Bill Clinton & Monica Lewinsky
The Scandal That Shocked The Nation.

Show Notes:
*This is not an exact transcript, but rather an outline of my notes.

Main Sources:

• The Starr Report

• Monica Lewinsky interviews (Barbara Walters, Forbes 30 Under 30, TedTalk, etc)

• View all sources at brokenlimelight.com

Also, the third season of American Crime Story, Impeachment, is based on this story. It’s a fictional retelling of the story but Monica Lewinsky actually participated in the production of the series.

I want to say that I was conflicted when naming this episode because I know Monica has said that she doesn’t like the terms “monicagate” or “lewinskygate” because she never wanted to be in the spotlight. Especially since this is really about Bill Clinton.

However, there are so many scandals revolving around Bill Clinton so naming the episode after him just isn’t specific enough.

For this episode, I’d like you to take everything you know about the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky scandal and just put it aside and put a pin in it, because I’m going to tell you the whole story of what actually happened.

Starting from the very beginning–

Bill Clinton was born William Jefferson Clinton. He served as governor of Arkansas and then Attorney General of Arkansas, and then governor again. He then served as US president from 1993 to 2001.

Bill met his wife Hilary at Yale Law School and they married in 1975.

By the 1990’s, the Clintons had been investigated for a number of charges, including Whitewater, of which allegations surfaced in 1992. This is where Vince Foster and Ken Starr come in.

First let’s talk about

Vince Foster- died 7/20/93

Foster was a prominent Arkansas attorney in the 1970s and '80s who lived across the street from Bill Clinton when they were very young, and who was later responsible for hiring Hillary Clinton at the Rose Law Firm. When Bill Clinton became president, he wanted to bring some associates from Arkansas he knew personally and was comfortable with into the White House and appointed Foster to be deputy White House counsel. Foster served under Bernard Nussbaum, a successful New York attorney who had more national prominence and more experience in controversial political cases but weaker ties to the Clintons.

At the time of his death, Foster was confronting a series of Clinton scandals—both as deputy White House counsel and, in the case of Whitewater, in his role as personal lawyer for the Clintons. Given Foster’s responsibilities, his suicide spawned myriad conspiracy theories even after five investigations—including by independent counsels Robert B. Fiske Jr. and Kenneth Starr—concluded that Foster suffered from severe depression that caused him to take his own life.

Conspiracy theories were further fanned when the press learned that scraps of a suicide note in Foster’s briefcase were found, but not reported to police for 30 hours after they were discovered.

From what I gather, Foster’s death was thoroughly investigated and his family and doctor agreed that he was showing signs of severe depression. But that didn’t stop speculations. In fact in 2016 when Donald Trump was in office, he even implied that Foster’s death was sketchy and that he knew too much. (probably a dig at Hilary)

Ken Starr

Ken Starr was an independent counsel who was assigned to investigate the Whitewater scandal in 1994. In short, the scandal claimed that the Clintons had taken out a loan for a business investment and had misused the funds.

There were multiple investigations and they all ultimately found that the Clintons didn’t do anything criminal, but Ken Starr continued his investigation.

It seems like he thought that the Clintons did actually do something criminal and he had 3 potential witnesses, but they all refused to cooperate.

Ken Starr’s investigation coincided with another big scandal that would also make the headlines in 1994.

Paula Jones

On 5/6/94, a woman named Paula Jones filed a lawsuit accusing Bill Clinton for sexual harrassment. Her claim stated that on 5/8/91, she was working as a state employee and attended a conference where Bill Clinton was in attendance while he was governor of Arkansas. Paula alleged that a state trooper asked her to report to governor Clinton’s hotel room.

She didn’t know what he wanted but assumed it was work-related, maybe he wanted to tell her good-job or something.

When she got there, Bill exposed himself to her. He pulled out his penis and asked her to kiss it. Paula allegedly refused, saying “i’m not that kind of girl.”

