High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Case Against Bill Clinton (8 page)
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Authors: Ann Coulter
BOOK: High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Case Against Bill Clinton
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The odd thing was that Clinton bothered to deviate at all from the “deny, deny, deny” strategy he had outlined for Gennifer Flowers years ago on
her
tapes. Flowers had made tapes of some of her conversations with then-Governor Clinton that pretty clearly corroborated her claimed affair with him. Presumably, Clinton lawyer Bob Bennett was aware of the Flowers tapes and had sternly advised his client about the penalties for perjury. Clinton had, after all, conceded the authenticity of Flowers’s tapes by apologizing to then-Governor Mario Cuomo of New York for remarks he had made on the tapes—while denying their authenticity as to anything suggesting he had had an affair with Flowers. Clinton can be heard on the tapes remarking that Cuomo “acts like a Mafioso,” and calling him a “mean son of a bitch.” After Flowers released the tapes, Clinton moved quickly to shore up the Italian vote, saying, “If the remarks on the tape left anyone with the impression that I was disrespectful to either Governor Cuomo or Italian-Americans, then I deeply regret it.” (Cuomo initially refused the “if/then” apology.)
her
tapes. Flowers had made tapes of some of her conversations with then-Governor Clinton that pretty clearly corroborated her claimed affair with him. Presumably, Clinton lawyer Bob Bennett was aware of the Flowers tapes and had sternly advised his client about the penalties for perjury. Clinton had, after all, conceded the authenticity of Flowers’s tapes by apologizing to then-Governor Mario Cuomo of New York for remarks he had made on the tapes—while denying their authenticity as to anything suggesting he had had an affair with Flowers. Clinton can be heard on the tapes remarking that Cuomo “acts like a Mafioso,” and calling him a “mean son of a bitch.” After Flowers released the tapes, Clinton moved quickly to shore up the Italian vote, saying, “If the remarks on the tape left anyone with the impression that I was disrespectful to either Governor Cuomo or Italian-Americans, then I deeply regret it.” (Cuomo initially refused the “if/then” apology.)
Still: “Once”?
Chapter Four
The Monica Story Breaks: Clinton’s Legacy Is Formed
Late on Saturday night,
January 17, the day of Clinton’s deposition, Matt Drudge broke the story of the Lewinsky-Tripp tapes in his “Drudge Report” on the Internet in a “World Exclusive.” Three nights later, the
Washington Post
released the story on its web site, running it as the front-page story of its Wednesday edition. (And
Newsweek
’s web page included a lengthy section on why their senior editors in New York had spiked Michael Isikoff’s story that Saturday, which would have been the original “World Exclusive” on the Lewinsky matter.)
January 17, the day of Clinton’s deposition, Matt Drudge broke the story of the Lewinsky-Tripp tapes in his “Drudge Report” on the Internet in a “World Exclusive.” Three nights later, the
Washington Post
released the story on its web site, running it as the front-page story of its Wednesday edition. (And
Newsweek
’s web page included a lengthy section on why their senior editors in New York had spiked Michael Isikoff’s story that Saturday, which would have been the original “World Exclusive” on the Lewinsky matter.)
As each additional fact came out, day after day, and hour after hour, the possibility that there would be an innocent explanation became increasingly remote. All the pieces would fit together only if the true explanation was the one Lewinsky gave on the tapes, rather than the version in her affidavit. Apart from the immortal “kiss it,” the remainder of Clinton’s legacy was formed that week.
On Wednesday, January 21, MacAndrews & Forbes, which owns Revlon, released a statement admitting that Lewinsky had been offered a public-relations job with Revlon on the recommendation of Revlon board member Vernon Jordan. In light of the circumstances, the statement said, they were rescinding the offer. Revlon had extended the offer a few days after receiving a call from Jordan requesting that Lewinsky be made a job offer. Jordan made the call on January 8, the day after Lewinsky had signed the affidavit. Job offer in hand, Lewinsky submitted her signed affidavit to the
Jones
court on January 16.
1
Jones
court on January 16.
1
Also the next day, the president, looking very guilty, said “there is no improper relationship.” When asked if there ever was an improper relationship, he replied he would cooperate fully with the investigation. Somehow, that didn’t end the matter.
