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C. December 6: The Northwest Gate Incident
1. Initial Visit and Rejection
On the morning of Saturday, December 6, Ms. Lewinsky went to
the White House to deliver the letter and gifts to the President.
The gifts included a sterling silver antique cigar holder, a tie,
a mug, a "Hugs and Kisses" box, and an antique book about
Theodore Roosevelt.(721) Ms. Lewinsky planned to leave the parcel
with Ms. Currie, who had told Ms. Lewinsky that the President
would be busy with his lawyers and unable to see her.(722)
Ms. Lewinsky arrived at the White House at approximately
10:00 a.m. She told the Secret Service uniformed officers at the
Northwest Gate that she had gifts to drop off for the President,
but that Ms. Currie did not know she was coming.(723) Ms. Lewinsky
and the officers made several calls in an attempt to locate Ms.
Currie.(724) The officers eventually invited Ms. Lewinsky inside
the guard booth.(725) When Ms. Currie learned that Ms. Lewinsky was
at the Northwest Gate, she sent word that the President "already
had a guest in the [O]val," so the officers should have Ms.
Lewinsky wait there for about 40 minutes.(726)
While Ms. Lewinsky was waiting, one officer mentioned that
Eleanor Mondale was in the White House.(727) Ms. Lewinsky correctly
surmised that the President was meeting with Ms. Mondale, rather
than his lawyers, and she was "livid."(728) She stormed away,
called and berated Ms. Currie from a pay phone, and then returned
to her Watergate apartment.(729)
Hands shaking and almost crying, Ms. Currie informed
several Secret Service officers that the President was "irate"
that someone had disclosed to Ms. Lewinsky whom he was meeting
with.(730) Ms. Currie told Sergeant Keith Williams, a supervisory
uniformed Secret Service Officer, that if he "didn't find out
what was going on, someone could be fired."(731) She also told
Captain Jeffrey Purdie, the Secret Service watch commander for
the uniformed division at the time, that the President was "so
upset he wants somebody fired over this."(732)
2. Ms. Lewinsky Returns to the White House
From her apartment, Ms. Lewinsky reached the President on
the phone.(733) According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President was angry
that she had "made a stink" and said that "it was none of my
business . . . what he was doing."(734)
Then, to Ms. Lewinsky's surprise, the President invited her
to visit him.(735) She testified that "none of the other times that
we had really fought on the phone did it end up resulting in a
visit that day."(736) WAVES records reflect that Ms. Lewinsky was
cleared to enter the White House at 12:52 p.m. and exited at 1:36
p.m.(737)
During their meeting, Ms. Lewinsky told the President that
Mr. Jordan had done nothing to help her find a job.(738) The
President responded, "Oh, I'll talk to him. I'll get on it."(739)
Ms. Lewinsky testified that, overall, she had a "really
nice" and "affectionate" visit with the President.(740) In an email
to a friend a few days later, she wrote that, although "things
have been crazy with the creep, . . . I did have a wonderful
visit with him on Saturday. When he doesn't put his walls up, it
is always heavenly."(741)
3. "Whatever Just Happened Didn't Happen"
Later that day (December 6), the uniformed Secret Service
officers at the Northwest Gate were told that no one would be
fired -- so long as they remained quiet. According to Sergeant
Williams, Ms. Currie said that, if the officers did not "tell a
lot of people what had happened, then nothing would happen."(742)
The President told Captain Jeffrey Purdie, the Secret
Service watch commander for the uniformed division at the time,
"I hope you use your discretion."(743) Captain Purdie interpreted
the President's remark to mean that Captain Purdie "wasn't going
to say anything," and he in turn told all of the officers
involved not to discuss the incident.(744) One officer recalled
that Captain Purdie told him and other officers, "Whatever just
happened didn't happen."(745) Captain Purdie told another officer,
"I was just in the Oval Office with the President and he wants
somebody's ass out here. . . . As far as you're concerned, . . .
