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The content of the following materials are verbatim as forwarded by the Office of the Independent Counsel. There is no rebuttal, analysis or other material provided here. Only the facts uncovered by the Independant counsel, appointed by members of President Clinton's democratic administration will be found here. You will have to make up your own mind. Cover Page Table of Contents Chronology Table of Names The Principals The First Family Presidential Aides/Advisors/Assistants Other White House Personnel Department of Defense Employees Monica Lewinsky's Friends/Family/Acquaintances Monica Lewinsky's New York Employment Contacts Secret Service Lawyers and Judges Media Foreign Dignitaries Other
Introduction Factual Background The Investigation The Significance of the Evidence of Wrongdoing The Scope of the Referral 1. Background of the Investigation. 2. Current Status of the Investigation. The Contents of the Referral
Narrative I. Nature of President Clinton's Relationship with Monica Lewinsky A. Introduction B. Evidence Establishing Nature of Relationship 1. Physical Evidence 2. Ms. Lewinsky's Statements 3. Ms. Lewinsky's Confidants 4. Documents 5. Consistency and Corroboration C. Sexual Contacts 1. The President's Accounts a. Jones Testimony b. Grand Jury Testimony 2. Ms. Lewinsky's Account D. Emotional Attachment E. Conversations and Phone Messages F. Gifts G. Messages H. Secrecy 1. Mutual Understanding 2. Cover Stories 3. Steps to Avoid Being Seen or Heard 4. Ms. Lewinsky's Notes and Letters 5. Ms. Lewinsky's Evaluation of Their Secrecy Efforts
II. 1995: Initial Sexual Encounters A. Overview of Monica Lewinsky's White House Employment B. First Meetings with the President C. November 15 Sexual Encounter D. November 17 Sexual Encounter E. December 31 Sexual Encounter F. President's Account of 1995 Relationship
III. January-March 1996: Continued Sexual Encounters A. January 7 Sexual Encounter B. January 21 Sexual Encounter C. February 4 Sexual Encounter and Subsequent Phone Calls D. President's Day (February 19) Break-up E. Continuing Contacts F. March 31 Sexual Encounter
IV. April 1996: Ms. Lewinsky's Transfer to the Pentagon A. Earlier Observations of Ms. Lewinsky in the West Wing B. Decision to Transfer Ms. Lewinsky C. Ms. Lewinsky's Notification of Her Transfer D. Conversations with the President about Her Transfer 1. Easter Telephone Conversations and Sexual Encounter 2. April 12-13: Telephone Conversations
V. April-December 1996: No Private Meetings A. Pentagon Job B. No Physical Contact C. Telephone Conversations D. Public Encounters E. Ms. Lewinsky's Frustrations
VI. Early 1997: Resumption of Sexual Encounters A. Resumption of Meetings with the President 1. Role of Betty Currie a. Arranging Meetings b. Intermediary for Gifts c. Secrecy 2. Observations by Secret Service Officers B. Valentine's Day Advertisement C. February 24 Message D. February 28 Sexual Encounter E. March 29 Sexual Encounter F. Continuing Job Efforts
VII. May 1997: Termination of Sexual Relationship A. Questions about Ms. Lewinsky's Discretion B. May 24: Break-up
VIII. June-October 1997: Continuing Meetings and Calls A. Continuing Job Efforts B. July 3 Letter C. July 4 Meeting D. July 14-15 Discussions of Linda Tripp E. July 16 Meeting with Marsha Scott F. July 24 Meeting G. Newsweek Article and Its Aftermath H. August 16 Meeting I. Continuing Job Efforts J. Black Dog Gifts K. Lucy Mercer Letter and Involvement of Chief of Staff L. News of Job Search Failure
IX. October-November 1997: United Nations' Job Offer A. October 10: Telephone Conversation B. October 11 Meeting C. October 16-17: The "Wish List D. The President Creates Options E. The U.N. Interview and Job Offer F. The U.N. Job Offer Declined
X. November 1997: Growing Frustration A. Interrogatories Answered B. First Vernon Jordan Meeting C. November 13: The Zedillo Visit D. November 14-December 4: Inability to See the President
XI. December 5-18, 1997: The Witness List and Job Search A. December 5: The Witness List B. December 5: Christmas Party at the White House C. December 6: The Northwest Gate Incident 1. Initial Visit and Rejection 2. Ms. Lewinsky Returns to the White House 3. "Whatever Just Happened Didn't Happen" D. The President Confers with His Lawyers E. Second Jordan Meeting F. Early Morning Phone Call G. Job Interviews
XII. December 19, 1997 - January 4, 1998: The Subpoena A. December 19: Ms. Lewinsky Is Subpoenaed B. December 22: Meeting with Vernon Jordan C. December 22: First Meeting with Francis Carter D. December 23: Clinton Denials to Paula Jones E. December 28: Final Meeting with the President E. December 28: Concealment of Gifts D. December 31: Breakfast with Vernon Jordan E. January 4: The Final Gift
XIII. January 5-January 16, 1998: The Affidavit A. January 5: Francis Carter Meeting B. January 5: Call from the President C. January 6: The Draft Affidavit D. January 7: Ms. Lewinsky Signs Affidavit E. January 8: The Perelman Call F. January 9: "Mission Accomplished" G. January 12: Pre-Trial Hearing in Jones Case H. January 13: References from the White House I. January 13: Final Jordan Meeting J. January 13-14: Lewinsky-Tripp Conversation and Talking Points K. January 15: The Isikoff Call L. January 15-16: Developments in the Jones Law Suit
XIV. January 17, 1998-Present: The Deposition and Afterward A. January 17: The Deposition B. The President Meets with Ms. Currie C. January 18-19: Attempts to Reach Ms. Lewinsky D. January 20-22: Lewinsky Story Breaks 1. "Clinton Accused" 2. Denials to Aides 3. Initial Denials to the American Public 4. "We Just Have To Win" Grounds There is Substantial and Credible Information that President Clinton Committed Acts that May Constitute Grounds for an Impeachment Introduction I. There is substantial and credible information that President Clinton lied under oath as a defendant in Jones v. Clinton regarding his sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky. (1) He denied that he had a "sexual relationship" with (2) He denied that he had a "sexual affair" with Monica (3) He denied that he had "sexual relations" with Monica (4) He denied that he engaged in or caused contact with the (5) He denied that he made contact with Monica Lewinsky's A. Evidence that President Clinton Lied Under Oath During the Civil Case 1. President Clinton's Statements Under Oath About Monica Lewinsky 2. Monica Lewinsky's Testimony (i) Wednesday, November 15, 1995 (ii) Friday, November 17, 1995 (iii) Sunday, December 31, 1995 (iv) Sunday, January 7, 1996 (v) Sunday, January 21, 1996 (vi) Sunday, February 4, 1996 (vii) Sunday, March 31, 1996 (viii) Sunday, April 7, 1996 (ix) Friday, February 28, 1997 (x) Saturday, March 29, 1997 (xi) Two Subsequent Meetings 3. Phone Sex 4. Physical Evidence 5. Testimony of Ms. Lewinsky's Friends, Family Members, and Counselors (i) Catherine Allday Davis (ii) Neysa Erbland (iii) Natalie Rose Ungvari (iv) Ashley Raines (v) Andrew Bleiler (vi) Dr. Irene Kassorla (vii) Linda Tripp (viii) Debra Finerman (ix) Dale Young (x) Kathleen Estep 6. Summary