Again and again he denied that he had used Lewinsky for oral sex, saying, “These allegations are false.” But leaks from Clinton’s deposition had recently established that Clinton had finally come clean about the Flowers affair, which he had also once described as “false.” Clinton’s individualized understandings of words appeared to include interpreting the word “false” to sometimes mean “true.”
On January 26, the day before his State of the Union address, the president went before the cameras from the Roosevelt Room of the White House, with the little woman at his side. He said: “I want to say one thing to the American people. I want you to listen to me. I’m going to say this again. I did not have sexual relations with that woman—Miss Lewinsky.”
That still, somehow, didn’t end things.
The very first news reports on the Lewinsky tapes noted that an important piece of evidence of Lewinsky’s credibility on the tapes would be the WAVES logs kept by the Secret Service. Lewinsky had told Tripp of sex sessions with Clinton since she had left the White House in April 1996. If she was telling the truth, the logs would have to show the former low-level staffer being cleared to enter the White House since April 1996. The White House would have every reason to divulge the logs to the press voluntarily if they were Lewinsky-free. The White House did not release the logs.
Interestingly, according to sources at the White House cited in the
Washington Post
, the logs were not released this time around because with the Lewinsky matter “the danger is legal and thus far more serious.”
2
So while White House flacks fanned out across the nation’s airwaves to insist the investigation was only “about sex,” not obstruction of justice, perjury, suborning perjury, or witness tampering, the White House kept the visitor logs under wraps—because of the legal issues at stake in the Lewinsky matter.
Washington Post
, the logs were not released this time around because with the Lewinsky matter “the danger is legal and thus far more serious.”
2
So while White House flacks fanned out across the nation’s airwaves to insist the investigation was only “about sex,” not obstruction of justice, perjury, suborning perjury, or witness tampering, the White House kept the visitor logs under wraps—because of the legal issues at stake in the Lewinsky matter.
Jones’s lawyers had, however, subpoenaed the Secret Service logs. At first, the administration refused to produce them, citing:
executive privilege
, the Nixon dodge. The logs were eventually produced. The records showed that Lewinsky had visited the White House thirty-seven times since she began working at the Pentagon. It was later learned that some of Lewinsky’s visits to her pal Betty Currie took place while Currie was on vacation.
executive privilege
, the Nixon dodge. The logs were eventually produced. The records showed that Lewinsky had visited the White House thirty-seven times since she began working at the Pentagon. It was later learned that some of Lewinsky’s visits to her pal Betty Currie took place while Currie was on vacation.
Clinton’s former press secretary, Dee Dee Myers, said she hadn’t visited the White House that many times since leaving. “There’s no way to convince the American people that thirty-seven visits to the White House by a former intern is routine. That’s extraordinary… and raises a lot of questions.”
3
3
Soon Clinton’s answers to questions during his deposition came out. Not only had he lied about Gennifer Flowers, but he had also admitted he might have given young Monica a brooch, a dress, a hat pin, a book of poetry, and other assorted items. Giving a single dress to each of the hundreds of female White House interns alone would have been a dazzling financial feat, even for a president who was not simultaneously amassing enormous legal bills.
RECIPE FOR PERJURYOn one small point,
Clinton’s deposition testimony contradicted Lewinsky’s sworn affidavit. She had sworn in paragraph 8 of her declaration: “The occasions that I saw the President after I left employment at the White House in April, 1996, were official receptions, formal functions or events related to the U.S. Department of Defense, where I was working at the time. There were other people present on those occasions.”
4
Clinton’s deposition testimony contradicted Lewinsky’s sworn affidavit. She had sworn in paragraph 8 of her declaration: “The occasions that I saw the President after I left employment at the White House in April, 1996, were official receptions, formal functions or events related to the U.S. Department of Defense, where I was working at the time. There were other people present on those occasions.”
4
By contrast, Clinton remembered right off the bat seeing Lewinsky outside his office in late December 1997. No official reception, formal function, or other event, just Monica right outside his office. And this he remembered without having the luxury of time to refresh his recollection and confer with lawyers before answering, as had Lewinsky. The leader of the free world recalled a chance meeting with a former White House intern that had evidently not made much of an impression on the intern. It must have slipped her mind.