[t]his never happened."(746) In response, that officer, who
considered the Northwest Gate incident a "major event," "just
shook [his] head" and "started making a set of [his] own notes"
in order to document the incident.(747)
Captain Purdie recommended to his supervisor, Deputy Chief
Charles O'Malley, that "no paperwork be generated" regarding the
Northwest Gate incident because "Ms. Currie was satisfied with
the way things were handled."(748) According to Captain Purdie,
Deputy Chief O'Malley agreed, and no record of the incident was
made.(749) Deputy Chief O'Malley testified that the meeting between
the President and Captain Purdie was the only occasion he could
recall in fourteen years at the White House where a President
directly addressed a job performance issue with a uniformed
division supervisor.(750)
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The President was questioned in the grand jury about the incident at the Northwest Gate. He testified that he knew that Ms. Lewinsky had become upset upon learning that Ms. Mondale was in the White House "to see us that day."(751) He testified: "As I remember, I had some other work to do that morning. . . . "(752) The President said that the disclosure of information that day was "inappropriate" and "a mistake," but he could not recall whether he wanted a Secret Service officer fired or gave any such orders.(753) He thought that the officers "were . . . told not to let it happen again, and I think that's the way it should have been handled."(754) When asked if he told Captain Purdie that he hoped that he could count on his discretion, the President stated, "I don't remember anything I said to him in that regard."(755) According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President later indicated to her that he had concerns about the discretion of the Secret Service uniformed officers. On December 28 she asked how Paula Jones's attorneys could have known enough to place her on the witness list. The President replied that the source might be Linda Tripp or "the uniformed officers."(756) D. The President Confers with His Lawyers
Deputy Counsel Bruce Lindsey testified that he met with the
President and the President's personal attorney, Robert Bennett,
at around 5:00 p.m. on December 6 to discuss the Jones case.(757)
According to Mr. Lindsey, it was "likely" that he learned about
Ms. Lewinsky's appearance on the witness list in that meeting.(758)
Earlier in the day, at around 12:00 p.m. (after Ms. Lewinsky
stormed away from the Northwest Gate but before she returned and
saw the President), Mr. Lindsey had received a page: "Call Betty
ASAP."(759) Mr. Lindsey testified that he did not recall the page,
nor did he know, at the time, that Ms. Lewinsky had visited the
White House.(760)
E. Second Jordan Meeting
The next day (Sunday, December 7), Mr. Jordan visited the
White House and met with the President.(761) Mr. Jordan testified
that he was "fairly certain" that he did not discuss the Jones
suit or Ms. Lewinsky.(762)
On Thursday, December 11, Ms. Lewinsky had her second
meeting with Mr. Jordan.(763) Ms. Lewinsky testified that they
discussed her job search, and Mr. Jordan told her to send letters
to three business contacts that he provided her. Mr. Jordan
noted that Ms. Lewinsky was anxious to get a job as quickly as
possible, and he took action.(764) In the course of the day, Mr.
Jordan placed calls on her behalf to Peter Georgescu, Chairman
and Chief Executive Officer at Young & Rubicam; Richard Halperin,
Executive Vice President and Special Counsel to the Chairman of
MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings, Inc. (majority stockholder of
Revlon); and Ursula Fairbairn, Executive Vice-President, Human
Resources and Quality, of American Express.(765) Mr. Jordan told
Ms. Lewinsky to keep him informed of the progress of her job
search.(766)
At one point in the conversation, according to Ms. Lewinsky,
Mr. Jordan said, "[Y]ou're a friend of the President."(767) This
prompted Ms. Lewinsky to reveal that she "didn't really look at
him as the President"; rather, she "reacted to him more as a man
and got angry at him like a man and just a regular person."(768)
When Mr. Jordan asked why Ms. Lewinsky got angry at the
President, she replied that she became upset "when he doesn't
call me enough or see me enough."(769) Ms. Lewinsky testified that
Mr. Jordan advised her to take her frustrations out on him rather
than the President.(770) According to Ms. Lewinsky, Mr. Jordan
summed up the situation: "You're in love, that's what your
problem is."(771)
Mr. Jordan recalled a similar conversation, in which Ms.
