they remained quiet. According to Sergeant
Williams, Ms. Currie said that, if the officers did not "tell a
lot of people what had happened, then nothing would happen."(754)
The President told Captain Jeffrey Purdie, the Secret
Service watch commander for the uniformed division at the time,
"I hope you use your discretion."(755) Captain Purdie interpreted
the President's remark to mean that Captain Purdie "wasn't going
to say anything," and he in turn told all of the officers
involved not to discuss the incident.(756) One officer recalled
that Captain Purdie told him and other officers, "Whatever just
happened didn't happen."(757) Captain Purdie told another officer,
"I was just in the Oval Office with the President and he wants
somebody's ass out here. . . . As far as you're concerned, . . .
[t]his never happened."(758) In response, that officer, who
considered the Northwest Gate incident a "major event," "just
shook [his] head" and "started making a set of [his] own notes"
in order to document the incident.(759)
Captain Purdie recommended to his supervisor, Deputy Chief
Charles O'Malley, that "no paperwork be generated" regarding the
Northwest Gate incident because "Ms. Currie was satisfied with
the way things were handled."(760) According to Captain Purdie,
Deputy Chief O'Malley agreed, and no record of the incident was
made.(761) Deputy Chief O'Malley testified that the meeting between
the President and Captain Purdie was the only occasion he could
recall in fourteen years at the White House where a President
directly addressed a job performance issue with a uniformed
division supervisor.(762)
The President was questioned in the grand jury about the
incident at the Northwest Gate. He testified that he knew that
Ms. Lewinsky had become upset upon learning that Ms. Mondale was
in the White House "to see us that day."(763) He testified: "As I
remember, I had some other work to do that morning. . . . "(764)
The President said that the disclosure of information that day
was "inappropriate" and "a mistake," but he could not recall
whether he wanted a Secret Service officer fired or gave any such
orders.(765) He thought that the officers "were . . . told not to
let it happen again, and I think that's the way it should have
been handled."(766) When asked if he told Captain Purdie that he
hoped that he could count on his discretion, the President
stated, "I don't remember anything I said to him in that
regard."(767)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President later indicated to
her that he had concerns about the discretion of the Secret
Service uniformed officers. On December 28 she asked how Paula
Jones's attorneys could have known enough to place her on the
witness list. The President replied that the source might be
Linda Tripp or "the uniformed officers."(768)
D. The President Confers with His Lawyers
Deputy Counsel Bruce Lindsey testified that he met with the
President and the President's personal attorney, Robert Bennett,
at around 5:00 p.m. on December 6 to discuss the Jones case.(769)
According to Mr. Lindsey, it was "likely" that he learned about
Ms. Lewinsky's appearance on the witness list in that meeting.(770)
Earlier in the day, at around 12:00 p.m. (after Ms. Lewinsky
stormed away from the Northwest Gate but before she returned and
saw the President), Mr. Lindsey had received a page: "Call Betty
ASAP."(771) Mr. Lindsey testified that he did not recall the page,
nor did he know, at the time, that Ms. Lewinsky had visited the
White House.(772)
E. Second Jordan Meeting
The next day (Sunday, December 7), Mr. Jordan visited the
White House and met with the President.(774) Mr. Jordan testified
that he was "fairly certain" that he did not discuss the Jones
suit or Ms. Lewinsky.(775)
On Thursday, December 11, Ms. Lewinsky had her second
meeting with Mr. Jordan.(776) Ms. Lewinsky testified that they
discussed her job search, and Mr. Jordan told her to send letters
to three business contacts that he provided her. Mr. Jordan
noted that Ms. Lewinsky was anxious to get a job as quickly as
possible, and he took action.(777) In the course of the day, Mr.
Jordan placed calls on her behalf to Peter Georgescu, Chairman
and Chief Executive Officer at Young & Rubicam; Richard Halperin,
Executive Vice President and Special Counsel to the Chairman of
MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings, Inc. (majority stockholder of
Revlon); and Ursula Fairbairn, Executive Vice-President, Human
Resources and Quality, of American Express.(778) Mr. Jordan told
Ms. Lewinsky to keep him informed of the progress of her job
search.(779)
At one point in the conversation, according to Ms. Lewinsky,
Mr. Jordan said, "[Y]ou're a friend of the President."(780) This
prompted Ms. Lewinsky to reveal that she "didn't really look at
him as the President"; rather, she "reacted to him more as a man
and got angry at him like a man and just a regular person."(781)
When Mr. Jordan asked why Ms. Lewinsky got angry at the
President, she replied that she became upset "when he doesn't
call me enough or see me enough."(782) Ms. Lewinsky testified that
Mr. Jordan advised her to take her frustrations out on him rather
than the President.(783) According to Ms. Lewinsky, Mr. Jordan
summed up the situation: "You're in love, that's what your
problem is."(785)
Mr. Jordan recalled a similar conversation, in which Ms.
