Death of American Virtue - Ken Gormley [259]
The president and his attorneys were fully prepared for this line of questioning. Clinton had already denied—in response to written interrogatories—“groping” or inappropriately touching Willey outside the Oval Office. Now, he addressed the questions effortlessly. When asked why Willey would invent such a grotesque story, the president reminded counsel that her husband had been caught up in an embezzlement scheme and committed suicide that very night: “When she came to see me she was clearly upset. I did to her what I have done to scores and scores of men and women who have worked for me or been my friends over the years. I embraced her, I put my arms around her, I may have even kissed her on the forehead. There was nothing sexual about it.”
In terms of his own motivation, the president said, “I was trying to help her calm down and trying to reassure her. She was in [an extremely] difficult condition. But I have no idea why she said what she did.… She’s been through a terrible, terrible time in her life, and I have nothing else to say. I don’t want to speculate about it.” Those in the room, even the president’s opponents, marveled at the fluidity of his responses. As one observer said, “It was all flowing.”
Next, Fisher digressed into an examination of the Sexual Harassment Policy that Clinton had signed as governor of Arkansas in 1987. Bob Bennett, his eyes baggy from long nights of preparation and his jowls showing the weight of middle age, waved a pencil. “Your Honor,” he cut in, “if Mr. Fisher wants to use his time with the President of the United States to ask these kinds of questions, I personally have no objection. But at three o’clock, I don’t want to hear that we have ten major integral areas that you haven’t gone into.”
Fisher rearranged himself in his chair and asked the president, “Now, do you know a woman named Monica Lewinsky?”
The room fell silent. The president answered, “I do.”
Jim Fisher would later reveal that the timing of the Lewinsky questioning was carefully choreographed. He had led off with Kathleen Willey to lull the president into complacency; he knew Clinton had already thoroughly rehearsed that topic. Now, Fisher had switched abruptly to Lewinsky, in order to catch the president off guard. The Dallas lawyer later explained, “This was naive on my part—but I thought that it might actually prompt him to give more candid, complete, truthful answers if he was uncertain about what we knew and what we could prove.”
Fisher now continued his questioning relating to Lewinsky: “How did you know her?”
The president replied, “She worked in the White House for a while, first as an intern, and then in, as the, in the legislative affairs office.”
The cat-and-mouse game continued for nearly a half-hour:
FISHER: Is it true that when she worked at the White House she met with you several times?
Clinton bobbed and weaved, talking about the government shutdown and the fact that Ms. Lewinsky may have brought him documents once or twice.
FISHER: So I understand, your testimony is that it was possible, then, that you were alone with her, but you have no specific recollection of that ever happening?
CLINTON: Yes, that’s correct. It’s possible that [Lewinsky], while [she] was working there, brought something to me and at the time she brought it to me, she was the only person there. That’s possible.
Now Bob Bennett jumped in, trying to rescue his client: “Your Honor, excuse me, Mr. President, I need some guidance from the Court at this point. I’m going to object to the innuendo. I’m afraid, as I say, that this will leak.” He continued in a commanding voice: “Counsel is fully aware that Ms. Lewinsky has filed, has an affidavit which they are in possession of saying that there is absolutely no sex of any kind in any manner, shape or form, with President Clinton.”
With the Lewinsky affidavit now in front of him on the table, the president took the opportunity to mimic Monica’s version of the story, telling Fisher that the intern had probably brought him pizza one night