II. There is substantial and credible information that President Clinton lied under oath to the grand jury about his sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky. A. Background B. The President's Grand Jury Testimony C. Summary
III. There is substantial and credible information that President Clinton lied under oath during his civil deposition when he stated that he could not recall being alone with Monica Lewinsky and when he minimized the number of gifts they had exchanged. A. There is substantial and credible information that President Clinton lied under oath when he testified that he could not specifically recall instances in which he was alone with Monica Lewinsky. 1. The President's Civil Deposition Testimony 2. Evidence That Contradicts the President's Testimony 3. The President's Grand Jury Testimony 4. Summary B. There is substantial and credible information that the President lied under oath in his civil deposition about gifts he exchanged with Monica Lewinsky. 1. The President's Civil Deposition Testimony About His Gifts to Monica Lewinsky 2. Evidence that Contradicts the President's Civil Deposition Testimony 3. President's Civil Deposition Testimony About Gifts from Monica Lewinsky to the President 4. Evidence that Contradicts the President's Testimony (i) Monica Lewinsky's Testimony 5. Grand Jury Testimony of the President and Ms. Currie 6. Summary
IV. There is substantial and credible information that the President lied under oath during his civil deposition concerning conversations he had with Monica Lewinsky about her involvement in the Jones case. A. Conversations with Ms. Lewinsky Regarding the Possibility of Her Testifying in the Jones Case 1. President Clinton's Testimony in His Deposition 2. Evidence that Contradicts the President's Civil Deposition Testimony (i) Ms. Lewinsky's Testimony (ii) The President's Grand Jury Testimony 3. Summary B. There is substantial and credible information that President Clinton lied under oath in his civil deposition when he denied knowing that Ms. Lewinsky had received her subpoena at the time he had last talked to her. 1. Evidence 2. Summary
V. There is substantial and credible information that President Clinton endeavored to obstruct justice by engaging in a pattern of activity to conceal evidence regarding his relationship with Monica Lewinsky from the judicial process in the Jones case. The pattern included: (i) concealment of gifts that the President had given Ms. Lewinsky and that were subpoenaed from Ms. Lewinsky in the Jones case; and ii) concealment of a note sent by Ms. Lewinsky to the President on January 5, 1998. A. Concealment of Gifts 1. Evidence Regarding Gifts 2. The President's Grand Jury Testimony 3. Summary of Gifts B. January 5, 1998, Note to the President 1. Evidence Regarding the January 5, 1998 Note 2. President Clinton's Testimony 3. Summary on January 5, 1998, Note
VI. There is substantial and credible information that (i) President Clinton and Ms. Lewinsky had an understanding that they would lie under oath in the Jones case about their relationship; and (ii) President Clinton endeavored to obstruct justice by suggesting that Ms. Lewinsky file an affidavit so that she would not be deposed, she would not contradict his testimony, and he could attempt to avoid questions about Ms. Lewinsky at his deposition. A. Evidence Regarding Affidavit and Use of Affidavit B. Summary of President's Grand Jury Testimony C. Evidence Regarding Cover Stories D. The President's Grand Jury Testimony on Cover Stories E. Summary
VII. There is substantial and credible information that President Clinton endeavored to obstruct justice by helping Ms. Lewinsky obtain a job in New York at a time when she would have been a witness against him were she to tell the truth during the Jones case. A. Evidence B. Summary
VIII. There is substantial and credible information that the President lied under oath in describing his conversations with Vernon Jordan about Ms. Lewinsky. A. President's Testimony in the Jones Case B. Evidence That Contradicts the President's Civil Deposition C. Summary
IX. There is substantial and credible information that President Clinton endeavored to obstruct justice by attempting to influence the testimony of Betty Currie. A. Evidence 1. Saturday, January 17, 1998, Deposition 2. Sunday, January 18, 1998, Meeting with Ms. Currie 3. Conversation Between the President and Ms. Currie on Tuesday, January 20, 1998, or Wednesday, January 21, 1998. B. The President's Grand Jury Testimony C. Summary
X. There is substantial and credible information that President Clinton endeavored to obstruct justice during the federal grand jury investigation. While refusing to testify for seven months, he simultaneously lied to potential grand jury witnesses knowing that they would relay the falsehoods to the grand jury. A. The Testimony of Current and Former Aides 1. John Podesta 2. Erskine Bowles 3. Sidney Blumenthal 4. Harold Ickes B. The President's Grand Jury Testimony C. Summary
XI. There is substantial and credible information that President Clinton's actions since January 17, 1998, regarding his relationship with Monica Lewinsky have been inconsistent with the President's constitutional duty to faithfully execute the laws. A. Beginning on January 21, 1998, the President misled the American people and Congress regarding the truth of his relationship with Ms. Lewinsky. B. The First Lady, the Cabinet, the President's staff, and the President's associates relied on and publicly emphasized the President's denial. C. The President repeatedly and unlawfully invoked the Executive Privilege to conceal evidence of his personal misconduct from the grand jury. D. The President refused six invitations to testify to the grand jury, thereby delaying expeditious resolution of this matter, and then refused to answer relevant questions before the grand jury when he testified in August 1998. E. The President misled the American people and the Congress in his public statement on August 17, 1998, when he stated that his answers at his civil deposition in January had been "legally accurate." F. Summary End Page
Key Dates
November 1992 William Jefferson Clinton elected President of the United States
May 1994 Paula Jones files lawsuit against President Clinton
July 1995 Monica S. Lewinsky begins White House internship
November 15, 1995 President begins sexual relationship with Lewinsky
April 5, 1996 Lewinsky transferred from White House to Pentagon
November 1996 President Clinton reelected
March 29, 1997 Last intimate contact between President and Monica Lewinsky
December 5, 1997 Lewinsky appears on Jones Witness List
December 19, 1997 Lewinsky served with subpoena to appear at deposition and produce gifts from President Clinton
December 24, 1998 Lewinsky's last day of work at the Pentagon
December 28, 1997 Lewinsky meets with the President and receives gifts; later gives box of gifts from the President to Betty Currie.