Lewinsky complained that the President did not see her enough,
although he thought it took place during a meeting eight days
later. He testified that he felt the need to remind Ms. Lewinsky
that the President is the "leader of the free world" and has
competing obligations.(786)
Mr. Jordan is "certain" that he had a conversation with the
President about Ms. Lewinsky at some point after this December 11
meeting.(787) He told the President that he would be trying to get
Ms. Lewinsky a job in New York.(788) Mr. Jordan testified that the
President "was aware that people were trying to get jobs for her,
that Podesta was trying to help her, that Bill Richardson was
trying to help her, but that she really wanted to work in the
private sector."(789)
F. Early Morning Phone Call
On December 15, 1997, Paula Jones's lawyers served President
Clinton with her second set of document requests by overnight
mail. These requests asked the President to "produce documents
that related to communications between the President and Monica
Lewisky" [sic].(790) This was the first Paula Jones discovery
request to refer to Monica Lewinsky by name.
Ms. Lewinsky testified that in the early-morning hours of
December 17, at roughly 2:00 or 2:30 a.m., she received a call
from the President.(791) The call lasted about half an hour.(792)
The President gave Ms. Lewinsky two items of news: Ms.
Currie's brother had died in a car accident, and Ms. Lewinsky's
name had appeared on the witness list in the Jones case.(793)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President said "it broke his
heart" to see her name on the witness list.(794) The President told
her that she would not necessarily be subpoenaed; if she were, he
"suggested she could sign an affidavit to try to satisfy [Ms.
Jones's] inquiry and not be deposed."(795)
The President told Ms. Lewinsky to contact Ms. Currie in the
event she were subpoenaed.(796) He also reviewed one of their
established cover stories. He told Ms. Lewinsky that she "should
say she visited the [White House] to see Ms. Currie and, on
occasion when working at the [White House], she brought him
letters when no one else was around."(797) The President's advice
"was . . . instantly familiar to [Ms. Lewinsky]."(798) She
testified that the President's use of this "misleading" story
amounted to a continuation of their pre-existing pattern.(799)
Later in the conversation, according to Ms. Lewinsky, the
President said he would try to get Ms. Currie to come in over the
weekend so that Ms. Lewinsky could visit and he could give her
several Christmas presents.(800) Ms. Lewinsky replied that, since
Ms. Currie's brother had just died, perhaps they should "let
Betty be."(801)
In his grand jury appearance, the President was questioned
about the December 17 phone call. He testified that, although he
could not rule it out, he did not remember such a call.(802) The
President was also asked whether in this conversation, or a
conversation before Ms. Lewinsky's name came up in the Jones
case, he instructed her to say that she was coming to bring
letters. The President answered: "I might well have said
that."(803)
But when asked whether he ever said anything along these
lines after Ms. Lewinsky had been identified on the witness list,
the President answered: "I don't recall whether I might have
done something like that."(804) He speculated that he might have
suggested this explanation in the context of a call from a
reporter.(805) Nonetheless, he testified, in the context of the
Jones case, "I never asked her to lie."(806)
G. Job Interviews
On December 18, Ms. Lewinsky had two job interviews in New
York City. At MacAndrews & Forbes, she met with Executive Vice
President and Special Counsel to the Chairman Richard Halperin,
who viewed the interview as "an accommodation for Vernon
Jordan."(807) At Burson-Marstellar, she interviewed with Celia
Berk, Managing Director of Human Resources.(808) A few days later,
on December 23, Ms. Lewinsky interviewed in Washington, D.C.,
with Thomas Schick, Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs
and Communications, of American Express.(809)
XII. December 19, 1997 - January 4, 1998:
The Subpoena
Ms. Lewinsky was served with a subpoena in the Jones case on
Friday, December 19. She immediately called Mr. Jordan, and he
invited her to his office. Mr. Jordan spoke with the President
that afternoon and again that evening. He told the President
that he had met with Ms. Lewinsky, that she had been subpoenaed,
and that he planned to obtain an attorney for her. On Sunday,
December 28, the President met with Ms. Lewinsky, who expressed
concern about the subpoena's demand for the gifts he had given
her. Later that day, Ms. Currie drove to Ms. Lewinsky's
apartment and collected a box containing some of the subpoenaed
gifts. Ms. Currie took the box home and hid it under her bed.
