Death of American Virtue - Ken Gormley [434]
Monica herself would recall: “The whole thing was really scary. Just arriving and having everybody there and it being a mob scene.” She had moved back to Los Angeles to regain her mental health; now, getting dragged back to Washington to answer questions posed by the House managers with the support of Kenneth Starr was a psychologically distressing turn of events.
The Starr investigation had been horrible enough, but impeachment sounded far worse. Monica’s greatest fear was that the managers eventually would find a way to make her stand in the middle of the Senate and testify, like a woman compelled to be photographed naked against her will. The whole experience of being interrogated by the House managers seemed “overwhelming.” She also considered it “a waste of taxpayers’ money.” Although Monica was displeased with Bill Clinton’s conduct these days, she couldn’t help feeling that “people did not want him to go. Enough already.”
Lewinsky was not the only one experiencing extreme discomfort. The White House lawyers were alarmed that the managers were “bringing Monica back,” figuring that “there’s got to be something there.” Clinton’s team worried that the House managers had dredged up some new factual inconsistency in Bill Clinton’s sworn testimony and might pull it out at the Senate trial as a smoking gun.
Dressed in a smart navy-blue outfit with a strand of pearls around her neck, the dark-haired Lewinsky looked startlingly beautiful to those who had never seen her. She also demonstrated that she was much smarter than her inquisitors had planned. Throughout six hours of testimony, the former intern took command of the Republican congressmen and never lost the upper hand. In response to questioning by the soft-spoken manager Edward G. Bryant of Tennessee, Monica carefully stuck to her grand jury testimony, refusing to offer up any sizzling new details. On the topic of whether Bill Clinton had lied under oath when he swore that he had not engaged in a “sexual relationship” with her, Lewinsky respectfully demurred: Because that definition referred to touching the body of another person with the intent to gratify or arouse sexual desire in that person, Monica said, “I’m just not comfortable commenting on someone else’s intent or state of mind or what they thought.”
It was clear to those inside the room that Monica was not going to color outside the lines. Inside the lines, she was carefully selecting her brushstrokes so that she did not harm Bill Clinton. Halfway into the questioning, Senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee, one of the Republican observers, began slumping back in his chair and “looking at the ceiling.”
As Lewinsky wrapped up her testimony, the president’s lawyers held a quick caucus. There was no need to cross-examine this witness; she had handled herself brilliantly. Deputy White House Counsel Nicole Seligman instead surprised those present by reading a touching apology from President Clinton, causing tears to well up in Monica’s eyes. The former intern later said, “I appreciated the gesture at the time, but I was also skeptical. I didn’t believe it was his idea or even his choice of words.” Nonetheless, the words of atonement from Clinton seemed to do their magic. As Monica walked out of the deposition, she stuck out her chin resolutely, clearly aligned with the White House defense team.
Henry Hyde had warned his managers before this session with the former intern, “She will not lie. But if you give her any opening, she’ll slip through it.” When the junior managers reported back to Chairman Hyde’s office to brief him, Hyde threw up his hands in despair: Monica had found an opening the size of the Capitol Tunnel and had driven right through it.
Hyde