Death of American Virtue - Ken Gormley [534]
Harris was assigned: Jo Ann Harris, interview by author.
The tax charges filed by Starr’s team: “Court Dismisses Tax Charge Against Clinton Friend Webster Hubbell,” Associated Press, 5 June 2000.
Ray intended to make clear: Robert W. Ray, interview by author.
Monica had hated: Monica Lewinsky, interview by author.
“I want to have a conversation”: Robert W. Ray, interview by author.
Kendall felt that Ray was: David Kendall, interview by author.
This wasn’t about Bill Clinton: Robert W. Ray, interview by author.
“no [guilty] plea”: David Kendall, interview by author.
“In the Paula Jones case”: Monica Lewinsky to author, 26 Jan. 2009.
“the criminal back-half”: Robert W. Ray, interview by author.
the High Court first declared: Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board (Bush I), 531 U.S. 70 (2000) (percuriam).
On December 12: Bush v. Gore (Bush II), 531 U.S. 98 (2000) (percuriam). Seven justices agreed that the method established by the Florida courts to recount ballots violated the Equal Protection clause. The Court split five to four, however, on the issue of whether an appropriate, alternative method could be implemented within the requisite time frame. The majority’s negative ruling allowed the prior decision of Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris (a Republican) to stand, awarding Governor George W. Bush the state’s 25 electoral votes and allowing him to edge out Vice President Al Gore by obtaining one more than the number of votes (270) necessary to receive a majority in the electoral college.
Clinton considered it: Bill Clinton, interview by author. President Clinton pointed to a study indicating that only a small percentage of “non-right-wing, deeply religious people” voted for Bush over Gore “because they were upset about me and the impeachment.” A much larger percentage of voters, the study showed, voted in favor of Gore “because they supported me [Clinton] so strongly and were so bitter about what happened to me,” giving Gore a “net gain of about three-and-a-half percent” of those who were influenced by the scandals.
“You have to put it in the context”: Charles Burson, interview by author.
Agent Gant formalized: Subpoena, from OIC to Lewis Merletti, 8 Jan. 2002, Lew Merletti papers.
Thoroughly baffled: Lew Merletti, interview by author; business cards, Lew Merletti papers. The associate independent counsels were Monte C. Richardson and D. Thomas Ferraro. The investigator was Coy A. Copeland.
“wrap up loose ends”: Jennifer Gant, interview by author.
“admit that the president”: Agent Jennifer Gant did not recall making such a statement and insisted that she did not deal in “gossip, innuendo, and rumor” (Jennifer Gant, interview by author). However, notes of the session, maintained by a source who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed that the initial questions were designed to determine if Merletti was “in collusion” with the president in carrying out his affair with Monica and other females.
“What they should have been doing”: Looking back on these events nearly a decade later, Merletti was particularly troubled that the FBI spent so much time “investigating the foibles of the President and Monica, [while] a number of senior al-Qaeda operatives were traveling through the United States” developing funding networks and planning attacks (Lew Merletti to author, 7 Apr. 2009). Specifically, Merletti pointed to the fact that the first World Trade Center bombing had occurred in February 1993. From that time forward “the FBI had several solid opportunities to develop double agents as well as to arrest senior [al-Qaeda] operatives.” One major blunder involved failing to shut down the growing operation of Ayman al-Zawahiri, widely considered to be Osama bin Laden’s “number two” in command, who helped to merge the radical al-jihad with al-Qaeda. See Peter Bergen, “Aman al-Zawahiri,” Time, 30 Apr. 2006. A second significant blunder, which occurred on American