A. December 19: Ms. Lewinsky Is Subpoenaed
On Friday, December 19, 1997, sometime between 3:00 p.m. and
4:00 p.m., Ms. Lewinsky was served with a subpoena at her
Pentagon office.(810) The subpoena commanded her to appear for a
deposition in Washington, D.C., at 9:30 a.m. on January 23,
1998.(811) The subpoena also required the production of certain
documents and gifts. Among the items that Ms. Lewinsky was
required to produce were "each and every gift including, but not
limited to, any and all dresses, accessories, and jewelry, and/or
hat pins given to you by, or on behalf of, Defendant Clinton," as
well as "[e]very document constituting or containing
communications between you and Defendant Clinton, including
letters, cards, notes, memoranda, and all telephone records."(812)
Ms. Lewinsky testified that, after being served with the
subpoena, she "burst into tears," and then telephoned Mr. Jordan
from a pay phone at the Pentagon.(813) Mr. Jordan confirmed Ms.
Lewinsky's account; he said he tried to reassure Ms. Lewinsky:
"[C]ome and talk to me and I will see what I can do about finding
you counsel."(814)
According to records maintained by Mr. Jordan's law firm,
Ms. Lewinsky arrived at his office at 4:47 p.m.(815) White House
phone records show that, at 4:57 p.m., the President telephoned
Mr. Jordan; the two men spoke from 5:01 p.m. to 5:05 p.m.(816) At
5:06 p.m., Mr. Jordan placed a two-minute call to a Washington,
D.C., attorney named Francis Carter.(817)
Ms. Lewinsky and Mr. Jordan gave somewhat different accounts
of their meeting that day. According to Ms. Lewinsky, shortly
after her arrival, Mr. Jordan received a phone call, and she
stepped out of his office. A few minutes later, Ms. Lewinsky was
invited back in, and Mr. Jordan called Mr. Carter.(819)
Mr. Jordan testified that he spoke to the President before
Ms. Lewinsky ever entered his office.(820) He told the President:
"Monica Lewinsky called me up. She's upset. She's gotten a
subpoena. She is coming to see me about this subpoena. I'm
confident that she needs a lawyer, and I will try to get her a
lawyer."(821) Mr. Jordan told the President that the lawyer he had
in mind was Francis Carter.(822) According to Mr. Jordan, the
President asked him: "You think he's a good lawyer?" Mr. Jordan
responded that he was.(823) Mr. Jordan testified that informing the
President of Ms. Lewinsky's subpoena "was the purpose of [his]
call."(824)
According to Mr. Jordan, when Ms. Lewinsky entered his
office, "[H]er emotional state was obviously one of dishevelment
and she was quite upset. She was crying. She was -- she was
highly emotional, to say the least."(825) She showed him the
subpoena as soon as she entered.(826)
Ms. Lewinsky also testified that she discussed the subpoena
with Mr. Jordan.(827) She told him that she found the specific
reference to a hat pin alarming -- how could the Jones's
attorneys have known about it?(828) Mr. Jordan told her it was "a
standard subpoena."(829) When he indicated to Ms. Lewinsky that he
would be seeing the President that night, Ms. Lewinsky told him
"to please make sure that he told the President" about her
subpoena.(830)
At some point, according to Mr. Jordan, Ms. Lewinsky asked
him about the future of the Clintons' marriage.(831) Because Ms.
Lewinsky seemed "mesmerized" by President Clinton,(832) he "asked
her directly had there been any sexual relationship between [her]
and the President."(833) Mr. Jordan explained, "You didn't have to
be Einstein to know that that was a question that had to be asked
by me at that particular time, because heretofore this discussion
was about a job. The subpoena changed the circumstances."(834) Ms.
Lewinsky said she had not had a sexual relationship with the
President.(835)
Ms. Lewinsky testified, however, that at this time she
assumed that Mr. Jordan knew "with a wink and a nod that [she]
was having a relationship with the President."(836) She therefore
interpreted Mr. Jordan's questions as "What are you going to
say?" rather than "What are the [actual] answers . . .?"(837) When
the meeting ended, she "asked [Mr. Jordan] if he would give the
President a hug."(838)
That evening, Mr. Jordan visited the President at the White
House. According to Mr. Jordan, the two met alone in the
Residence and talked for about ten minutes.(839) He testified:
I told him that Monica Lewinsky had been subpoenaed,
came to me with a subpoena. I told him that I was
concerned by her fascination, her being taken with him.
I told him how emotional she was about having gotten
the subpoena. I told him what she said to me about
whether or not he was going to leave the First Lady at
the end of the term.(840)
Mr. Jordan asked the President "[t]he one question that I wanted
answered."(841) That question was, "Mr. President, have you had
sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky?" The President told Mr.
Jordan, "No, never."(842)
Mr. Jordan told the President: "I'm trying to help her get a
job and I'm going to continue to do that. I'm going to get her
counsel and I'm going to try to be helpful to her as much as I
possibly can, both with the lawyer, and I've already done what I
could about the job, and I think you ought to know that."(843) Mr.
