Death of American Virtue - Ken Gormley [505]
“Don’t leave”: Bernie Lewinsky, interview by author.
All Marcia could remember: Marcia Lewis Straus, interview by author.
Chapter 30: Clinton Takes an Oath
“I wasn’t going to apologize”: Bill Clinton, interview by author.
“I did,” Jones would later acknowledge: Paula Jones, interview by author.
“I had the strong sense”: Jim Fisher, interview by author.
“Okay, come pick”: Wesley Holmes, interview by author.
Moody used his cell phone: The outspoken Coulter would later express her views about the Jones case and her disdain for Bill Clinton: “If only the mastermind of the ingenious ‘kiss it’ line had been a Republican, Paula would have been represented by some white-shoe law firm—openly, proudly, and free” (Ann Coulter, “Spikey & Me,” George, May 1999, 48).
“The FBI had picked”: Wesley Holmes, interview by author.
What was noticeably missing: Isikoff, Uncovering Clinton, 305–306, 321–322.
“I want him [Clinton] to be called”: Wesley Holmes, interview by author
She had surprised Paula: Susan Carpenter McMillan, interview by author; Toobin, A Vast Conspiracy, 215.
the Dallas lawyers hustled: Wesley Holmes, interview by author; Jim Fisher, interview by author.
Susan stayed outside: Susan Carpenter McMillan, interview by author.
The president and his lawyer: Robert Bennett, interview by author.
“I mean, he looked”: Jim Fisher, interview by author.
“A lie gets around”: Robert Bennett, Transcript of Videotaped Oral Deposition of William Jefferson Clinton, 17 Jan. 1998, 5–6 (hereinafter cited as Transcript/Clinton Deposition).
Plaintiff’s counsel could: Ibid., exhibit 1.
“I’ll permit”: Ibid., 27, 35–36.
“This was naive on my part”: Jim Fisher, interview by author.
“She worked”: Transcript/Clinton Deposition, 48.
“He typically has”: Wesley Holmes, interview by author.
“I give—let me just say”: Transcript/ Clinton Deposition, 75–78.
“You know”: Bill Clinton, interview by author.
“I’ve been amused”: Jim Fisher, interview by author.
“Sir, I think this will”: Transcript/Clinton Deposition, 85.
Back at the White House: John Podesta, interview by author.
“That is absolutely”: Ibid., 204. Wesley Holmes (interview by author) later said, “When Bennett was going on and on about Lewinsky’s affidavit, it’s baloney for him [Clinton] to say that he wasn’t paying attention. He was sitting there reading it, looking at Bennett, listening to what Bennett said, very involved. You know, it’s just a lie to say he wasn’t paying attention to what Bennett said.” Judge Wright’s law clerk, Barry Ward, later signed an affidavit stating that President Clinton seemed totally engaged when his lawyer made the statement that Ms. Lewinsky had declared there was “absolutely no sex of any kind in any manner, shape or form with President Clinton.” Ward stated under oath: “From my position at the conference table, I observed President Clinton looking directly at Mr. Bennett while this statement was being made” (Barry W. Ward, Affidavit, 25 Jan. 1999). Ward would later make clear, however, that he had no idea what was in Clinton’s mind.
the Linda Tripp tapes were: Jim Fisher, interview by author.
These constituted the only visual: Wesley Holmes, interview by author.
“I know, I know”: Paula Jones, quoted by ibid.
Chapter 31: Scandal in Washington
Bernie and Barbara were: Bernie Lewinsky, interview by author.
She worried: Monica Lewinsky to author, 26 Jan. 2009.
As Bill Ginsburg walked: William Ginsburg, interview by author. OIC prosecutors later made clear that they did not leak Ginsburg’s identity. Indeed, they were trying desperately to keep the media from learning that they had expanded into this matter (Paul Rosenzweig, interview by author).
Monica “just totally fell”: Bernie Lewinsky, interview by author.
demanding that Monica promise: Morton, Monica’s Story, 195.
“I can’t have her breaking”: Bernie Lewinsky, interview by author.
This allowed the family to move: Jeff Leen, “Role Puts Spotlight on Lewinsky’s Mother,” Washington Post, 4 Feb. 1998, A1.
“We had big aspirations”: Bernie Lewinsky,