January 7, 1998 Lewinsky signs affidavit intended for filing in Jones case.
January 13, 1998 Lewinsky accepts job offer at Revlon in New York
January 16, 1998 Special Division appoints Independent Counsel Kenneth W. Starr to investigate Lewinsky matter
January 17, 1998 President deposed in Jones case
January 18, 1998 President meets with Betty Currie to discuss President's deposition
January 21, 1998 Lewinsky matter reported in press; President denies allegations of a sexual relationship and of suborning perjury
April 1, 1998 Judge Wright grants summary judgment for President Clinton in the Jones litigation
July 17, 1998 President served with grand jury subpoena, later withdrawn in return for testimony
July 28, 1998 Immunity/Cooperation Agreement reached between Lewinsky and OIC
August 17, 1998 President testifies before the grand jury; later he publicly acknowledges improper relationship
September 9, 1998 OIC submits Referral to Congress pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 595(c)
Table of Names
The Principals
William Jefferson Clinton President of the United States
Paula Corbin Jones Plaintiff in a civil suit against President Clinton
Monica Lewinsky Former White House Intern and Employee
Betty Currie Personal Secretary to the President
Vernon Jordan Friend of President Clinton, and Partner at Law Firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld
The First Family
Hillary Rodham Clinton First Lady of the United States
Chelsea Clinton Daughter of the President and First Lady
Presidential Aides/Advisors/Assistants
Madeline Albright Secretary of State
Sidney Blumenthal Assistant to the President
Erskine Bowles White House Chief of Staff
Lanny Bruer Special Counsel to the President
Stephen Goodin Aide to President Clinton
Nancy Hernreich Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Oval Office Operations
John Hilley Assistant to the President and Director of Legislative Affairs; Monica Lewinsky's Supervisor
Harold Ickes Former Deputy Chief of Staff
Janis Kearney Special Assistant to the President and Records Manager
Timothy Keating Special Assistant to the President and Staff Director for Legislative Affairs; Monica Lewinsky's Immediate Supervisor
Ann Lewis Director, White House Communications
Evelyn Lieberman Former Deputy Chief of Staff
Bruce Lindsey Deputy White House Counsel
Sylvia Mathews Deputy White House Chief of Staff
Thomas "Mack" McLarty Former White House Chief of Staff
Cheryl Mills Deputy White House Counsel
Dick Morris Former Advisor to President Clinton
Bob Nash Assistant to the President and Director of Presidential Personnel
Leon Panetta Former White House Chief of Staff
John Podesta Deputy White House Chief of Staff
Hon. Bill Richardson U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
Charles Ruff White House Counsel
Marsha Scott Deputy Director of Personnel
George Stephanopoulous Former Senior Advisor for Policy and Strategy
Barry Toiv Deputy White House Press Secretary
Other White House Personnel
Karin Joyce Abramson Former Director of the White House Intern Program
Caroline Badinelli Former White House Intern
Douglas Band Former White House Intern
Tracy Anne Bobowick Former White House Employee, Correspondence Office
Laura Capps Former White House Intern
Jay Footlik Former Employee of the Office of Presidential Personnel
Patrick Griffin Former Assistant to the President and Director of Legislative Affairs
George Hannie White House Butler
Jocelyn Jolley Former Director of Congressional Correspondence in the White House
Maureen Lewis Former White House Employee, Correspondence Office
Glen Maes White House Steward to President Clinton
Bayani Nelvis White House Steward to President Clinton
Charles O'Malley White House Operations Deputy Chief
Jennifer Palmieri Former Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff
Debra Schiff Receptionist, West Wing Lobby
Jamie Beth Schwartz Former Special Assistant to the Social Secretary in the White House Social Office
Patsy Thomasson Director of the Office ofAdministration, Executive Office of the President
Kathleen Willey Former White House Volunteer
Michael Williams Former White House Intern
Department of Defense Employees
Kenneth Bacon Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs; Monica Lewinsky's Pentagon Supervisor
Elizabeth Bailey Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for White House Liaison
Clifford Bernath Former Deputy to Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs
Donna Boltz Assistant in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs
Jeremy "Mike" Boorda Admiral, United States Navy (deceased)
Richard Bridges Colonel, Director for Defense Information
Rebecca Cooper Chief of Staff, United States Mission to the United Nations
Monica Ramirez Cranick Sergeant, Broadcast Engineer, Office of the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs
Marsha Dimel Administrative Support Specialist for Personnel and Administration in the National Security Council
Charles Duncan Former Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs
Kate Friedrich Special Assistant, National Security Advisor
Jeff Gradick Commander, Military Assistant to the Deputy Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs
James Graybeal Lt. Commander, Military Assistant to the Deputy Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs
Mark Huffman Office Manager, Office of Public Affairs, United States Department of Defense
Jodi Kessinger Former Administrative Assistant, Office of the National Security Advisor, National Security Council
Janet Reno Attorney General of the United States
Darby Ellen Stott Special Assistant, White House Press Secretary
Mona Sutphen Special Assistant to the United States Ambassador to the United Nations
Robert Tyrer Chief of Staff for the Secretary of Defense
Isabelle Watkins Executive Assistant to Bill Richardson
Monica Lewinsky's Friends/Family/Acquaintances