Declaration of Paula Jones

Related Links

Full Coverage: Clinton Accused

Full Text of Other Legal Documents

Jones Filing Details Sex Allegations (Washington Post, March 14)

Released on Friday, March 13, 1998

Following is the full text of the declaration of Paula Jones executed on March 11, 1998. It was released on March 13 by Paula Jones's lawyers, as part of their opposition to the Clinton legal team's Feb. 17 motion for summary judgement.

Declaration of Paula Jones

Paula Jones hereby declares under the penalty of perjury as follows:

1. My name is Paula Jones. I am the plaintiff in the lawsuit styled Paula Jones v. William Jefferson Clinton and Danny Ferguson.

2. I married Mr. Stephen Jones on December 28, 1991, and have been married to him ever since then. Stephen and I have two sons. We live in Long Beach, California.

3. I was born and raised in Arkansas.

4. On or about March 11, 1991, I began work as an employee of the State of Arkansas, working for the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission (the "AIDC").

5. On May 8, 1991, the AIDC sponsored the Third Annual Governor's Quality Conference (the "Conference") at the Excelsior Hotel in Little Rock, Arkansas.

6. On that day, I worked at the registration desk at the Conference. Pamela Blackard ("Ms. Blackard"), another employee of the AIDC, worked with me at the registration desk.

7. A man approached the registration desk and told Ms. Blackard and me that he was Trooper Danny Ferguson ("Trooper Ferguson"), Governor Clinton's bodyguard. He made small talk with Ms. Blackard and me, during which he showed me that he was carrying a pistol. He then returned to Governor Clinton.

8. Later that day, Trooper Ferguson came back to the registration desk and handed to me a piece of paper with a number written on it. Trooper Ferguson told me that the number was a suite number in the Hotel and he said to me that the Governor would like to meet with me. I had never met or talked to Governor Clinton. The first time I had ever seen him in person was at the Conference.

9. Ms. Blackard, Trooper Ferguson and I then talked about what the Governor could want. I thought it was an honor to be asked to meet the Governor. Among other things, Trooper Ferguson stated: "We do this all the time."

10. I decided to go meet Mr. Clinton. Ms. Blackard told me that she would take over my duties at the registration desk.

11. Trooper Ferguson then escorted me to the suite whose number had been written on the slip of paper he had handed to me earlier. When I arrived at the suite, the door was slightly ajar. I knocked on the door frame, and Mr. Clinton answered. I went into the suite, while Trooper Ferguson remained outside.

12. Mr. Clinton shook my hand, invited me in, and closed the door.

13. We talked for a few minutes. Mr. Clinton asked me about my job. He told me that Dave Harrington (who at that time was in charge of the AIDC) was his "good friend."

14. Mr. Clinton then unexpectedly reached over to me, took my hand, and pulled me toward him, so that our bodies were close to each other. I removed my hand from his and retreated several feet.

15. Mr. Clinton approached me again, saying "I love the way your hair flows down your back" and "I love your curves." While saying these things, Mr. Clinton put his hand on my leg and started sliding his hand toward my pelvic area. I did not consent to him doing this. He also bent down to kiss me on the neck, but I would not let him do so.

16. I exclaimed, "What are you doing?" and escaped from Mr. Clinton's reach by walking away from him. I was extremely upset and confused and I did not know what to do. I tried to distract Mr. Clinton by asking him about his wife and her activities, and I sat down at the end of the sofa nearest the door. Mr. Clinton then walked over to the sofa, lowered his trousers and underwear, exposed his penis (which was erect) and told me to "kiss it."

17. I was horrified by this. I jumped up from the couch and told Mr. Clinton that I had to go, saying something to the effect that I had to get back to the registration desk. Mr. Clinton, while fondling his penis, said: "Well, I don't want to make you do anything you don't want to do." Mr. Clinton then stood up, pulled up his pants and said: "If you get in trouble for leaving work, have Dave call me immediately and I'll take care of it." As I left the room, Mr. Clinton detained me momentarily, looked sternly at me and said: "You are smart. Let's keep this between ourselves."

18. When Mr. Clinton referred to Dave Harrington, I understood that he was telling me that he had control over Mr. Harrington and over my job, and that he was willing to use that power. From that point I was very fearful that my refusal to submit to Mr. Clinton's advances could damage my career and even jeopardize my employment.

