![]() |
|
|
C. Telephone Conversations
Ms. Lewinsky and the President did talk by telephone,
especially in her first weeks at the new job.(351) By Ms.
Lewinsky's estimate, the President phoned her (sometimes leaving
a message) four or five times in the month after she started
working at the Pentagon, then two or three times a month
thereafter for the rest of 1996.(352) During the fall 1996
campaign, the President sometimes called from trips when Mrs.
Clinton was not accompanying him.(353) During at least seven of the
1996 calls, Ms. Lewinsky and the President had phone sex.(354)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President telephoned her at
about 6:30 a.m. on July 19, the day he was leaving for the 1996
Olympics in Atlanta, and they had phone sex, after which the
President exclaimed, "[G]ood morning!" and then said: "What a
way to start a day."(355) A call log shows that the President
called the White House operator at 12:11 a.m. on July 19 and
asked for a wake-up call at 7 a.m., then at 6:40 a.m., the
President called and said he was already up.(356) In Ms. Lewinsky's
recollection, she and the President also had phone sex on May 21,
July 5 or 6, October 22, and December 2, 1996.(357) On those dates,
Mrs. Clinton was in Denver (May 21), Prague and Budapest (July 5-6), Las Vegas (October 22), and en route to Bolivia (December
2).(358)
Ms. Lewinsky repeatedly told the President that she disliked
her Pentagon job and wanted to return to the White House.(359) In a
recorded conversation, Ms. Lewinsky recounted one call:
[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.(362)
| ||
|
|
I'm an insecure person . . . and I was insecure about the
relationship at times and thought that he would come to
forget me easily and if I hadn't heard from him . . . it was
very difficult for me . . . . [U]sually when I'd see him,
it would kind of prompt him to call me. So I made an
effort. I would go early and stand in the front so I could
see him . . . .(363)
On May 2, 1996, Ms. Lewinsky saw the President at a reception for the Saxophone Club, a political organization.(364) On June 14, Ms. Lewinsky and her family attended the taping of the President's weekly radio address and had photos taken with the President.(365) On August 18, Ms. Lewinsky attended the President's 50th birthday party at Radio City Music Hall, and she got into a cocktail party for major donors where she saw the President.(366) According to Ms. Lewinsky, when the President reached past her at the rope line to shake hands with another guest, she reached out and touched his crotch in a "playful" fashion.(367) On October 23, according to Ms. Lewinsky, she talked with the President at a fundraiser for Senate Democrats.(368) The two were photographed together at the event.(369) The President was wearing a necktie she had given him, according to Ms. Lewinsky, and she said to him, "Hey, Handsome -- I like your tie."(370) The President telephoned her that night. She said she planned to be at the White House on Pentagon business the next day, and he told her to stop by the Oval Office. At the White House the next day, Ms. Lewinsky did not see the President because Ms. Lieberman was nearby.(371) On December 17, Ms. Lewinsky attended a holiday reception at the White House.(372) A photo shows her shaking hands with the President.(373) E. Ms. Lewinsky's Frustrations
Continuing to believe that her relationship with the
President was the key to regaining her White House pass, Ms.
Lewinsky hoped that the President would get her a job immediately
after the election. "I kept a calendar with a countdown until
election day," she later wrote in an unsent letter to him. The
letter states:
I was so sure that the weekend after the election you would
call me to come visit and you would kiss me passionately and
tell me you couldn't wait to have me back. You'd ask me
where I wanted to work and say something akin to "Consider
it done" and it would be. Instead I didn't hear from you
for weeks and subsequently your phone calls became less
frequent.(374)
Ms. Lewinsky grew increasingly frustrated over her
relationship with President Clinton.(375) One friend understood
that Ms. Lewinsky complained to the President about not having
seen each other privately for months, and he replied, "Every day
can't be sunshine."(376) In email to another friend in early 1997,
Ms. Lewinsky wrote: "I just don't understand what went wrong,
what happened? How could he do this to me? Why did he keep up
contact with me for so long and now nothing, now when we could be
together?"(377)
© Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company |
||
| |
||