Andrew Bleiler Former Boyfriend of Monica Lewinsky
Catherine Allday Davis Friend of Monica Lewinky
Kelly Lynn Davis Friend of Monica Lewinsky
Neysa Erbland Friend of Monica Lewinsky
Kathleen Estep Counselor to Monica Lewinsky
Deborah Finerman Aunt of Monica Lewinsky
David Grobanie Owner of Briarwood Bookstore
Dr. Irene Kassorla Therapist to Monica Lewinsky
Walter Kaye Family friend of Monica Lewinsky
Marcia Lewis Mother of Monica Lewinsky
Ashley Raines Friend of Monica Lewinsky and White House Director of Office and Policy Development Operations and Special Liaison
Peter Strauss Husband of Marcia Lewis
Linda Tripp Friend of Monica Lewinsky
Natalie Rose Ungvari Friend of Monica Lewinsky
Dale Young Family friend of Monica Lewinsky
Monica Lewinsky's New York Employment Contacts
Celia Berk Managing Director of Human Resources at Burson-Marstellar
Ursula Fairbairn Executive Vice President, Human Resources and Quality of American Express
Peter Georgescu Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Young & Rubicam
Richard Halerpin Executive Vice President and Special Counsel to the President of Revlon
Barbara Naismith Secretary at American Express
Ronald Perelman Chairman of the Board of McAndrews & Forbes Holding Incorporated
Thomas Schick Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Communications at American Express
Douglas S. Willey Vice President, Hecht-Spencer
Secret Service
William C. Bordley Secret Service Uniformed Officer
Gary Byrne Secret Service Uniformed Officer
Daniel Carbonetti Secret Service Uniformed Officer
Brent Chinery Secret Service Uniformed Officer
Larry Cockell Special Agent In Charge, Secret Service Presidential Protective Division
Douglas Dragotta Secret Service Uniformed Officer
Robert C. Ferguson Secret Service Uniformed Officer
Lewis Fox Retired Secret Service Uniformed Officer
Mathew Fitsch Lt., Secret Service Uniformed Division
Nelson Garabito Secret Service Uniformed Officer
Bryan Hall Secret Service Uniformed Officer
Brian Henderson Secret Service Uniformed Officer
Reginald Hightower Secret Service Uniformed Officer
Oliver Janney Secret Service Uniformed Officer
Greg LaDow Secret Service Uniformed Officer
William Ludtke III Secret Service Uniformed Officer
Tim Lynn Secret Service Uniformed Officer
Lewis Merletti Director, Secret Service
John Muskett Secret Service Uniformed Officer
Fremon Myles, Jr. Secret Service Uniformed Officer
Robert Myrick Secret Service Uniformed Officer
Gary Niedzwieki Secret Service Uniformed Officer
Joe Overstreet Secret Service Uniformed Officer
Steven Pape Secret Service Uniformed Officer
Stacy Porter Secret Service Uniformed Officer
Geoffrey Purdie Secret Service Uniformed Officer, Captain
William Clair Shegogue Secret Service Uniformed Officer
Barry Smith Secret Service Uniformed Officer
William Tyler Secret Service Uniformed Officer
Sandra Verna Secret Service Uniformed Officer
Keith Williams Secret Service Uniformed Officer, Sergeant
Michael Wilson Secret Service Uniformed Officer
Bryant Withrow Lt., Secret Service Uniformed Office Division
Lawyers and Judges
Kirbe Behre Linda Tripp's former attorney
Robert Bennett Attorney for President Clinton
Robert Bittman Deputy Independent Counsel
Plato Cacheris Attorney for Monica Lewinsky
Frank Carter Monica Lewinsky's former attorney
Lloyd Cutler Former White House Counsel
Mitchell Ettinger Attorney for President Clinton
Vince Foster Former Deputy White House Counsel
Hon. Norma Holloway Johnson Chief Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
David Kendall Attorney for President Clinton
Karl Metzner Attorney for Betty Currie
Kathy Sexton Attorney for President Clinton
Hon. Susan Webber Wright U.S. District Judge presiding over Jones v. Clinton civil suit
Hon. David Tatel Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
Media
Matt Drudge Drudge Report
Kristen Ganong Manager of Publications, The Heritage Foundation
Lucianne Goldberg Literary Agent
Michael Isikoff Reporter, Newsweek Magazine
Jim Lehrer Television Journalist
Eleanor Mondale Reporter, CBS News
Susan Schmidt Correspondent, Washington Post
Foreign Dignitaries
Yitzak Rabin Former Prime Minister of Israel
Ernesto Zedillo President of Mexico
Other
Ron Brown Former Commerce Secretary
Patrick Fallon Special Agent, Federal Bureau of Investigation
Webster L. Hubbell Former Associate Attorney General, Friend of the Clinton Family
Introduction
As required by Section 595(c) of Title 28 of the United States Code, the Office of the Independent Counsel ("OIC" or "Office") hereby submits substantial and credible information that President William Jefferson Clinton committed acts that may constitute grounds for an impeachment.(1) The information reveals that President Clinton: lied under oath at a civil deposition while he was a defendant in a sexual harassment lawsuit;
lied under oath to a grand jury;
attempted to influence the testimony of a potential witness who had direct knowledge of facts that would reveal the falsity of his deposition testimony;
attempted to obstruct justice by facilitating a witness's plan to refuse to comply with a subpoena;
attempted to obstruct justice by encouraging a witness to file an affidavit that the President knew would be false, and then by making use of that false affidavit at his own deposition;
lied to potential grand jury witnesses, knowing that they would repeat those lies before the grand jury; and
engaged in a pattern of conduct that was inconsistent with his constitutional duty to faithfully execute the laws. The evidence shows that these acts, and others, were part of a pattern that began as an effort to prevent the disclosure of information about the President's relationship with a former White House intern and employee, Monica S. Lewinsky, and continued as an effort to prevent the information from being disclosed in an ongoing criminal investigation.