19. Mr. Clinton's advances to me were unwelcome. I never said or did anything to suggest to Mr. Clinton that I was willing to have sex with him. During the time we were together in the hotel suite, I resisted his advances although I was stunned by his totally unexpected advances and intimidated by who he was.

29. On one occasion, I was accosted by Mr. Clinton in the Rotunda of the Arkansas State Capitol. Mr. Clinton draped his arm over me, pulled me close to him and held me tightly to his body, and said: "Don't we make a beautiful couple: Beauty and the Beast?" Defendant Clinton directed this remark to his bodyguard. This incident was not only embarrassing, it reminded me of the incident with Mr. Clinton at the Excelsior Hotel and made me feel even more fearful and worried. On another occasion when I was delivering something to the Governor's office, I saw Mr. Clinton outside the office. He patted me and said "how are you doing, Paula?"

37. What Bill Clinton did to me on May 8, 1991, and thereafter has caused me severe embarrassment, humiliation, grief, shame, anxiety, and fear. When I saw him after the incident, even on television, I recalled my experience in the hotel room on May 8, 1991, and became fearful and worried about losing my job. Even today I experience the same emotions when I see him on television or read an article about this case.

Paula wanted to prove the authenticity of her claims, so she offered to draw a picture of the president’s penis. Because it had a distinguishing mark: a dramatic curve.

Btw whether or not he really has a curved dick is really a subject of debate; Monica Lewinsky and the president’s doctors claimed his penis did not have a curve. But I’ve also read that some doctors and other women agreed that there was a curve.

Personally, I don’t see why Monica would make up a detail like that that could be proven wrong, but that’s just me.

Paula’s lawsuit came just 2 days before the expiration of the statute of limitations (3 years).

Meanwhile…

Linda Tripp

Linda was a white-house employee during the Bush administration. Linda loved her job and she was happy working under Bush, but she was not a fan of Bill Clinton. She found him crass and immoral.

Nonetheless, she loved working at the white-house.

This blissful period for Tripp came to a crashing halt on July 20, 1993, when Foster died by suicide. She had served Foster his final meal, a cheeseburger and M&M’s, and was one of the last people to see Foster alive. Tripp recalled Foster leaving the office the day of his death telling Tripp he would “be back.” Instead, Foster went to a suburban Virginia park overlooking the Potomac River and shot himself in the head using an antique revolver.

In the aftermath of Foster’s death, two events further propelled Tripp on her path toward betrayal. First, she was introduced to Goldberg—the literary agent who would advise Tripp to record her conversations with Lewinsky—during casual conversations about a possible book devoted to Foster’s death. And then Tripp was booted from her dream role within the White House—after Nussbaum left and Nussbaum’s successor, Lloyd Cutler, determined Tripp to be “abrasive and overbearing,” according to The Washington Post.

Literally, he was like “I don’t like her. Get rid of her” and she was relocated to work at the Pentagon in the summer of 1994.

Now Linda was salty. She was started to see the white house as these dream killers who banished their loyal staffers and were letting little frat bros take over. And with the death of Vince Foster, Linda started making speculations about his death being suspicious and kind of pointing the finger at the Clintons, and decided to write a book, and she became friends with a literary agent named Lucianne Goldberg.

Within two years of working at the Pentagon, she would be joined by an office mate who was also rejected from the White House: Monica Lewinsky.

Monica Lewinsky

Raised in Beverly Hills

Parents separated when she was 14

Had difficult relationship with dad, very close to mom

Loved to perform in school plays

Struggled with her weight her whole life, especially teens

At 18 she got the attention of a 40 year old man named Andy Bleiler, a married man who was the drama tech at her high school.

It was a hard time for monica to grow up in beverly hills with a weight problem

Andy made her feel beautiful and sensual and wanted

This was the beginning of her feeling sensual and passionate

On married men– monica says she’ll never have an affair with a married man again. But what shes come to see is that she didnt have enough sense of self worth and kind of didnt feel like she could ever be #1 to a man so she’d settle for what came.