He did interpose a cover for their meeting: his secretary, Betty Currie. In fact, it was Currie whom Lewinsky had come to see. “She came by to see Betty sometime before Christmas. And she was there talking to her, and I stuck my head out, said hello to her.”
5
First Currie had asked Clinton to bring some gifts to Lewinsky from The Black Dog, and then she starts inviting Lewinsky to drop by the White House to visit. That Betty palling around with Monica was going to cause the president no end of trouble.
5
First Currie had asked Clinton to bring some gifts to Lewinsky from The Black Dog, and then she starts inviting Lewinsky to drop by the White House to visit. That Betty palling around with Monica was going to cause the president no end of trouble.
In an immunity-less proffer negotiated by her lawyer, William Ginsburg, Lewinsky told a different story altogether: it was at that late December meeting,
6
she says, that Clinton told her to say her visits to the White House were to see Currie, and not to see him. Betty Currie has testified that Lewinsky and the president were sometimes alone in his office, though she apparently does not know if they had a sexual relationship.
SUPER LAWYER VERNON JORDAN6
she says, that Clinton told her to say her visits to the White House were to see Currie, and not to see him. Betty Currie has testified that Lewinsky and the president were sometimes alone in his office, though she apparently does not know if they had a sexual relationship.
Then there was the matter
of Vernon Jordan. In the tape-recorded conversations, Lewinsky says super lawyer Jordan informed her that perjury in civil cases is rarely prosecuted. In her proffer to the independent counsel, Lewinsky said she told Jordan she had had sex with Clinton and that she planned to lie to the court, without cavil from Jordan.
7
After testifying before the grand jury, Jordan said, “I did not in any way tell her, encourage her, to lie.”
of Vernon Jordan. In the tape-recorded conversations, Lewinsky says super lawyer Jordan informed her that perjury in civil cases is rarely prosecuted. In her proffer to the independent counsel, Lewinsky said she told Jordan she had had sex with Clinton and that she planned to lie to the court, without cavil from Jordan.
7
After testifying before the grand jury, Jordan said, “I did not in any way tell her, encourage her, to lie.”
Jordan did, however, get her a job and get her a lawyer—who would help her draft her perjurious affidavit denying she had ever had sexual relations with the president. Jordan’s strenuous efforts on behalf of a twenty-four-year-old former intern would be odd enough if she had been
his
intern. Lewinsky’s only connection to Jordan was through Clinton.
his
intern. Lewinsky’s only connection to Jordan was through Clinton.
According to Lewinsky’s proffer to the independent counsel in early March, Clinton advised her that she could avoid giving a deposition in the
Jones
case if she were in New York.
8
Jordan told the grand jury that he personally gave the president regular progress reports on his efforts to get Lewinsky a job. He partially confirmed Clinton’s statement that Betty Currie was the one who referred Lewinsky to him. Yet he also explained that he assumed the referral was made at the president’s request.
9
Jones
case if she were in New York.
8
Jordan told the grand jury that he personally gave the president regular progress reports on his efforts to get Lewinsky a job. He partially confirmed Clinton’s statement that Betty Currie was the one who referred Lewinsky to him. Yet he also explained that he assumed the referral was made at the president’s request.
9
Jordan insisted, “[M]y efforts to find her a job were not a quid pro quo for the affidavit that she signed.”
10
On NBC’s
Today
show Hillary Clinton explained Vernon Jordan’s herculean efforts to land a job for the Valley Girl intern by noting “how outgoing and friendly Vernon Jordan is” and saying that “he has helped literally hundreds of people—and it doesn’t matter who they are.”
11
THE TALKING POINTS10
On NBC’s
Today
show Hillary Clinton explained Vernon Jordan’s herculean efforts to land a job for the Valley Girl intern by noting “how outgoing and friendly Vernon Jordan is” and saying that “he has helped literally hundreds of people—and it doesn’t matter who they are.”
