Death of American Virtue - Ken Gormley [186]
JACKIE Bennett had been tipped off in advance, by Paul Rosenzweig, that an important call might be coming. Rosenzweig told Bennett that while he had been dining with friends in Philadelphia, he had received an unusual piece of information that might be relevant to their investigation. The precise details of Rosenzweig’s trip to Philadelphia would later cause accusations to fly between Starr’s office and the Reno Justice Department. However it went down, Rosenzweig’s jaunt to Philly made it possible for Starr’s office to link the new, blockbuster Monica Lewinsky matter to the floundering Paula Jones case.
Rosenzweig later insisted that he had no suspicion that anything unusual would happen on this trip, as he stepped off the Metroliner in Philadelphia. Jerome Marcus, his good friend from University of Chicago Law School, had suggested that they get together with Richard Porter (another law school buddy) for a nice meal in the City of Brotherly Love. Marcus suggested that Rosenzweig take the train to Philly, then stop by his law office before heading to the restaurant because “I have some stuff to chat with you about.” Rosenzweig knew that Jerome and his wife had just adopted a child from Romania. Maybe, he thought as he climbed the steps of the train station, this was the subject Jerome was itching to talk about
“In retrospect,” Rosenzweig said with a sigh, “he was plainly alluding to the fact that he was looking forward to telling me all about Monica and Linda, which, if he told me he was going to do that, I’d have never gone to the meal.”
Paul Rosenzweig arrived at the firm of Berger & Montague in Philadelphia, an old brownstone that reminded him of the stockbrokers’ office in Eddie Murphy’s movie Trading Places. A gold chandelier hanging in the lobby gave it a look of conspicuous opulence. Here, the two friends exchanged bear hugs and settled into wing backed chairs. They had a half hour before dinner—there was no need to rush. Lounging comfortably in this quiet setting, Jerome Marcus broached the subject that he had been itching to convey to Rosenzweig. Marcus said that in assisting informally with the Paula Jones case, he had become privy to some incredible news that he wanted to share just between friends. Rosenzweig recalled the gist of the information passed along in whispers: “There was an allegation of lying by the president in the Paula Jones case. It was about a woman that he [Clinton] was sleeping with, and that she was lying, too; there were tapes to prove that. And the reason she was lying was because Vernon Jordan was getting her a job.”
The question Jerome Marcus posed to his friend from OIC, in a confidential tone, was, “Is that within your jurisdiction?”
The conversation lasted only ten or fifteen minutes. Rosenzweig started to say, “No, there’s no link here to OIC’s jurisdiction.” But something caused him to stop. He chewed on the question for a moment. The part about Jordan’s involvement caught his attention. “Because I knew that we were undertaking an investigation of Vernon Jordan buying Webster Hubbell’s silence—amongst others—by getting him a job as a consultant.”
Rosenzweig realized that Marcus was speaking in code, posing the question “as one of those phony hypotheticals that lawyers do.” Neither attorney wanted to wade directly into forbidden territory by overtly linking the Jones case with the Lewinsky matter. It was clear that such a fusion of atoms could turn into a radioactive bomb.
This was not idle predinner banter, Rosenzweig quickly deduced. The curly-headed lawyer knew that as early as 1994—before he had joined OIC—his classmates Jerome Marcus and Richard Porter had begun playing a behind-the-scenes role in the Jones case. Gil Davis’s records confirmed that Davis had reached out to Rosenzweig that spring, seeking help on whether the president could be sued civilly while in office, at the suggestion of Marcus. Although Rosenzweig had provided only minimal input to the Jones lawyers, the young OIC prosecutor