Factual Background
In May 1994, Paula Corbin Jones filed a lawsuit against William Jefferson Clinton in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.(2) Ms. Jones alleged that while he was the Governor of Arkansas, President Clinton sexually harassed her during an incident in a Little Rock hotel room.(3) President Clinton denied the allegations. He also challenged the ability of a private litigant to pursue a lawsuit against a sitting President. In May 1997, the Supreme Court unanimously rejected the President's legal argument. The Court concluded that Ms. Jones, "[l]ike every other citizen who properly invokes [the District Court's] jurisdiction . . . has a right to an orderly disposition of her claims," and that therefore Ms. Jones was entitled to pursue her claims while the President was in office.(4) A few months later, the pretrial discovery process began.(5) One sharply disputed issue in the Jones litigation was the extent to which the President would be required to disclose information about sexual relationships he may have had with "other women." Ms. Jones's attorneys sought disclosure of this information, arguing that it was relevant to proving that the President had propositioned Ms. Jones. The President resisted the discovery requests, arguing that evidence of relationships with other women (if any) was irrelevant. In late 1997, the issue was presented to United States District Judge Susan Webber Wright for resolution. Judge Wright's decision was unambiguous. For purposes of pretrial discovery, President Clinton was required to provide certain information about his alleged relationships with other women. In an order dated December 11, 1997, for example, Judge Wright said: "The Court finds, therefore, that the plaintiff is entitled to information regarding any individuals with whom the President had sexual relations or proposed or sought to have sexual relations and who were during the relevant time frame state or federal employees."(6) Judge Wright left for another day the issue whether any information of this type would be admissible were the case to go to trial. But for purposes of answering the written questions served on the President, and for purposes of answering questions at a deposition, the District Court ruled that the President must respond. In mid-December 1997, the President answered one of the written discovery questions posed by Ms. Jones on this issue. When asked to identify all women who were state or federal employees and with whom he had had "sexual relations" since 1986,(7) the President answered under oath: "None."(8) For purposes of this interrogatory, the term "sexual relations" was not defined. On January 17, 1998, President Clinton was questioned under oath about his relationships with other women in the workplace, this time at a deposition. Judge Wright presided over the deposition. The President was asked numerous questions about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky, by then a 24-year-old former White House intern, White House employee, and Pentagon employee. Under oath and in the presence of Judge Wright, the President denied that he had engaged in a "sexual affair," a "sexual relationship," or "sexual relations" with Ms. Lewinsky. The President also stated that he had no specific memory of having been alone with Ms. Lewinsky, that he remembered few details of any gifts they might have exchanged, and indicated that no one except his attorneys had kept him informed of Ms. Lewinsky's status as a potential witness in the Jones case.
The Investigation On January 12, 1998, this Office received information that Monica Lewinsky was attempting to influence the testimony of one of the witnesses in the Jones litigation, and that Ms. Lewinsky herself was prepared to provide false information under oath in that lawsuit. The OIC was also informed that Ms. Lewinsky had spoken to the President and the President's close friend Vernon Jordan about being subpoenaed to testify in the Jones suit, and that Vernon Jordan and others were helping her find a job. The allegations with respect to Mr. Jordan and the job search were similar to ones already under review in the ongoing Whitewater investigation.(9) After gathering preliminary evidence to test the information's reliability, the OIC presented the evidence to Attorney General Janet Reno. Based on her review of the information, the Attorney General determined that a further investigation by the Independent Counsel was required. On the following day, Attorney General Reno petitioned the Special Division of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, on an expedited basis, to expand the jurisdiction of Independent Counsel Kenneth W. Starr. On January 16, 1998, in response to the Attorney General's request, the Special Division issued an order that provides in pertinent part: The Independent Counsel shall have jurisdiction and authority to investigate to the maximum extent authorized by the Independent Counsel Reauthorization Act of 1994 whether Monica Lewinsky or others suborned perjury, obstructed justice, intimidated witnesses, or otherwise violated federal law other than a Class B or C misdemeanor or infraction in dealing with witnesses, potential witnesses, attorneys, or others concerning the civil case Jones v. Clinton.(10)
On January 28, 1998, after the allegations about the President's relationship with Ms. Lewinsky became public, the OIC filed a Motion for Limited Intervention and a Stay of Discovery in Jones v. Clinton. The OIC argued that the civil discovery process should be halted because it was having a negative effect on the criminal investigation. The OIC represented to the Court that numerous individuals then under subpoena in Jones, including Monica Lewinsky, were integral to the OIC's investigation, and that courts routinely stayed discovery in such circumstances.(11) The next day Judge Wright responded to the OIC's motion. The Court ruled that discovery would be permitted to continue, except to the extent that it sought information about Monica Lewinsky. The Court acknowledged that "evidence concerning Monica Lewinsky might be relevant to the issues in [the Jones] case."(12) It concluded, however, that this evidence was not "essential to the core issues in this case," and that some of that evidence "might even be inadmissible."(13) The Court found that the potential value of this evidence was outweighed by the potential delay to the Jones case in continuing to seek discovery about Ms. Lewinsky.(14) The Court also was concerned that the OIC's investigation "could be impaired and prejudiced were the Court to permit inquiry into the Lewinsky matter by the parties in this civil case."(15) On March 9, 1998, Judge Wright denied Ms. Jones's motion for reconsideration of the decision regarding Monica Lewinsky. The order states: The Court readily acknowledges that evidence of the Lewinsky matter might have been relevant to plaintiff's case and, as she argues, that such evidence might possibly have helped her establish, among other things, intent, absence of mistake, motive, and habit on the part of the President. . . . Nevertheless, whatever relevance such evidence may otherwise have . . . it simply is not essential to the core issues in this case . . . .(16)
On April 1, 1998, Judge Wright granted President Clinton's motion for summary judgment, concluding that even if the facts alleged by Paula Jones were true, her claims failed as a matter of law.(17) Ms. Jones has filed an appeal, and as of the date of this Referral, the matter remains under consideration by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. After the dismissal of Ms. Jones's lawsuit, the criminal investigation continued. It was (and is) the view of this Office that any attempt to obstruct the proper functioning of the judicial system, regardless of the perceived merits of the underlying case, is a serious matter that warrants further inquiry. After careful consideration of all the evidence, the OIC has concluded that the evidence of wrongdoing is substantial and credible, and that the wrongdoing is of sufficient gravity that it warrants referral to Congress.(18)