Jordan testified: "He thanked me for telling him. Thanked me
for my efforts to get her a job and thanked me for getting her a
lawyer."(844)
In his grand jury testimony, the President recalled that he
met with Mr. Jordan on December 19; however, he testified that
his memory of that meeting was somewhat vague:
I do not remember exactly what the nature of
the conversation was. I do remember that I
told him that there was no sexual
relationship between me and Monica Lewinsky,
which was true. And that -- then all I
remember for the rest is that he said he had
referred her to a lawyer, and I believe it
was Mr. Carter.(845)
Asked whether he recalled that Mr. Jordan told him that Ms.
Lewinsky appeared fixated on him and hoped that he would leave
Mrs. Clinton, the President testified: "I recall him saying he
thought that she was upset with -- somewhat fixated on me, that
she acknowledged that she was not having a sexual relationship
with me, and that she did not want to be [brought] into that
Jones lawsuit."(846)
B. December 22: Meeting with Vernon Jordan
Mr. Jordan arranged for Ms. Lewinsky to meet with attorney
Francis Carter at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, December 22.(847) On that
morning, according to Ms. Lewinsky, she called Mr. Jordan and
asked to meet before they went to Mr. Carter's office.(848) She
testified: "I was a little concerned. I thought maybe [Mr.
Jordan] didn't really understand . . . what it was that was
happening here with me being subpoenaed and what this really
meant."(849) She also wanted to find out whether he had in fact
told the President of her subpoena. Mr. Jordan said that he
had.(850) Ms. Lewinsky also told Mr. Jordan that she was worried
that someone might have been eavesdropping on her telephone
conversations with the President.(851) When Mr. Jordan asked why
she thought that would be of concern, Ms. Lewinsky said, "Well,
we've had phone sex."(852)
Ms. Lewinsky testified that she brought some of her gifts
from the President, showed them to Mr. Jordan, and implied that
these items were not all of the gifts that the President had
given her.(853) Mr. Jordan, in contrast, testified that Ms.
Lewinsky never showed him any gifts from the President.(854)
C. December 22: First Meeting with Francis Carter
Mr. Jordan drove Ms. Lewinsky to Mr. Carter's office.(855)
There, he introduced Ms. Lewinsky to Mr. Carter, explaining that
she needed not only a lawyer but a "counselor."(856) Mr. Carter
testified that, after the initial referral, he expected to have
no further contact with Mr. Jordan about Ms. Lewinsky or her
case.(858)
Mr. Carter and Ms. Lewinsky then met for approximately an
hour.(859) She explained that she did not want to be drawn into the
Jones case and would strongly prefer not to be deposed.(860) He
said that he would try to persuade Paula Jones's attorneys not to
depose her.(861) Ms. Lewinsky testified that she suggested filing
an affidavit to avert a deposition.(862)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, she asked Mr. Carter to get in
touch with the President's personal attorney, Robert Bennett,
just "to let him know that I had been subpoenaed in this case."(863)
She wanted to make clear that she was "align[ing] [her]self with
the President's side."(864) Mr. Carter testified that, while Ms.
Lewinsky was in his office, he placed a call to Mr. Bennett to
arrange a meeting.(865)
On the morning of Tuesday, December 23, Mr. Carter met for
an hour with two of the President's personal attorneys, Mr.
Bennett and Katherine Sexton.(866) The President's attorneys told
Mr. Carter that other witnesses had filed motions to quash their
subpoenas, and they offered legal research to support such a
motion.(867)
D. December 23: Clinton Denials to Paula Jones
Throughout the sexual harassment case, Ms. Jones's attorneys
attempted to obtain information about President Clinton's sexual
relationships with any woman other than his wife. On December
11, 1997, the judge overseeing the Jones case, Susan Webber
Wright, ruled that the President had to answer a written
interrogatory naming every state and federal employee since 1986
with whom he had sexual relations or with whom he had proposed to
have sexual relations. On December 23, 1997, the President
answered the interrogatory: "None."(868)
E. December 28: Final Meeting with the President
A day or two after Christmas, Ms. Lewinsky called Ms. Currie
and told her that the President had mentioned that he had
presents for her.(869) Ms. Currie called back and told her to come
to the White House at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, December 28.(870)
That morning, Ms. Lewinsky met with the President in the
Oval Office. WAVES records reflect that the visit was requested
by Ms. Currie and that Ms. Lewinsky entered the White House at
8:16 a.m.(871)
After she arrived at the Oval Office, she, the President,
and Ms. Currie played with Buddy, the President's dog, and
chatted. Then, the President took her to the study and gave her
several Christmas presents: a marble bear's head, a Rockettes
blanket, a Black Dog stuffed animal, a small box of chocolates, a
pair of joke sunglasses, and a pin with a New York skyline on
it.(872)
Ms. Lewinsky testified that, during this visit, she and the
