When questioned about his statement to Ms. Currie, "you could see and hear everything," the President responded: My memory of that was that, that she had the ability to hear what was going on if she came in the Oval Office from her office. And a lot of times, you know, when I was in the Oval Office, she just had the door open to her office. Then there was -- the door was never completely closed to the hall. So, I think there was -- I'm not entirely sure what I meant by that, but I could have meant that she generally would be able to hear conversations, even if she couldn't see them. And I think that's what I meant.(1082) Finally, when asked about his statement to Ms. Currie that "Monica came on to me and I never touched her," the President refused to answer.(1083) C. January 18-19: Attempts to Reach Ms. Lewinsky In the wake of her Sunday afternoon session, Ms. Currie paged Ms. Lewinsky four times.(1084) She testified that the President "may have asked me to call [Ms. Lewinsky] to see what she knew or where she was or what was happening."(1085) Later that evening, at 11:02 p.m., the President called Ms. Currie to ask whether she had spoken to Ms. Lewinsky.(1086) Over a two-hour span the next morning, Monday, January 19, 1998, Ms. Currie made eight unsuccessful attempts to contact Ms. Lewinsky, by either pager or telephone.(1087) After speaking with the President to let him know that she was unable to reach Ms. Lewinsky, Ms. Currie again paged her.(1091) The purpose of these calls, according to Ms. Currie, was to tell Ms. Lewinsky that her name had been mentioned in the President's deposition.(1092) Mr. Jordan also tried unsuccessfully to reach Ms. Lewinsky that morning.(1094) That afternoon, Mr. Jordan met with the President in the Oval Office.(1095) Later, Ms. Lewinsky's attorney, Frank Carter, called Mr. Jordan and told him that Ms. Lewinsky had obtained new counsel, William Ginsburg and Nathaniel Speights.(1096) Mr. Jordan passed this information on to the President that evening in a seven-minute phone conversation.(1097) D. January 20-22: Lewinsky Story Breaks After the publication of an article alleging a sexual relationship with Ms. Lewinsky, President Clinton conferred with his attorneys and issued a number of denials to his aides and to the American public. 1. "Clinton Accused" On Wednesday, January 21, 1998, the Washington Post published a story entitled "Clinton Accused of Urging Aide to Lie; Starr Probes Whether President Told Woman to Deny Alleged Affair to Jones's Lawyers."(1098) The White House learned the essentials of the Post story on the night of January 20, 1998.(1099) President Clinton placed a number of phone calls that night and the following morning.(1100) From 12:08 a.m. to 12:39 a.m., he spoke with his personal attorney, Robert Bennett. Mr. Bennett would be quoted in the Post article as saying, "The President adamantly denies he ever had a relationship with Ms. Lewinsky and she has confirmed the truth of that."(1101) He added: "This story seems ridiculous and I frankly smell a rat."(1102) Immediately after his call to Mr. Bennett, President Clinton called Deputy White House Counsel Bruce Lindsey; they spoke for about half an hour, until 1:10 a.m.(1103) At 1:16 a.m., the President called Ms. Currie at home and spoke to her for 20 minutes. Ms. Currie testified that the President was concerned that her name was mentioned in the Post article.(1104) Soon after this call, the President called Mr. Lindsey.(1105) A few hours later, at approximately 6:30 a.m., the President called Mr. Jordan in New York City to tell him, according to Mr. Jordan, that the Post story was untrue.(1106) From 7:14 a.m. to 7:22 a.m., the President spoke again with Mr. Lindsey.(1107) Responding to the Post story that day, the White House issued a statement, personally approved by the President, declaring that he was "outraged by these allegations" and that "he has never had an improper relationship with this woman." White House spokesperson Mike McCurry said that the statement "was prepared by the Counsel's office, and I reviewed it with the President to make sure that it reflected what he wanted me to say . . . He looked at it, and he said fine. . . . It was prepared in consultation between the lawyers and the President. The Counsel's Office gave it to me. I wanted to, of course, verify that that's exactly what the President wanted me to say."(1108) 2. Denials to Aides According to Mr. Lindsey, the remainder of the morning was spent in a series of meetings about the Lewinsky matter, including preparing the President for anticipated Lewinsky-related questions in three previously scheduled media interviews.(1109) At these meetings, President Clinton denied the allegations to several of his top aides. The President met with Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles, along with his two deputies, John Podesta and Sylvia Matthews. According to Mr. Bowles, the President told them, "I want you to know I did not have sexual relationships with this woman, Monica Lewinsky. I did not ask anybody to lie. And when the facts come out, you'll understand."(1110) The President made a similar denial that morning to Harold Ickes, his former Deputy Chief of Staff.(1111) The President also discussed the matter with Ms. Currie for a second time.(1112) According to Ms. Currie, the President called her into the Oval Office and gave a "sort of a recapitulation of what we had talked about on Sunday -- you know, 'I was never alone with her' -- that sort of thing."(1113) The President spoke with the same tone and demeanor that he used during his previous session with her.(1114) Ms. Currie testified that the President may have mentioned that she might be asked about Ms. Lewinsky.(1115) Later that day, the President summoned Sidney Blumenthal to the Oval Office. They spoke for about 30 minutes.(1116) The President said to Mr. Blumenthal, "I haven't done anything wrong."(1117) Mr. Blumenthal testified that the President told him, "Monica Lewinsky came on to me and made a sexual demand on me." The President said that he "rebuffed her."(1119) The President also told Mr. Blumenthal that Ms. Lewinsky had "threatened him. She said that she would tell people they'd had an affair, that she was known as the stalker among her peers, and that she hated it and if she had an affair or said she had an affair then she wouldn't be the stalker any more."(1120) Mr. Blumenthal then asked the President whether he and Ms. Lewinsky were alone when she threatened him. The President responded, "Well, I was within eyesight or earshot of someone."(1121) According to Mr. Blumenthal, the President complained: "I feel like a character in a novel. I feel like somebody who is surrounded by an oppressive force that is creating a lie about me and I can't get the truth out. I feel like the character in the novel Darkness at Noon."(1122) Soon thereafter, in the course of a meeting about the progress of the President's State of the Union address, the President made a second denial of the allegations to Mr. Podesta.(1123) Mr. Podesta testified: [H]e said to me that he had never had sex with her, and that -- and that he never asked -- you know, he repeated the denial, but he was extremely explicit in saying he never had sex with her . . . . Well, I think he said -- he said that -- there was some spate of, you know, what sex acts were counted, and he said that he had never had sex with her in any way whatsoever -- that they had not had oral sex.(1124) The President was asked during his grand jury appearance whether he recalled denying a sexual relationship with Ms. Lewinsky to his senior aides and advisors, including Mr. Bowles, Mr. Podesta, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Ickes, and Mr. Jordan.(1126) The President did not recall specific details but did remember the following: I met with certain people, and [to] a few of them I said I didn't have sex with Monica Lewinsky, or I didn't have an affair with her or something like that. I had a very careful thing I said, and I tried not to say anything else . . . . I remember that I issued a number of denials to people that I thought needed to hear them, but I tried to be careful and to be accurate. * * * And I believe, sir, that -- you'll have to ask them what they thought. But I was using those terms in the normal way people use them.(1127) The President testified that he had said "things that were true about this relationship. That I used -- in the language I used, I said, there's nothing going on between us. That was true.(1128) I said I did not have sex with her as I defined it. That was true."(1129) The President qualified this answer, however: "I said things that were true. They may have been misleading, and if they were I have to take responsibility for it, and I'm sorry."(1130) Continue