Lewinsky complained that the President did not see her enough,
although he thought it took place during a meeting eight days
later. He testified that he felt the need to remind Ms. Lewinsky
that the President is the "leader of the free world" and has
competing obligations.(772)
Mr. Jordan is "certain" that he had a conversation with the
President about Ms. Lewinsky at some point after this December 11
meeting.(773) He told the President that he would be trying to get
Ms. Lewinsky a job in New York.(774) Mr. Jordan testified that the
President "was aware that people were trying to get jobs for her,
that Podesta was trying to help her, that Bill Richardson was
trying to help her, but that she really wanted to work in the
private sector."(775)
F. Early Morning Phone Call
On December 15, 1997, Paula Jones's lawyers served President
Clinton with her second set of document requests by overnight
mail. These requests asked the President to "produce documents
that related to communications between the President and Monica
Lewisky" [sic].(776) This was the first Paula Jones discovery
request to refer to Monica Lewinsky by name.
Ms. Lewinsky testified that in the early-morning hours of
December 17, at roughly 2:00 or 2:30 a.m., she received a call
from the President.(777) The call lasted about half an hour.(778)
The President gave Ms. Lewinsky two items of news: Ms.
Currie's brother had died in a car accident, and Ms. Lewinsky's
name had appeared on the witness list in the Jones case.(779)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President said "it broke his
heart" to see her name on the witness list.(780) The President told
her that she would not necessarily be subpoenaed; if she were, he
"suggested she could sign an affidavit to try to satisfy [Ms.
Jones's] inquiry and not be deposed."(781)
The President told Ms. Lewinsky to contact Ms. Currie in the
event she were subpoenaed.(782) He also reviewed one of their
established cover stories. He told Ms. Lewinsky that she "should
say she visited the [White House] to see Ms. Currie and, on
occasion when working at the [White House], she brought him
letters when no one else was around."(783) The President's advice
"was . . . instantly familiar to [Ms. Lewinsky]."(784) She
testified that the President's use of this "misleading" story
amounted to a continuation of their pre-existing pattern.(785)
Later in the conversation, according to Ms. Lewinsky, the
President said he would try to get Ms. Currie to come in over the
weekend so that Ms. Lewinsky could visit and he could give her
several Christmas presents.(786) Ms. Lewinsky replied that, since
Ms. Currie's brother had just died, perhaps they should "let
Betty be."(787)
In his grand jury appearance, the President was questioned
about the December 17 phone call. He testified that, although he
could not rule it out, he did not remember such a call.(788) The
President was also asked whether in this conversation, or a
conversation before Ms. Lewinsky's name came up in the Jones
case, he instructed her to say that she was coming to bring
letters. The President answered: "I might well have said
that."(789)
But when asked whether he ever said anything along these
lines after Ms. Lewinsky had been identified on the witness list,
the President answered: "I don't recall whether I might have
done something like that."(790) He speculated that he might have
suggested this explanation in the context of a call from a
reporter.(791) Nonetheless, he testified, in the context of the
Jones case, "I never asked her to lie."(792)
G. Job Interviews
On December 18, Ms. Lewinsky had two job interviews in New
York City. At MacAndrews & Forbes, she met with Executive Vice
President and Special Counsel to the Chairman Richard Halperin,
who viewed the interview as "an accommodation for Vernon
Jordan."(793) At Burson-Marstellar, she interviewed with Celia
Berk, Managing Director of Human Resources.(794) A few days later,
on December 23, Ms. Lewinsky interviewed in Washington, D.C.,
with Thomas Schick, Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs
and Communications, of American Express.(795)
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