Death of American Virtue - Ken Gormley [334]
Agent Clint Hill was distressed by Ken Starr’s decision to force testimony from Secret Service agents, for a different reason. Perhaps the Kennedy murder seemed inapposite, but the key issue in both situations was maintaining proximity. “If agents have to testify” in circumstances like the Lewinsky case, worried Hill, “then ‘Katie bar the door.’” Presidents would push away, and agents would be nudged out. He added, “Once the precedent’s been established, it’s like squeezing toothpaste out of a tube. It’s out.” Announcing that agents were available to testify was like placing “an informant or spy” in the midst of the president’s inner circle, which would “inevitably cause a lack of proximity.” Consciously or unconsciously, future presidents would find excuses to distance themselves from their protective detail.
As he sat in the courtroom beside Lew Merletti, shutting his eyes to chase away ghosts that still haunted him long after that horrible day in November 1963, Hill whispered to himself, “And if they start pushing you back, look out.”
PRESIDENT George H. W. Bush had written an extraordinary last-minute letter in support of the Secret Service’s position. Surely, Merletti hoped, this submission by a former Republican president would have some impact on the judge. President Bush was no big fan of President Bill Clinton. By all accounts, he was appalled by the Lewinsky escapades that had come to light. Nonetheless, Bush had shown great fortitude in publicly supporting the agency during this time of crisis, writing: “I can assure you that had I felt [Secret Service agents] would be compelled to testify as to what they had seen or heard, no matter what the subject, I would not have felt comfortable having them close in.”
As Judge Johnson gathered up her papers and waved the arguments to a close, Merletti felt like standing up and screaming, “You just don’t get it!!!” As a matter of hypertechnical legal citations, maybe Kenneth Starr was right that no formal privilege existed in the Constitution to safeguard Secret Service agents who guarded the president. But there was an equally important question here: “What was sane public policy?” There was a reason that agents protecting presidents in the White House had not been dragged into grand juries to testify for the past 123 years. Didn’t Independent Counsel Starr, who professed to be an American patriot, understand that the U.S. Secret Service could only do its job if other branches of government cooperated?
Numerous retired agents in the field had sent e-mails of encouragement to Merletti during this period. One stated emphatically: “STAY THE COURSE TO THE END. YOU ARE DOING EXACTLY WHAT IS RIGHT FOR THIS AGENCY.” Another retired agent wrote to Merletti’s secure e-mail address: “THERE IS NO DOUBT HERE, AS FAR AS THE WIDE RANGING IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE PROTECTIVE DETAILS AND THE POTENTIALLY TRAGIC CONSEQUENCES, SHOULD A FINAL DECISION GO AGAINST US.”
Merletti and Hill stood respectfully as Judge Johnson adjourned the proceedings, stepping down from the bench and retiring to her chambers. These two men, who had guarded most modern-day presidents throughout their combined careers, waited quietly for the courtroom to clear. Once the members of the press had dispersed, they walked with silent footfalls down the hallway of the federal court house, wondering what this day would mean for presidents who succeeded Bill Clinton, and for Secret Service agents who would put their lives at risk, long after the name Monica Lewinsky meant anything to those who dispensed justice in this majestic building.
CHAPTER
40
GINSBURG’S FINAL PHOTO SHOOT
The Starr prosecutors, now tasting blood, became even more confident of proving their case