Death of American Virtue - Ken Gormley [517]
Walter Cronkite, the retired anchor of CBS Evening News: “Walter Cronkite: Witness to History,” American Masters, PBS, 26 July 2006, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/cronkitew.html.
“the people are entitled to know peccadilloes”: Walter Cronkite, interview by author.
The quirky and semireclusive thirty-one-year-old publisher: Matt Drudge, “Anyone with a Modem Can Report on the World,” address before the National Press Club, 2 June 1998.
“I didn’t think”: Plato Cacheris, follow-up interview by author, 3 Oct. 2008.
“Monica is nothing but”: Jared Hohlt, “Where on the Web Is Monica Lewinsky?” Slate, 31 Jan. 1998.
“Hillary Rodham Clinton Defense Forum”: These e-mails were found on the Hillary Rodham Clinton Defense Forum site for the months of January through July 1998, http://www.kwiklink.com/e/hillaryclinton.jan.feb.1998.html, site visited 14 Oct. 2003. This site, like many on the World Wide Web during the Clinton-Starr matter, provided a window into the reactions of the American public to the scandal that no longer exists. See also “More Lewinsky Letters,” http://www.cnn.com?ALLPOLITICS/1998/03/03/voters.voice/, site visited 12 Oct. 2003.
Chapter 43: A Walk in the Woods
As Monica Lewinsky suffered: Monica Lewinsky, interview by author.
the witness had just confirmed that: Evidentiary Record, vol. 3, part 1, 732–33.
in December, after she was subpoenaed: Ibid., 871–83; Monica Lewinsky, OIC interview, 28 July 1998, ibid., 1396.
Monica recounted the full story of the infamous blue dress: Evidentiary Record, vol. 3, 758–61.
There was never any question: Ibid., 924. Monica also confessed that she had intentionally deleted from her computer’s hard drive all e-mails related to her affair with Clinton, and had asked Linda Tripp to do the same, so that written evidence of the relationship would be destroyed.
For Monica, it was simply a symbol: Ibid., 959; Monica Lewinsky, interview by author.
“we spent hours on the phone”: Monica later clarified by stating: “This was a relationship. Everything was not calculated. It may not have been some cinematic grand love affair, but it was a relationship. When we talked on the phone, we talked like normal people. Every call did not have an intimate aspect to it” (Monica Lewinsky to author, 26 Jan. 2009).
President Clinton was privately meeting: Clinton, My Life, 799.
One person who knew about the complicated: Lew Merletti, interview by author.
In February 1998, there had been another aborted plot: Knut Royce, “Death Mission: Plots to Kill Clinton Linked to Bin Laden,” Newsday, 25 Aug. 1998, A3.
Now, ten days before: Lew Merletti, interview by author; “Osama Bin Laden,” “Wanted” poster, Merletti papers.
Agent Larry Cockell, who headed: Lew Merletti, interview by author; Larry Cockell, interview by author.
Bob Bittman was frustrated: Robert J. Bittman, interview by author.
Kendall tried a dozen maneuvers: Schmidt and Weisskopf, Truth at Any Cost, 23.
Starr’s prosecutors, in the meantime: Robert J. Bittman, interview by author.
Already, the New York Times: Schmidt and Weisskopf, Truth at Any Cost, 230. OIC assumed that this trial balloon was being floated by the White House itself.
“We should treat [Clinton] with dignity and let him tell”: Robert J. Bittman, interview by author.
Ewing, during the moot court sessions: “WJC Testimony Outline,” attached to “Questions for the President: from Hickman,” Starr papers, KWS outbox F8, August 1998.
“I am strongly opposed to giving the President any ‘break’”: Brett M. Kavanaugh to Judge Starr, 15 Aug. 1998, Ken Starr personal papers, KWS Outbox, F8, Aug. 1998.
The tension within OIC: Sol Wisenberg, interview by author.
To add to the pressure-cooker environment: Robert J. Bittman, interview by author.
“Sufficient unto the day”: Ken Starr, interview by author.
Top military and national security advisers: Clinton, My Life, 797.
Bill Clinton woke up his wife: Hillary Clinton, Living History, 465–66.
The only thing that Bill Clinton: Ibid., 466. See also Clinton, My Life, 800; Carl