11
Most mysterious were
the talking points. On Wednesday, January 14, 1998, two days before Starr’s deputies confronted Lewinsky at the Ritz Carlton Hotel—and the day after they had wired Tripp to tape a conversation with Lewinsky—Lewinsky handed Tripp a typed, three-page, single-spaced document titled “Points to Make in an Affidavit.” In addition to advising Tripp to be a “team player,” the document told her exactly how—providing Tripp specific points to make that would benefit Clinton in the sexual harassment suit.
the talking points. On Wednesday, January 14, 1998, two days before Starr’s deputies confronted Lewinsky at the Ritz Carlton Hotel—and the day after they had wired Tripp to tape a conversation with Lewinsky—Lewinsky handed Tripp a typed, three-page, single-spaced document titled “Points to Make in an Affidavit.” In addition to advising Tripp to be a “team player,” the document told her exactly how—providing Tripp specific points to make that would benefit Clinton in the sexual harassment suit.
The proposed “recollections” were not exclusively, nor even primarily, about Lewinsky. They were about Kathleen Willey—whom Tripp was on record as having seen emerging from the Oval Office “disheveled” on the day Willey says she was groped by the president. Tripp was instructed to declare:
You now do not believe that what [Willey] claimed happened really happened. You now find it completely plausible that she herself smeared her lipstick, untucked blouse, etc. You never saw her go into the Oval Office, or come out of the Oval Office. You have never observed the President behaving inappropriately with anybody.
As to Lewinsky herself, the talking points advised Tripp to denounce Lewinsky as “this huge liar,” and to claim, “I found out she left the WH because she was stalking the P[resident] or something like that.” Finally the talking points requested that Tripp submit her affidavit to “Bennett’s people” for review before turning it over to Jones’s lawyers. Once again, Lewinsky, if not “the Big He,” is caught dead to rights suborning perjury—even if she is “this huge liar.”
Like Craig Livingstone—the former bar bouncer turned White House director of personnel security who was caught with nine hundred FBI files in the White House—the only explanation for the talking points is that they materialized out of thin air.
If Lewinsky did type the talking points—and phrases like “this huge liar” suggest that possibility—there is little doubt that she was coached by someone, presumably a lawyer. The points read like a valley girl’s transcription of a lawyer’s advice. Most implausibly, the talking points concern a certain “Jane Doe” in the
Jones
case who would not be at the top of Lewinsky’s concerns. Willey was of great concern to Clinton; Lewinsky was mainly concerned with getting a job in New York and preventing “the Big Creep” from finding out that she had been talking about their “affair.” The request to let “Bennett’s people” review the final declaration doesn’t make any sense coming from Lewinsky. By all accounts, Monica was primarily interested in Monica.
Jones
case who would not be at the top of Lewinsky’s concerns. Willey was of great concern to Clinton; Lewinsky was mainly concerned with getting a job in New York and preventing “the Big Creep” from finding out that she had been talking about their “affair.” The request to let “Bennett’s people” review the final declaration doesn’t make any sense coming from Lewinsky. By all accounts, Monica was primarily interested in Monica.
The leading candidates for talking points coach are Vernon Jordan, Clinton aide Bruce Lindsey, and of course the only person who would personally benefit from Tripp’s suborned perjury—Clinton himself.
12
Lewinsky reportedly loathed Lindsey, and Jordan reportedly is not an idiot. Of the three, Clinton is the only one known to have left messages on Lewinsky’s home answering machine.
12
Lewinsky reportedly loathed Lindsey, and Jordan reportedly is not an idiot. Of the three, Clinton is the only one known to have left messages on Lewinsky’s home answering machine.
Though it seems incredible that the president of the United States would be coaching a twenty-four-year-old former intern on how to tamper with a witness, it is also incredible that the president of the United States would be getting oral sex from a twenty-something intern, sending her love tokens, and leaving messages on her answering machine.
Moreover, according to news accounts of Lewinsky’s proffer, Clinton was the one who told her how to commit another felony. Clinton is said to have advised the intern that she could trip up the Jones lawyers’ subpoena for any gifts he had given her if she relinquished possession of the gifts. Following his advice, Lewinsky packed up the gifts and sent them to Betty Currie. Then Betty Currie took them straight to Ken Starr.
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