Death of American Virtue - Ken Gormley [349]
As soon as Clinton’s lawyers filed an emergency motion to quash the subpoena, and Chief Judge Johnson denied that motion, the president suddenly found some time in his schedule.
PLATO Cacheris and Jake Stein sat across a conference table from Ken Starr. A new era had dawned in Monica Lewinsky’s representation; these new lawyers were not willing to negotiate with middlemen. After being driven by the FBI to the underbelly of OIC’s building and whisked up an elevator to the secure fourth floor, the lawyers now confronted Starr and laid it on the line: “She does not trust you,” they told the independent counsel. “She is willing to be tried rather [than] be demeaned by repeated threats.” For that reason, OIC needed to fish or cut bait. “The truth of what happened is unpleasant for her, unpleasant for the president and unpleasant for the state of the union,” they told Starr, according to notes of the meeting. Stein added, “Plato and I have at least one good trial left in us and we are happy to devote it to [this] case.”
Cacheris and Stein, both of whom had represented defendants in the fabled Watergate trial, were feeling bullish about their odds. As Cacheris would later explain, “Here was a young lady that I think everybody would sympathize with. Here was the president who said, ‘We didn’t do anything. We didn’t have sex.’” Vernon Jordan was going to confirm there was a denial of sex. Cacheris concluded, “And I said to myself, ‘This could be a very interesting case.’”
Jackie Bennett’s mantra was that there could be no deal unless there was an “in-person” proffer from Ms. Lewinsky—they could not accept “a pig in a poke.” They wanted to be able to look Lewinsky in the eye before deciding whether to offer her a plea deal. In response to this, Cacheris and Stein halted the conversation: “You want a witness, we’ll give you a witness,” they said. But they weren’t about to allow Lewinsky to spill her guts and have OIC decide it wanted her to “plead to a felony.” In-person proffers and one-sided plea deals might be fine in Justice Department training sessions, but this case had progressed too far. “We weren’t going to play that game,” Cacheris later explained. “We were doing it differently.”
Cacheris was no great fan of Bill Clinton. “I thought his conduct was abominable, and I thought he was a disingenuous person,” he recalled. “I had admired his talent and intelligence, but I didn’t admire his personal style.” Still, Cacheris told the Starr prosecutors that this meeting was not about Clinton—it was about Ms. Lewinsky. “I [have] no interest in protecting anybody except her,” he stated firmly.
After the meeting, ethics adviser Sam Dash pulled Ken Starr aside. Dash fancied himself as an ombudsman, as well as the resident OIC “fussbudget.” He knew both Stein and Cacheris from the Washington legal community—he believed he might be able to facilitate a resolution.
The timing was propitious. Inside Starr’s office, there was a growing sentiment that striking a new immunity deal with Monica’s lawyers was the preferred solution. It was true that the OIC prosecutors were prepared to indict Monica. However, even if they went to federal court in eastern Virginia, as planned, and placed the case on the “rocket docket,” it would take months before a criminal trial could be scheduled. It was better to fashion a workable immunity deal with two level headed lawyers, the OIC prosecutors agreed privately, than to indict Monica and suffer further delays in pinning down the truth.
As promised, Dash arranged to host a private breakfast at his home in Chevy Chase, days later. On the Dashes’ glassed-in back porch, overlooking their brightly colored flower garden and far from the eye of photographers’ cameras, the men partook of ample coffee and bagels. Ken Starr settled himself into a comfortable chair and reopened the dialogue with Lewinsky’s lawyers by proposing an intriguing compromise: OIC would