President had a "passionate" and "physically intimate" kiss.(873)
Ms. Lewinsky and the President also talked about the Jones
case.(874) In Ms. Lewinsky's account, she asked the President "how
he thought [she] got put on the witness list."(875) He speculated
that Linda Tripp or one of the uniformed Secret Service officers
had told the Jones attorneys about her.(876) When Ms. Lewinsky
mentioned her anxiety about the subpoena's reference to a hat
pin, he said "that sort of bothered [him], too."(877) He asked
whether she had told anyone about the hat pin, and she assured
him that she had not.(878)
At some point in the conversation, Ms. Lewinsky told the
President, "[M]aybe I should put the gifts away outside my house
somewhere or give them to someone, maybe Betty."(879) Ms. Lewinsky
recalled that the President responded either "I don't know" or
"Let me think about that."(880)
When Ms. Lewinsky was asked whether she thought it odd for
the President to give her gifts under the circumstances (with a
subpoena requiring the production of all his gifts), she
testified that she did not think of it at the time, but she did
note some hesitancy on the President's part:
[H]e had hesitated very briefly right before I left that day
in kind of packaging . . . all my stuff back up . . . I
don't think he said anything that indicated this to me, but
I thought to myself, "I wonder if he's thinking he shouldn't
give these to me to take out." But he did.(881)
When asked in the Jones deposition about his last meeting
with Ms. Lewinsky, the President remembered only that she stopped
by "[p]robably sometime before Christmas" and he "stuck [his]
head out [of the office], said hello to her."(882) The deposition
occurred three weeks after this December 28 meeting with Ms.
Lewinsky.
In the grand jury, the President acknowledged "talking with
Ms. Lewinsky about her testimony, or about the prospect that she
might have to give testimony. And she, she talked to me about
that."(883) He maintained, however, that they did not discuss Ms.
Lewinsky's subpoena: "[S]he was upset. She -- well, she -- we -- she didn't -- we didn't talk about a subpoena. But she was
upset."(884) In the President's recollection, Ms. Lewinsky said she
knew nothing about sexual harassment; why did she have to
testify? According to the President, "I explained to her that it
was a political lawsuit. They wanted to get whatever they could
under oath that was damaging to me."(885)
Ms. Lewinsky's friend, Catherine Allday Davis, testified
about a conversation with Ms. Lewinsky on January 3, 1998. Ms.
Lewinsky told Ms. Davis that she had met with the President and
discussed the Jones case a few days earlier. Ms. Davis testified
that Ms. Lewinsky and the President had "noted [that] there was
no evidence" of their relationship.(887)
E. December 28: Concealment of Gifts
In the afternoon of December 28, a few hours after Ms.
Lewinsky's White House visit, Ms. Currie drove to Ms. Lewinsky's
Watergate apartment and collected a box containing the
President's gifts. Ms. Currie then took the box home and hid it
under her bed. Ms. Lewinsky, Ms. Currie, and the President were
all questioned as to why Ms. Currie retrieved the box of gifts
from Ms. Lewinsky.
According to Ms. Lewinsky, the transfer originated in a
phone call from Ms. Currie that afternoon. Ms. Lewinsky
testified that Ms. Currie said, "I understand you have something
to give me," or, "The President said you have something to give
me."(888) Ms. Lewinsky understood that Ms. Currie was alluding to
the gifts.(889) Ms. Currie said that she would stop by Ms.
Lewinsky's apartment and pick up the items.(890) Ms. Lewinsky
testified that she put many, but not all, of her gifts from the
President into a box. Ms. Currie drove by her apartment and
picked it up.(891)
Ms. Lewinsky was concerned because the gifts were under
subpoena; she did not throw them away, however, because "they
meant a lot to [her]."(892) The reason she gave the gifts to Ms.
Currie, and not to one of her friends or her mother, was "a
little bit of an assurance to the President . . . that everything
was okay."(893) She felt that, because the gifts were with Ms.
Currie, they were within the President's control: "Not that [the
gifts] were going to be in his possession, but that he would
understand whatever it was I gave to Betty and that that might
make him feel a little bit better."(894)
Ms. Lewinsky's account of the events of December 28 in her
sworn statement of February 1, 1998, corroborates her later grand
jury testimony:
"Ms. L . . . asked if she should put away
(outside her home) the gifts he had given her
or, maybe, give them to someone else. Ms.
Currie called Ms. L later that afternoon as
said that the Pres. had told her Ms. L.
wanted her to hold onto something for her.
Ms. L boxed up most of the gifts she had
received and gave them to Ms. Currie. It is
unknown if Ms. Currie knew the contents of
the box."(895)
Ms. Currie's testimony was somewhat at odds with Ms.
Lewinsky's. Though her overall recollection was hazy, Ms. Currie
believed that Ms. Lewinsky had called her and raised the idea of
the gifts transfer.(896) Ms. Currie was asked about the President's
involvement in the transfer:
Q: And did the President know you were holding these
things for Monica?