Monica was not interested in politics at all. She wanted to get away from andy and got the opportunity when a family friend hooked her up with en unpaid summer White House internship in the office of White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta. Lewinsky moved to Washington, D.C. and took up the position in July 1995^. She moved to a paid position in the White House Office of Legislative Affairs in December 1995.

She was 22 years old and a very romantic, passionate kind of person. She realized that she was attracted to president Clinton the first time they were in each others’ presence. She describes how his presence was just so charming and when he would give you the “full Bill Clinton” he would look right into your eyes, and when he would shake your hand, he’d hold onto it for a little bit longer than you expect and just make you feel like the only person in the room.

Going forward, Monica describe various public events where she and the president would make intense eye contact that she would call passionate and flirtatious. At one point, she tells her mom “I think I have a crush on the president.”

The first time they actually spoke to each other was Nov 15 1995 during a shutdown, and they had all the interns doing administrative work. It was like, there weren’t enough adults so they had the kids doing the grown-up work. And the interns were like bumping rap music and eating pizza.

Like they have the interns walking around with nuclear codes.

ML found herself alone with BC in chief of staff’s office. By this point, they had been doing this back and forth with the eye contact and flirty looks, and Monica just kind of wanted to make the next move. So when she saw him, she kind of lifted her jacket and revealed her thong.

Then Monica was on her way to the bathroom and walked past the office of George Stephanopolous. According to Monica, Clinton was in the office alone and called her over to him.

She went in and introduced herself, and told him that she had a crush on him. He laughed and he kissed her.

He then asked if he would like to see his private office and invited her back that evening.

He led her to another room through a connecting door where they talked, and it became clear that they were mutually attracted to each other. He then asked if he could kiss her and she said yes, and they kissed. And then she gave him her name and number before going back to work.

2nd time– 11/17/95

BC had a phone conversation with Rep. Sonny Callahan (R-Ala) during their sexual liason.

He unbuttoned his shirt. She calls this moment endearing because he sucked in his stomach. Suddenly he became very real to her.

He knew that she was also struggling with her body image so hed say things to make her feel nice like “oh you've lost weight”.

They would have *6 sexual encounters (bj’s) before they had an actual conversation of more than 5-10 minutes. Monica gave him gifts, starting with a tie, and he gave her many small gifts.

1/07/96- he spotted her and invited her into the oval office. She was in mid sentence when he lifted her shirt and they had another sexual encounter.

2 months after meeting, now around their 5th encounter, ML asked if this was just sex or if he had interest in getting to know her.

ML says he started to tear up and said that he never wanted her to think that, that's not what this was about.

He said that she lit up a room and that he was drawn to her energy.

Many encounters were in the back hallway between study and bathroom. He wasn’t allowed to shut the door so there was a constant worry that people would walk in. And for that reason, they never undressed during their encounters. They always kept their clothes on.

During their encounters, she would often give him oral sex but he would never climax. I guess he thought it was too personal and they weren’t there yet.

But both of them i guess didn’t consider the oral sex to be “sex”, they considered it “messing around”.

*for the first 8 bj’s, he doesn’t climax. “I don’t know you well enough.”

2/19/96, BC breaks up with Monica, telling her he’s uncomfortable.

But then 3/29, calls her to watch a movie together, which she declined.

3/31, he calls her to visit the oval office on the pretext of delivering papers, and they hook up again.

As they became more intimate, Monica started falling in love and the president was telling her that she was special to him. Like, he would give her really special gifts.

Gift- leaves of grass (he also gave this to hilary as his first gift to her)

Pentagon

5 months into the affair (April 1996), Monica was suddenly transferred to go work at the Pentagon.

On Friday, April 5, 1996, Timothy Keating, Staff Director for Legislative Affairs, informed Ms. Lewinsky that she would have to leave her White House job. According to Ms. Lewinsky, ‘‘He told me I was too sexy to be working in the East Wing and that this job at the Pentagon where I’d be writing press releases was a sexier job.’’ (starr report)

V. APRIL-DECEMBER 1996: NO PRIVATE MEETINGS After Ms. Lewinsky began her Pentagon job on April 16, 1996, she had no further physical contact with the President for the remainder of the year. She and the President spoke by phone (and had phone sex) but saw each other only at public functions. Ms. Lewinsky grew frustrated after the election because the President did not bring her back to work at the White House.