The Significance of the Evidence of Wrongdoing It is not the role of this Office to determine whether the President's actions warrant impeachment by the House and removal by the Senate; those judgments are, of course, constitutionally entrusted to the legislative branch.(19) This Office is authorized, rather, to conduct criminal investigations and to seek criminal prosecutions for matters within its jurisdiction.(20) In carrying out its investigation, however, this Office also has a statutory duty to disclose to Congress information that "may constitute grounds for an impeachment," a task that inevitably requires judgment about the seriousness of the acts revealed by the evidence. From the beginning, this phase of the OIC's investigation has been criticized as an improper inquiry into the President's personal behavior; indeed, the President himself suggested that specific inquiries into his conduct were part of an effort to "criminalize my private life."(21) The regrettable fact that the investigation has often required witnesses to discuss sensitive personal matters has fueled this perception. All Americans, including the President, are entitled to enjoy a private family life, free from public or governmental scrutiny. But the privacy concerns raised in this case are subject to limits, three of which we briefly set forth here. First. The first limit was imposed when the President was sued in federal court for alleged sexual harassment. The evidence in such litigation is often personal. At times, that evidence is highly embarrassing for both plaintiff and defendant. As Judge Wright noted at the President's January 1998 deposition, "I have never had a sexual harassment case where there was not some embarrassment."(22) Nevertheless, Congress and the Supreme Court have concluded that embarrassment-related concerns must give way to the greater interest in allowing aggrieved parties to pursue their claims. Courts have long recognized the difficulties of proving sexual harassment in the workplace, inasmuch as improper or unlawful behavior often takes place in private.(23) To excuse a party who lied or concealed evidence on the ground that the evidence covered only "personal" or "private" behavior would frustrate the goals that Congress and the courts have sought to achieve in enacting and interpreting the Nation's sexual harassment laws. That is particularly true when the conduct that is being concealed -- sexual relations in the workplace between a high official and a young subordinate employee -- itself conflicts with those goals. Second. The second limit was imposed when Judge Wright required disclosure of the precise information that is in part the subject of this Referral. A federal judge specifically ordered the President, on more than one occasion, to provide the requested information about relationships with other women, including Monica Lewinsky. The fact that Judge Wright later determined that the evidence would not be admissible at trial, and still later granted judgment in the President's favor, does not change the President's legal duty at the time he testified. Like every litigant, the President was entitled to object to the discovery questions, and to seek guidance from the court if he thought those questions were improper. But having failed to convince the court that his objections were well founded, the President was duty bound to testify truthfully and fully. Perjury and attempts to obstruct the gathering of evidence can never be an acceptable response to a court order, regardless of the eventual course or outcome of the litigation. The Supreme Court has spoken forcefully about perjury and other forms of obstruction of justice: In this constitutional process of securing a witness' testimony, perjury simply has no place whatever. Perjured testimony is an obvious and flagrant affront to the basic concepts of judicial proceedings. Effective restraints against this type of egregious offense are therefore imperative.(24)
The insidious effects of perjury occur whether the case is civil or criminal. Only a few years ago, the Supreme Court considered a false statement made in a civil administrative proceeding: "False testimony in a formal proceeding is intolerable. We must neither reward nor condone such a 'flagrant affront' to the truth-seeking function of adversary proceedings. . . . Perjury should be severely sanctioned in appropriate cases."(25) Stated more simply, "[p]erjury is an obstruction of justice."(26) Third. The third limit is unique to the President. "The Presidency is more than an executive responsibility. It is the inspiring symbol of all that is highest in American purpose and ideals."(27) When he took the Oath of Office in 1993 and again in 1997, President Clinton swore that he would "faithfully execute the Office of President."(28) As the head of the Executive Branch, the President has the constitutional duty to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed."(29) The President gave his testimony in the Jones case under oath and in the presence of a federal judge, a member of a co-equal branch of government; he then testified before a federal grand jury, a body of citizens who had themselves taken an oath to seek the truth. In view of the enormous trust and responsibility attendant to his high Office, the President has a manifest duty to ensure that his conduct at all times complies with the law of the land.<!-- As Justice Robert Jackson warned: No other personality in public life can begin to compete with [the President] in access to the public mind through modern methods of communications. By his prestige as head of state and his influence upon public opinion he exerts a leverage upon those who are supposed to check and balance his power which often cancels their effectiveness.<a href="#N_30_"><sup>(30)</sup></a>-->
In sum, perjury and acts that obstruct justice by any citizen -- whether in a criminal case, a grand jury investigation, a congressional hearing, a civil trial, or civil discovery -- are profoundly serious matters. When such acts are committed by the President of the United States, we believe those acts "may constitute grounds for an impeachment." The Scope of the Referral 1. Background of the Investigation. The link between the OIC's jurisdiction -- as it existed at the end of 1997 -- and the matters set forth in this Referral is complex but direct. In January 1998, Linda Tripp, a witness in three ongoing OIC investigations, came forward with allegations that: (i) Monica Lewinsky was planning to commit perjury in Jones v. Clinton, and (ii) she had asked Ms. Tripp to do the same. Ms. Tripp also stated that: (i) Vernon Jordan had counseled Ms. Lewinsky and helped her obtain legal representation in the Jones case, and (ii) at the same time, Mr. Jordan was helping Ms. Lewinsky obtain employment in the private sector. OIC investigators and prosecutors recognized parallels between Mr. Jordan's relationship with Ms. Lewinsky and his earlier relationship with a pivotal Whitewater-Madison figure, Webster L. Hubbell. Prior to January 1998, the OIC possessed evidence that Vernon Jordan -- along with other high-level associates of the President and First Lady -- helped Mr. Hubbell obtain lucrative consulting contracts while he was a potential witness and/or subject in the OIC's ongoing investigation. This assistance took place, moreover, while Mr. Hubbell was a target of a separate criminal investigation into his own conduct. The OIC also possessed evidence that the President and the First Lady knew and approved of the Hubbell-focused assistance. Specifically, in the wake of his April 1994 resignation from the Justice Department, Mr. Hubbell launched a private consulting practice in Washington, D.C. In the startup process, Mr. Hubbell received substantial aid from important public and private figures. On the day prior to Mr. Hubbell announcing his resignation, White House Chief of Staff Thomas "Mack" McLarty attended a meeting at the White House with the President, First Lady, and others, where Mr. Hubbell's resignation was a topic of discussion. At some point after the White House meeting, Mr. McLarty spoke with Vernon Jordan about Mr. Jordan's assistance to Mr. Hubbell. Mr. Jordan introduced Mr. Hubbell to senior executives at New York-based MacAndrews & Forbes Holding Co. Mr. Jordan is a director of Revlon, Inc., a company controlled by MacAndrews & Forbes. The introduction was successful; MacAndrews & Forbes retained Mr. Hubbell at a rate of $25,000 per quarter. Vernon Jordan informed President Clinton that he was helping Mr. Hubbell.