BC: I don't know. I don't know.
Q: Didn't he say to you that Monica had something for you
to hold?
BC: I don't remember that. I don't.
Q: Did you ever talk to the President and tell him you had
this box from Monica?
BC: I don't remember that either.
Q: Do you think it happened, though?
BC: I don't know. I don't know.(897)
When asked whether a statement by Ms. Lewinsky indicating that
Ms. Currie had in fact spoken to the President about the gift
transfer would be false, Ms. Currie replied: "Then she may
remember better than I. I don't remember."(898)
According to Ms. Currie, Ms. Lewinsky said that she was
uncomfortable retaining the gifts herself because "people were
asking questions" about them.(899) Ms. Currie said she drove to Ms.
Lewinsky's residence after work, collected the box, brought it
home, and put it under her bed.(900) Written on the top of the box
were the words "Please do not throw away!!!"(901) Ms. Currie
testified that she knew that the box contained gifts from the
President.(902)
For his part, the President testified that he never asked
Ms. Currie to collect a box of gifts from Ms. Lewinsky.(903) He
said that he had no knowledge that Ms. Currie had held those
items "until that was made public."(904)
The President testified that he has no distinct recollection
of discussing the gifts with Ms. Lewinsky on December 28: "[M]y
memory is that on some day in December, and I'm sorry I don't
remember when it was, she said, well, what if they ask me about
the gifts you have given me. And I said, well, if you get a
request to produce those, you have to give them whatever you
have."(905)
D. December 31: Breakfast with Vernon Jordan
Ms. Lewinsky testified that in late December 1997 she
realized that she needed to "come up with some sort of strategy
as to [what to do] if Linda Tripp" divulged what she knew.(906) On
December 30, Ms. Lewinsky telephoned Mr. Jordan's office and
conveyed either directly to him or through one of his secretaries
that she was concerned about the Jones case.(907)
The following day, Ms. Lewinsky and Mr. Jordan had breakfast
together at the Park Hyatt Hotel.(908) According to Ms. Lewinsky,
she told Mr. Jordan that a friend of hers, Linda Tripp, was
involved in the Jones case. She told Mr. Jordan: "I used to
trust [Ms. Tripp], but I didn't trust her any more."(909) Ms.
Lewinsky said that Ms. Tripp might have seen some notes in her
apartment. Mr. Jordan asked: "Notes from the President to you?"
Ms. Lewinsky responded: "No, notes from me to the President."
According to Ms. Lewinsky, Mr. Jordan said: "Go home and make
sure they're not there." Ms. Lewinsky testified that she
understood that Mr. Jordan was advising her to "throw . . . away"
any copies or drafts of notes that she had sent to the
President.(910)
After breakfast, Mr. Jordan gave Ms. Lewinsky a ride back to
his office.(911) When Ms. Lewinsky returned home to her apartment
that day, she discarded approximately 50 draft notes to the
President.(912)
E. January 4: The Final Gift
On Sunday, January 4, 1998, Ms. Lewinsky called Ms. Currie
at home and told her that she wanted to drop off a gift for the
President.(913) Ms. Currie invited Ms. Lewinsky to her home, and
Ms. Lewinsky gave her the package.(914) The package contained a
book entitled The Presidents of the United States and a love note
inspired by the movie Titanic.(915)
XIII. January 5-January 16, 1998:
The Affidavit
On January 5, 1998, Ms. Lewinsky's attorney, Francis Carter,
drafted an affidavit for Ms. Lewinsky in an attempt to avert her
deposition. She spoke with the President that evening. On
January 6, Ms. Lewinsky talked to Mr. Jordan about the affidavit,
which denied any sexual relations between her and the President.
On January 7, Ms. Lewinsky signed the affidavit. On January 8,
she interviewed for a job in New York City. After the interview
went poorly, Mr. Jordan placed a phone call to the company's
chairman on her behalf, and Ms. Lewinsky was given a second
interview. The following week, after Ms. Lewinsky told
Ms. Currie that she would need a reference from the White House,
the President asked Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles to arrange one.
A. January 5: Francis Carter Meeting
At 3:00 p.m. on Monday, January 5, 1998, Ms. Lewinsky met
with Mr. Carter at his office for approximately one hour.(916)
Ms. Lewinsky testified that Mr. Carter described what a
deposition was like and "threw out a bunch of different
questions."(917) The questions that most concerned her related to
the circumstances of her departure from the White House.(918)
Mr. Carter told Ms. Lewinsky that he would draft an
affidavit for her to sign in hopes of averting her deposition.