Whitehouse staff members were noticing how often ML was around the president and the Oval Office, and they said it was an “optics problem”, though no one explicitly stated that they believed they were having an affair.

During this time, Bill Clinton was in the middle of his reelection campaign, so he was already going days or weeks at a time without calling Monica. So this really bummed her out. Bill Clinton didn’t even know what had happened so Monica told him that she had been transferred, and he promised to get her a job at the white house again after winning the election.

Monica:

[A] month had passed and—so he had called one night, and I said, ‘‘Well,’’ I said, ‘‘I’m really unhappy,’’ you know. And [the President] said, ‘‘I don’t want to talk about your job tonight. I’ll call you this week, and then we’ll talk about it. I want to talk about other things’’—which meant phone sex. 360 She expected to talk with him the following weekend, and she was ‘‘ready to broach the idea of * * * going to the campaign,’’ but he did not call.361 Ms. Lewinsky and the President also talked about their relationship. During a phone conversation on September 5, according to Ms. Lewinsky, she told the President that she wanted to have intercourse with him. He responded that he could not do so because of the possible consequences. The two of them argued, and he asked if he should stop calling her. No, she responded.

It was at the Pentagon that Monica met Linda Tripp. Monica and Linda had something unique in common: they both worked at the White house, which was like shiny and warm, and then were rejected and banished to go work in the Pentagon, which was like cold and dull.

Monica was 22 at this point and Linda was 24 years her senior. They started hanging out and having lunch together and talking on the phone all the time, and Monica confided in Linda about her secret relationship with the president.

Monica was really struggling because she never saw the president anymore and he would go days or weeks without calling her, and she had no way of calling him, so she just had to sit around waiting for his call.

But when they did talk, he would assure her that it’s just the election keeping them apart, and all her doubts would be restored. They would end up having roughly 50 phone conversations, during many of which they engaged in phone sex.

Monica rarely got to see the president and relied on his phone calls to maintain their relationship. She clung to his promise that after the election, she would be able to go back to work at the White House.

The day of the election, 11/05/96, Monica waited up for his call. It never came.

Observations by Secret Service Officers Officers of the Secret Service Uniformed Division noted Ms. Lewinsky’s 1997 visits to the White House. From radio traffic about the President’s movements, several officers observed that the President often would head for the Oval Office within minutes of Ms. Lewinsky’s entry to the complex, especially on weekends, and some noted that he would return to the Residence a short time after her departure. 416 ‘‘It was just like clockwork,’’ according to one officer.417 Concerned about the President’s reputation, another officer suggested putting Ms. Lewinsky on a list of people who were not to be admitted to the White House. A commander responded that it was none of their business whom the President chose to see, and, in any event, nobody would ever find out about Ms. Lewinsky.

B. VALENTINE’S DAY ADVERTISEMENT On February 14, 1997, the Washington Post published a Valentine’s Day ‘‘Love Note’’ that Ms. Lewinsky had placed. The ad said: HANDSOME With love’s light wings did I o’er perch these walls For stony limits cannot hold love out, And what love can do that dares love attempt.—Romeo and Juliet 2:2 Happy Valentine’s Day. M”

For a time she had no chance to be alone with BC, and for about 10 months she dated another man;

She had been having a sexual relationship with an older single man named Thomas who worked at the Pentagon. She became pregnant and got an abortion; struggled and went to therapy. She was still in love with BC. Never told BC about the abortion.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t in love with Thomas and couldn’t stop thinking about the president.

So Monica would appear at public events just to be in his presence. There are actually videos (i’ll post on the website) where you can see them interacting, and she’s just totally swooning, but he’s all starry eyed and giving her attention too.

People called Monica a stalker for this, but in her mind, he wasn’t avoiding her– he just didn’t have the time or opportunity to be with her because of his campaign. So she thought that if they wanted to be together, SHE had to be the one to show up wherever he was.

She did whatever she could to get his attention, like putting on the same outfit that she wore the day before because it caught his attention. He continued to promise that he would work on getting her a job at the whitehouse again.