(31) By late 1997, this Office was investigating whether a relationship existed between consulting payments to Mr. Hubbell and his lack of cooperation (specifically, his incomplete testimony) with the OIC's investigation.(32) In particular, the OIC was investigating whether Mr. Hubbell concealed information about certain core Arkansas matters, namely, the much-publicized Castle Grande real estate project and related legal work by the Rose Law Firm, including the First Lady. Against this background, the OIC considered the January 1998 allegations that: (i) Ms. Lewinsky was prepared to lie in order to benefit the President, and (ii) Vernon Jordan was assisting Ms. Lewinsky in the Jones litigation, while simultaneously helping her apply for a private-sector job with, among others, Revlon, Inc. Based in part on these similarities, the OIC undertook a preliminary investigation. On January 15, 1998, this Office informed the Justice Department of the results of our inquiry. The Attorney General immediately applied to the Special Division of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for an expansion of the OIC's jurisdiction. The Special Division granted this request and authorized the OIC to determine whether Monica Lewinsky or others had violated federal law in connection with the Jones v. Clinton case. 2. Current Status of the Investigation. When the OIC's jurisdiction was expanded to cover the Lewinsky matter in January 1998, several matters remained under active investigation by this Office. Evidence was being gathered and evaluated on, among other things, events related to the Rose Law Firm's representation of Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan Association; events related to the firings in the White House Travel Office; and events related to the use of FBI files. Since the current phase of the investigation began, additional events arising from the Lewinsky matter have also come under scrutiny, including possible perjury and obstruction of justice related to former White House volunteer Kathleen Willey, and the possible misuse of the personnel records of Pentagon employee Linda Tripp. From the outset, it was our strong desire to complete all phases of the investigation before deciding whether to submit to Congress information -- if any -- that may constitute grounds for an impeachment. But events and the statutory command of Section 595(c) have dictated otherwise. As the investigation into the President's actions with respect to Ms. Lewinsky and the Jones litigation progressed, it became apparent that there was a significant body of substantial and credible information that met the Section 595(c) threshold. As that phase of the investigation neared completion, it also became apparent that a delay of this Referral until the evidence from all phases of the investigation had been evaluated would be unwise. Although Section 595(c) does not specify when information must be submitted, its text strongly suggests that information of this type belongs in the hands of Congress as soon as the Independent Counsel determines that the information is reliable and substantially complete. All phases of the investigation are now nearing completion. This Office will soon make final decisions about what steps to take, if any, with respect to the other information it has gathered. Those decisions will be made at the earliest practical time, consistent with our statutory and ethical obligations. The Contents of the Referral The Referral consists of several parts. Part One is a Narrative. It begins with an overview of the information relevant to this investigation, then sets forth that information in chronological sequence. A large part of the Narrative is devoted to a description of the President's relationship with Monica Lewinsky. The nature of the relationship was the subject of many of the President's false statements, and his desire to keep the relationship secret provides a motive for many of his actions that apparently were designed to obstruct justice. The Narrative is lengthy and detailed. It is the view of this Office that the details are crucial to an informed evaluation of the testimony, the credibility of witnesses, and the reliability of other evidence. Many of the details reveal highly personal information; many are sexually explicit. This is unfortunate, but it is essential. The President's defense to many of the allegations is based on a close parsing of the definitions that were used to describe his conduct. We have, after careful review, identified no manner of providing the information that reveals the falsity of the President's statements other than to describe his conduct with precision. Part Two of the Referral is entitled "Information that May Constitute Grounds for An Impeachment." This "Grounds" portion of the Referral summarizes the specific evidence that the President lied under oath and attempted to obstruct justice. This Part is designed to be understandable if read without the Narrative, although the full context in which the potential grounds for impeachment arise can best be understood if considered against the backdrop of information set forth in Part One. Several volumes accompany the Referral. The Appendix contains relevant court orders, tables, a discussion of legal and evidentiary issues, background information on the Jones litigation, a diagram of the Oval Office, and other reference material. We next set forth a series of "Document Supplements," which attempt to provide some of the most important support material in an accessible format. Document Supplement A contains transcripts of the President's deposition testimony and grand jury testimony; Document Supplement B contains transcripts of Monica Lewinsky's testimony and interview statements. Document Supplements C, D, and E set forth the full text of the documents cited in the Referral. Although every effort has been made to provide full and accurate quotations of witnesses in their proper context, we urge review of the full transcripts of the testimony cited below. 1. Section 595(c) of Title 28 of the United States Code is part of the Ethics in Government Act. The section provides:
(c) Information relating to impeachment. -- An independent counsel shall advise the House of Representatives of any substantial and credible information which such independent counsel receives, in carrying out the independent counsel's responsibilities under this chapter, that may constitute grounds for an impeachment. Nothing in this chapter or section 49 of this title [concerning the assignment of judges to the Special Division that appoints an independent counsel] shall prevent the Congress or either House thereof from obtaining information in the course of an impeachment proceeding. 2. Ms. Jones also named Arkansas State Trooper Danny Ferguson as a defendant. For a detailed background of the Jones v. Clinton lawsuit, see the accompanying Appendix, Tab C. 3. In 1991, Ms. Jones was an employee of the Arkansas Industrial Development Corporation. Ms. Jones alleged that while at work at a meeting at the Excelsior Hotel that day, she was invited into a hotel room with Governor Clinton, and that once she was there, the Governor exposed his genitals and asked her to perform oral sex on him. Ms. Jones alleged that she suffered various job detriments after refusing Governor Clinton's advances. This Referral expresses no view on the factual or legal merit, or lack thereof, of Ms. Jones's claims. 4. Jones v. Clinton, 117 S. Ct. 1636, 1652 (1997). 