They arranged for Ms. Lewinsky to pick up a draft of the
affidavit the next day.(919)
B. January 5: Call from the President
After her meeting with Mr. Carter, Ms. Lewinsky sent word
via Ms. Currie that she needed to speak to the President about an
important matter.(920) Specifically, Ms. Lewinsky told Ms. Currie
she was anxious about something she needed to sign.(921)
A few hours later, according to Ms. Lewinsky, the President
returned her call.(922) She mentioned an affidavit she would be
signing and asked if he wanted to see it. According to Ms.
Lewinsky, the President responded that he did not, as he had
already seen about fifteen others.(923) Ms. Lewinsky testified that
she told the President that she was troubled by potential
questions about her transfer from the White House to the
Pentagon. She was concerned that "people at the White House who
didn't like [her]" might contradict her and "get [her] in
trouble."(924) The President, according to Ms. Lewinsky, advised
her: "[Y]ou could always say that the people in Legislative
Affairs got it [the Pentagon job] for you or helped you get
it."(925)
The President acknowledged in the grand jury that he was
aware that Ms. Lewinsky had signed an affidavit in early January,
but had no specific recollection of a conversation with her in
that time period.(926) He testified that he did not recall telling
Ms. Lewinsky that she could say, if asked, that persons in the
Legislative Affairs Office of the White House had helped her
obtain the job at the Pentagon.(927)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, she and the President also
briefly discussed an antique book that she had dropped off with
Ms. Currie the day before. With the book, she enclosed a letter
telling the President that she wanted to have sexual intercourse
with him at least once.(928) In their phone conversation, Ms.
Lewinsky told the President, "I shouldn't have written some of
those things in the note."(929) She testified that the President
agreed.(930)
Although the President had testified in the Jones case that
any personal messages from Ms. Lewinsky to him had been
"unremarkable," he told the grand jury that he had received
"quite affectionate" messages from Ms. Lewinsky, even after their
intimate relationship ended.(931) The President testified that he
cautioned Ms. Lewinsky about such messages: "I remember telling
her she should be careful what she wrote, because a lot of it was
clearly inappropriate and would be embarrassing if somebody else
read it. I don't remember when I said that. I don't remember
whether it was in '96 or when it was."(932) The President did
remember the antique book Ms. Lewinsky had given him, but said he
did not recall a romantic note enclosed with it.(933)
C. January 6: The Draft Affidavit
According to Ms. Lewinsky, in the afternoon of January 6,
1998, she visited Mr. Carter's office and picked up a draft of
the affidavit.(934) Later that day, according to Ms. Lewinsky, she
and Mr. Jordan discussed the draft by telephone.(936) Ms. Lewinsky
testified that having Mr. Jordan review the affidavit was like
getting it "blessed" by the President.(937) Ms. Lewinsky testified
that she told Mr. Jordan that she was worried about a sentence
that implied that she had been alone with the President and thus
might incline Paula Jones's attorneys to question her.(938) She
eventually deleted it.(939)
In addition, Paragraph 8 of the draft affidavit provided in
part:
I have never had a sexual relationship with
the President. . . . The occasions that I
saw the President, with crowds of other
people, after I left my employment at the
White House in April, 1996 related to
official receptions, formal functions or
events related to the U.S. Department of
Defense, where I was working at the time.(941)
Deeming the reference to "crowds" "too far out of the realm of
possibility,"(942) Ms. Lewinsky deleted the underscored phrase and
wrote the following sentence at the end of this paragraph:
"There were other people present on all of these occasions."(943)
She discussed this proposed sentence, as well as her general
anxiety about Paragraph 8, with Mr. Jordan.(944)
When questioned in the grand jury, Mr. Jordan acknowledged
that Ms. Lewinsky called him with concerns about the affidavit,(945)
but maintained that he told her to speak with her attorney.(946)
Phone records for January 6 show that Mr. Jordan had a
number of contacts with Ms. Lewinsky, the President, and Mr.
Carter. Less than thirty minutes after Mr. Jordan spoke by phone
to Ms. Lewinsky, he talked with the President for thirteen
minutes. Immediately after this call, at 4:33 p.m., Mr. Jordan
called Mr. Carter. Less than an hour later, Mr. Jordan placed a
four-minute call to the main White House number. Over the course
of the day, Mr. Jordan called a White House number twice, Ms.
Lewinsky three times, and Mr. Carter four times.(947)
Mr. Carter testified that his phone conversations with Mr.