She kept showing up at events to see him, and he did call her back to the white house for another encounter a couple times.

2/28/96-

Monica attended taping of Clinton’s radio show and had her picture taken with him. He told her to see Betty because he had something fo there. Betty took her to the study next to the oval office and then went to a nearby pantrywhere she wired for 15 minutes (it had to look like B&M werent alone together).

They had their first sexual encounter in 11 months.

This was about a year and a half into their affair, they had their first encounter where Bill Clinton actually ejaculated.

And as they were fully dressed, he came ON HER DRESS. A navy blue dress, and she didn’t notice until afterwards when she was at dinner.

*starr report*:

And then * * * I wanted to perform oral sex on him * * * and so I did. And then * * * I think he heard something, or he heard someone in the office. So, we moved into the bathroom. And I continued to perform oral sex and then he pushed me away, kind of as he always did before he came, and then I stood up and I said * * * I care about you so much; * * * I don’t understand why you won’t let me * * * make you come; it’s important to me; I mean, it just doesn’t feel complete, it doesn’t seem right.439 Ms. Lewinsky testified that she and the President hugged, and ‘‘he said he didn’t want to get addicted to me, and he didn’t want me to get addicted to him.’’ They looked at each other for a moment.440 Then, saying that ‘‘I don’t want to disappoint you,’’ the President consented.441 For the first time, she performed oral sex through completion.442

Linda found out about the dress when she saw it in Monica’s apartment. Remember, Linda’s been trying to write a book to take down the Clintons. So when she first found out about his affair with Monica, she called up her literary agent, Lucianne Goldberg, and told her all about it. Lucianne then advised Linda to start recording her phone calls with Monica, which she began doing in September1997. She told Lucianne about the blue dress and Lucianne told her to convince Monica to keep it as evidence, just in case anything came out and people didn’t believe her.

The president continued leading her on, going weeks without calling her and then appearing just as she started to move on. He would like make excuses, always saying that he was just busy because he was the president. Or then he would say that he didn’t want to get addicted to her.

And she even told him eventually that she loved him. And he said “that means a lot to me”.

But after the encounter where the president climaxed with Monica, he was seemingly feeling really guilty. Like as if ejaculating made the whole thing more real to him.

In 3/29/97, they hooked up and he climaxed again, but for the last time.

On Saturday, May 24, 1997, according to Ms. Lewinsky, the President ended their intimate relationship.

According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President explained that they had to end their intimate relationship. 473 Earlier in his marriage, he told her, he had had hundreds of affairs; but since turning 40, he had made a concerted effort to be faithful. 474 He said he was attracted to Ms. Lewinsky, considered her a great person, and hoped they would remain friends. He pointed out that he could do a great deal for her. The situation, he stressed, was not Ms. Lewinsky’s fault. 475 Ms. Lewinsky, weeping, tried to persuade the President not to end the sexual relationship, but he was unyielding, then and subsequently. 476 Although she and the President kissed and hugged thereafter, according to Ms. Lewinsky, the sexual relationship was over. 477 Three days after this meeting, on May 27, 1997, the Supreme Court unanimously rejected President Clinton’s claim that the Constitution immunized him from civil lawsuits. The Court ordered the sexual harassment case Jones v. Clinton to proceed.

But he cried, so she really thought that she meant something to him.

For the next few months, Monica would blow up the white house phones trying to get in touch with him so that she could get her job back.

She ended up sending him an angry letter, so he agreed to see her on 7/4. He initially kind of scolded her for sending that kind of letter to the president, but she started crying and got emotional, and he started hugging her, and he became really affectionate with her.