5. The purpose of discovery in a civil lawsuit is "to allow a broad search for facts, the names of witnesses, or any other matters which may aid a party in the preparation or presentation of his case." Fed. R. Civ. P. 26 advisory committee notes (1946). The discovery process allows the parties to obtain from their respective opponents written answers to interrogatories, oral testimony in depositions under oath, documents, and other tangible items so long as the information sought "appears reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence." Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1). 6. 921-DC-00000461 (Dec. 11, 1997 Order at 3). Similarly, in a December 18, 1997 Order, Judge Wright noted that "the issue [was] one of discovery, not admissibility of evidence at trial. Discovery, as all counsel know, by its very nature takes unforeseen twists and turns and goes down numerous paths, and whether those paths lead to the discovery of admissible evidence often simply cannot be predetermined." 1414-DC-00001012-13 (Dec. 18, 1997 Order at 7-8). 7. V002-DC-00000020 (President Clinton's Responses to Plaintiff's Second Set of Interrogatories at 5). 8. V002-DC-00000053 (President Clinton's Supplemental Responses to Plaintiff's Second Set of Interrogatories at 2). During discovery in a civil lawsuit, the parties must answer written questions ("interrogatories") that are served on them by their opponent. Fed. R. Civ. P. 33. The answering party must sign a statement under penalty of perjury attesting to the truthfulness of the answers. Id. 9. For a brief discussion of the scope of the OIC's jurisdiction, see "The Scope of the Referral," below. 10. The full text of the Special Division's Order is set forth in the Appendix, Tab A. 11. Jones v. Clinton, Motion of the United States for Limited Intervention and a Stay of Discovery, at 6. The overlap in the proceedings was significant. Witnesses called before the grand jury in the criminal investigation had been subpoenaed by both parties to the civil case; defendant's counsel had subpoenaed information from the OIC; and the plaintiff's attorneys had subpoenaed documents directly related to the criminal matter. 12. Jones v. Clinton, Order, Jan. 29, 1998, at 2. 13. Id. 14. Id. at 2-3. 15. Id. at 3. 16. Jones v. Clinton, 993 F. Supp. 1217, 1222 (E.D. Ark. 1998) (footnote and emphasis omitted). 17. Jones v. Clinton, 990 F. Supp. 657, 679 (E.D. Ark. 1998). 18. In the course of its investigation, the OIC gathered information from a variety of sources, including the testimony of witnesses before the grand jury. Normally a federal prosecutor is prohibited by Rule 6(e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure from disclosing grand jury material, unless it obtains permission from a court or is otherwise authorized by law to do so. This Office concluded that the statutory obligation of disclosure imposed on an Independent Counsel by 28 U.S.C. §595(c) grants such authority. Nevertheless, out of an abundance of caution, the OIC obtained permission from the Special Division to disclose grand jury material as appropriate in carrying out its statutory duty. A copy of the disclosure order entered by the Special Division is set forth in the Appendix, Tab B. We also advised Chief Judge Norma Holloway Johnson, who supervises the principal grand jury in this matter, of our determination on that issue. 19. U.S. Const., art. I, § 2, cl. 5; art. I, § 3, cl. 6. 20. 28 U.S.C. § 594(a). 21. Before the grand jury, the President refused to answer certain questions about his conduct with Ms. Lewinsky on the ground that he believed the inquiries were unnecessary "and . . . I think, frankly, go too far in trying to criminalize my private life." Clinton 8/17/98 GJ at 94.
Others have argued that alleged "lies about sex" have nothing to do with the President's performance in office, and thus, are inconsequential. Former White House Counsel Jack Quinn articulated this view:
This is a matter of sex between consenting adults, and the question of whether or not one or the other was truthful about it. . . . This doesn't go to the question of his conduct in office. And, in that sense, it's trivial.
John F. Harris, "In Political Washington, A Confession Consensus," Washington Post, Aug. 4, 1998, at A1 (quoting Quinn's statement on CBS's "Face the Nation").
The President echoed this theme in his address to the Nation on August 17, 1998, following his grand jury testimony:
. . . I intend to reclaim my family life for my family. It's nobody's business but ours. Even Presidents have private lives. It is time to stop the pursuit of personal destruction and the prying into private lives and get on with our national life.
Testing of a President: In His Own Words, Last Night's Address, The New York Times, Aug. 18, 1998, at A12. 22. Clinton 1/17/98 Depo. at 9. As two commentators have noted: "[T]o the extent that discovery is permitted with respect to the sexual activities of either the complainant or the alleged harasser, courts likely will freely entertain motions to limit the availability of such information to the parties and their counsel and to prohibit general dissemination of such sensitive data to third parties." See Barbara Lindeman & David D. Kadue, Sexual Harassment in Employment Law 563 (1992). 23. A sexual harassment case can sometimes boil down to a credibility battle between the parties, in which "the existence of corroborative evidence or the lack thereof is likely to be crucial." Henson v. City of Dundee, 682 F.2d 897, 912 n.25 (11th Cir. 1982). If there are no eyewitnesses, it can be critical for a plaintiff to learn in discovery whether the defendant has committed the same kind of acts before or since. Thus, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission explained in a 1990 policy statement that the plaintiff's allegations of an incident of sexual harassment "would be further buttressed if other employees testified that the supervisor propositioned them as well." EEOC Policy Guidance (1990). The rules of evidence establish that such corroboration may be used to show the defendant's "motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident." Fed. R. Evid. 404(b). In short, a defendant's sexual history, at least with respect to other employees, is ordinarily discoverable in a sexual harassment suit. 24. United States v. Mandujano, 425 U.S. 564, 576 (1975) (plurality opinion). 25. ABF Freight Sys., Inc. v. NLRB, 510 U.S. 317, 323 (1994). 26. United States v. Norris, 300 U.S. 564, 574 (1937). There is occasional misunderstanding to the effect that perjury is somehow distinct from "obstruction of justice." While the crimes are distinct, they are in fact variations on a single theme: preventing a court, the parties, and the public from discovering the truth. Perjury, subornation of perjury, concealment of subpoenaed documents, and witness tampering are all forms of obstruction of justice. 27. See Eugene Lyons, Herbert Hoover: A Biography 337 (1964) (quoting Hoover). 28. U.S. Const., art. II, § 1, cl. 8. 29. U.S. Const., art. II, § 3; see also George Washington, Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1793:
Previous to the execution of any official act of the President the Constitution requires an oath of office. This oath I am now about to take, and in your presence: That if it shall be found during my administration of the Government I have in any instance violated willingly or knowingly the injunctions thereof, I may (besides incurring constitutional punishment) be subject to the upbraidings of all who are now witnesses of the present solemn ceremony.
Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States, H.R. Doc. No. 82-540, at 4 (1954). 30. Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579, 653-54 (Jackson, J., concurring). 31. Jordan, House Testimony, 7/24/97, at 46. 32. From April through November 1994, 17 different persons or entities retained Mr. Hubbell as a consultant. In 1994, he collected $450,010 for this work. In 1995, he collected $91,750, despite beginning a 28-month prison term in August of that year.
I. Nature of President Clinton's
Relationship with Monica Lewinsky
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)
II. 1995: Initial Sexual Encounters 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)
III. January-March 1996: Continued Sexual Encounters 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, |