Jordan this day and the next "likely" related to Ms. Lewinsky and
his litigation strategy for her.(948) In fact, Mr. Carter billed
Ms. Lewinsky for time for "[t]elephone conference with Atty
Jordan."(949)
When questioned in the grand jury, Mr. Jordan testified that
he could not specifically remember the January 6 calls. He said
he "assumed" that he talked with Ms. Lewinsky about her job
search, and he believed that he called Mr. Carter to see "how he
was dealing with this highly emotional lady."(950) He said that he
might have talked with the President about Ms. Lewinsky, but he
maintained that "there [was] no connection" between his 13-minute
conversation with the President and the call he placed
immediately thereafter to Mr. Carter.(951)
D. January 7: Ms. Lewinsky Signs Affidavit
Ms. Lewinsky set an appointment with Mr. Carter to finalize
the affidavit for 10 a.m. on January 7, 1998.(952) She signed the
affidavit; however, she acknowledged in the grand jury that
statements in it were false.(953) Mr. Carter indicated to her that
he "intend[ed] to hold onto this until after I talk to
plaintiff's lawyers." He told her to "keep in touch," and said:
"Good luck on your job search."(956)
According to Mr. Jordan, Ms. Lewinsky came to his office on
January 7 and showed him the signed affidavit.(957) Over the course
of the day, Mr. Jordan placed three calls of significant duration
to the White House.(958) He testified: "I knew the President was
concerned about the affidavit and whether it was signed or
not."(959) When asked whether the President understood that the
affidavit denied a sexual relationship, Mr. Jordan testified: "I
think that's a reasonable assumption."(960) According to Mr.
Jordan, when he informed the President that Ms. Lewinsky had
signed the affidavit, the President said, "Fine, good."(961) Mr.
Jordan said he was continuing to work on her job, and the
President responded, "Good."(962)
Ten days after this conversation, in the Jones deposition,
President Clinton was asked whether he knew that Ms. Lewinsky had
met with Vernon Jordan and talked about the Jones case. He
answered:
I knew he met with her. I think Betty
suggested that he meet with her. Anyway, he
met with her. I, I thought that he talked to
her about something else. I didn't know that
-- I thought he had given her some advice
about her move to New York. Seems like
that's what Betty said.(963)
In his grand jury appearance, however, President Clinton
testified that Mr. Jordan informed "us" on January 7 that Ms.
Lewinsky had signed an affidavit to be used in connection with
the Jones case.(964) The President defended his deposition
testimony by stating:
[M]y impression was that, at the time, I was
focused on the meetings. I believe the
meetings he had were meetings about her
moving to New York and getting a job.
I knew at some point that she had told him
that she needed some help, because she had
gotten a subpoena. I'm not sure I know
whether she did that in a meeting or a phone
call. And I was not, I was not focused on
that. I know that, I know Vernon helped her
get a lawyer, Mr. Carter. And I, I believe
that he did it after she had called him, but
I'm not sure. But I knew that the main
source of their meetings was about her move
to New York and her getting a job.(965)
E. January 8: The Perelman Call
The day after she signed the affidavit, January 8, 1998, Ms.
Lewinsky interviewed in New York with Jaymie Durnan, Senior Vice
President and Special Assistant to the Chairman at MacAndrews &
Forbes Holdings, Inc. (MFH).(966) Mr. Durnan testified that,
although impressive, Ms. Lewinsky was not suited for any MFH
opening.(967) He told her that he would pass on her resume to
Revlon, an MFH company.(968) Ms. Lewinsky called Mr. Jordan and
reported that she felt that the interview had gone "very
poorly."(969) Mr. Jordan indicated in response that "he'd call the
chairman."(970)
At 4:54 p.m., Mr. Jordan called Ronald Perelman, chairman
and chief executive officer of MFH.(971) Mr. Jordan told the grand
jury with respect to Mr. Perelman, one "[c]an't get any higher --
or any richer."(972) Asked why he chose to call Mr. Perelman, Mr.
Jordan responded: "I have spent a good part of my life learning
institutions and people, and, in that process, I have learned how
to make things happen. And the call to Ronald Perelman was a
call to make things happen, if they could happen."(973)
According to Mr. Perelman, Mr. Jordan spoke of "this bright
young girl, who I think is terrific," and said that he wanted "to
make sure somebody takes a look at her."(977) Mr. Perelman
testified that, in the roughly twelve years that Mr. Jordan had
been on Revlon's Board of Directors, he did not recall Mr. Jordan
ever calling to recommend someone.(978)
After he spoke with Mr. Perelman, Mr. Jordan telephoned Ms.
Lewinsky and told her, "I'm doing the best I can to help you
out."(982) Ms. Lewinsky soon received a call from Revlon, inviting
her to another interview.(984)
Over the course of January 8, Mr. Jordan placed three calls
to the White House -- twice to a number at the White House
Counsel's Office, once to the main White House number.(985) As to
the Counsel's Office calls, Mr. Jordan speculated that he was
trying to reach Cheryl Mills, Deputy White House Counsel, to
express his "frustration" about Ms. Lewinsky.(986) According to Mr.
Jordan, Ms. Mills knew who Ms. Lewinsky was: "[T]hat was no
secret, I don't think, around the White House, that I was helping
Monica Lewinsky."(987)