[H]e remarked * * * that he wished he had more time for me. And so I said, well, maybe you will have more time in three years. And I was * * * thinking just when he wasn’t President, he was going to have more time on his hands. And he said, well, I don’t know, I might be alone in three years. And then I said something about * * * us sort of being together. I think I kind of said, oh, I think we’d be a good team, or something like that. And he * * * jokingly said, well, what are we going to do when I’m 75 and I have to pee 25 times a day? And * * * I told him that we’d deal with that * * *

Ms. Lewinsky testified that ‘‘I left that day sort of emotionally stunned,’’ for ‘‘I just knew he was in love with me.’’513 Just before leaving, according to Ms. Lewinsky, she told the President ‘‘that I wanted to talk to him about something serious and that while I didn’t want to be the one to talk about this with him, I thought it was important he know.’’514 She informed him that Newsweek was working on an article about Kathleen Willey, a former White House volunteer who claimed that the President had sexually harassed her during a private meeting in the Oval Office on November 23, 1993.

We need to side track a little bit and talk about Katherine Willey.

Katherine Willey worked at the white house with Linda Tripp.

She is a former White House volunteer aide who, on March 15, 1998, alleged on the TV news program 60 Minutes that Bill Clinton had sexually assaulted her on November 29, 1993, during his first term as President. She had been subpoenaed to testify in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case.

According to Willey, during an early afternoon meeting on November 29, 1993, in the private study of the Oval Office, Clinton had embraced her tightly, kissed her on the lips, grabbed her breast, and forced her hand on his genitals.

Linda Tripp (being the backstabber that she is) would later under oath that Willey's sexual contact with President Clinton in 1993 was consensual, that Willey had been flirting with the president, and that Willey was happy and excited following her 1993 encounter with Clinton. Six other friends of Willey confirmed Tripp's account in sworn testimony, stating that Willey had sought a sexual relationship with the president.

So Linda kind of revealed to Monica that Katherine Willey was coming forward with these allegatgions.

“The President responded that the harassment allegation was ludicrous, because he would never approach a small-breasted woman like Ms. Willey. He further said that, during the previous week, Ms. Willey had called Nancy Hernreich to warn that a reporter was working on a story about Ms. Willey and the President; Ms. Willey wondered how she could get out of it.

Just over a week later, the president calls Monica back in to the Oval Office and asks her about Linda Tripp. They connected that Linda Tripp knew Katherine Willey, and also worked at the Pentagon with Monica and must’ve been the one to tell Monica about Katherine.

G. NEWSWEEK ARTICLE AND ITS AFTERMATH Newsweek published the Kathleen Willey story in its August 11, 1997, edition (which appeared a week before the cover date). The article quoted Ms. Tripp as saying that Ms. Willey, after leaving the Oval Office on the day of the President’s alleged advances, looked ‘‘disheveled,’’ ‘‘flustered, happy, and joyful.’’ The article also quoted Robert Bennett as saying that Ms. Tripp was ‘‘not to be believed.’

On Saturday, August 16, 1997, Ms. Lewinsky tried, unsuccessfully, to resume her sexual relationship with the President.

Ms. Lewinsky touched the President’s genitals through his pants and moved to perform oral sex, but the President rebuffed her. 555 In her recollection: ‘‘[H]e said, I’m trying not to do this and I’m trying to be good. * * * [H]e got visibly upset. And so * * * I hugged him and I told him I was sorry and not to be upset.’’ 556 Later, in a draft note to ‘‘Handsome,’’ Ms. Lewinsky referred to this visit: ‘‘It was awful when I saw you for your birthday in August. You were so distant that I missed you as I was holding you in my arms.’’

In September 1997, Linda started recording her phone conversations with Linda. It was around this time that Betty called up the president’s friend and trusted advisor Vernon Jordan, and asked for help getting Monica a job.

“Linda Tripp called me at work on October 6th and told me that her friend Kate in the NSC * * * had heard rumors about me and that I would never work in the White House again. * * * [Kate’s] advice to me was ‘‘get out of town.’’ 575 For Ms. Lewinsky, who had previously considered moving to New York, this call was the ‘‘straw that broke the camel’s back.’’ 576 She was enraged.

In October 1997, Linda played the tapes for Lucianne goldberg and her son, as well as a reporter from Newsweek, Michael Isikoff (Newsweek opted not to move forward with the story).

Meanwhile, Paula Jones’ lawyers were searching for white house employees who had sexual contact with Bill Clinton. So in 11/97, Linda was subpoenaed in the Jones case, and she named Monica as a potential witness.