![]() |
|
![]() |
![]() ![]() |
1. Evidence Regarding Gifts
Ms. Lewinsky testified that in the early morning of December
17, at roughly 2:00 or 2:30 a.m., she received a call from the
President.(215) Among other subjects, the President mentioned that
he had Christmas presents for her.(216)
On December 19, 1997, Monica Lewinsky was served with a
subpoena in connection with the Jones v. Clinton litigation. The
subpoena required her to testify at a deposition on January 23,
1998.(217) The subpoena also required Ms. Lewinsky to produce "each
and every gift including, but not limited to, any and all
dresses, accessories, and jewelry, and/or hat pins given to you
by, or on behalf of, Defendant Clinton."(218) After being served
with the subpoena, Ms. Lewinsky became concerned because the list
of gifts included the hat pin, which "screamed out at me because
that was the first gift that the President had given me."(219)
Later that same day, December 19, 1997, Ms. Lewinsky met
with Vernon Jordan and told him of her concern about the gifts,
including the hat pin.(220) During that meeting, Ms. Lewinsky asked
Mr. Jordan to inform the President that she had been
subpoenaed.(221) Mr. Jordan acknowledged that Ms. Lewinsky "was
concerned about the subpoena and I think for her the subpoena
ipso facto meant trouble."(222)
Shortly after Christmas, Ms. Lewinsky called Ms. Currie and
said that the President had mentioned that he had presents for
her.(223) Ms. Currie called back and told her to come to the White
House at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, December 28, 1997.(224) On December
28, Ms. Lewinsky and the President met in the Oval Office.
According to her testimony, Ms. Lewinsky "mentioned that [she]
had been concerned about the hat pin being on the subpoena and he
said that that had sort of concerned him also and asked [her] if
[she] had told anyone that he had given [her] this hat pin and
[she] said no."(225) According to Ms. Lewinsky, she and the
President discussed the possibility of moving some of the gifts
out of her possession:
[A]t some point I said to him, "Well, you know, should
I -- maybe I should put the gifts away outside my house
somewhere or give them to someone, maybe Betty." And
he sort of said -- I think he responded, "I don't know"
or "Let me think about that." And [we] left that
topic.(226)
Ms. Lewinsky testified that she was never under the impression
from anything the President said that she should turn over to Ms.
Jones's attorneys all the gifts that he had given her.(227)
On the 28th, the President also gave Ms. Lewinsky several
Christmas gifts. When asked why the President gave her more
gifts on December 28 when he understood she was under an
obligation to produce gifts in response to the subpoena,
Ms. Lewinsky stated:
You know, I can't answer what [the President] was
thinking, but to me, it was -- there was never a
question in my mind and I -- from everything he said to
me, I never questioned him, that we were never going to
do anything but keep this private, so that meant deny
it and that meant do -- take whatever appropriate steps
needed to be taken, you know, for that to happen
. . . . So by turning over all these gifts, it would
at least prompt [the Jones attorneys] to want to
question me about what kind of friendship I had with
the President and they would want to speculate and
they'd leak it and my name would be trashed and he [the
President] would be in trouble.(228)
Ms. Lewinsky testified that a few hours after their meeting
on December 28, 1997, Ms. Currie called her.(229) According to
Ms. Lewinsky, Ms. Currie said: "'I understand you have something
to give me.' Or, 'The President said you have something to give
me' -- [Something] [a]long those lines."(230) In her February 1
handwritten statement to the OIC, which Ms. Lewinsky has
testified was truthful, she stated: "Ms. Currie called Ms. L
later that afternoon a[nd] said that the Pres. had told her
[that] Ms. L wanted her to hold onto something for her. Ms. L
boxed up most of the gifts she had received and gave them to
Ms. Currie."(231)
Ms. Lewinsky testified that she understood that Ms. Currie
was referring to gifts from the President when she mentioned
"something for me."(232) Ms. Lewinsky testified that she was not
surprised to receive the call, given her earlier discussion with
the President.(233)
Ms. Currie testified that Ms. Lewinsky, not Ms. Currie,
placed the call and raised the subject of transferring the gifts.
In Ms. Currie's account, Ms. Lewinsky said that she
(Ms. Lewinsky) was uncomfortable retaining the gifts herself
because "people were asking questions about the stuff she had
gotten."(234) Ms. Currie also testified that she did not remember
the President telling her that Ms. Lewinsky wanted her to hold
some items, and she did not remember later telling the President
that she was holding the gifts for Ms. Lewinsky.(235) When asked if
a contrary statement by Ms. Lewinsky -- indicating that
Ms. Currie had in fact spoken to the President about the gift
transfer -- would be false, Ms. Currie replied: "Then she may
remember better than I. I don't remember."(236)
According to both Ms. Currie and Ms. Lewinsky, Ms. Currie
drove to Ms. Lewinsky's home later on December 28 for only the
second time in her life.(237) Ms. Lewinsky gave her a sealed box
that contained several gifts Ms. Lewinsky had received from the
President, including the hat pin and one of the gifts he had
given her that very morning.(238) Ms. Lewinsky wrote "Please do not
throw away" on the box.(239) Ms. Currie then took the box and
placed it in her home under her bed. Ms. Currie understood that
the box contained gifts from the President, although she did not
know the specific contents.(240) Ms. Lewinsky said that Ms. Currie
did not seem at all confused when Ms. Lewinsky handed over the
box of gifts(241) and never asked about the contents.(242)
When Ms. Currie later produced the box to the OIC in
response to a subpoena, the box contained a hat pin, two
brooches, an inscribed official copy of the 1996 State of the
Union Address, a photograph of the President in the Oval Office,
an inscribed photograph of the President and Ms. Lewinsky, a sun
dress, two t-shirts, and a baseball cap with a Black Dog logo.(243)
2. The President's Grand Jury Testimony
President Clinton testified that he had spoken to
Ms. Lewinsky about gifts he had given her, but said the
conversation may have occurred before she received the subpoena
on December 19. He testified:
I did have a conversation with Ms. Lewinsky at some
time about gifts, the gifts I'd given her. I do not
know whether it occurred on the 28th, or whether it
occurred earlier. I do not know whether it occurred in
person or whether it occurred on the telephone. I have
searched my memory for this, because I know it's an
important issue. . . . The reason I'm not sure it
happened on the 28th is that my recollection is that
Ms. Lewinsky said something to me like, what if they
ask me about the gifts you've given me. That's the
memory I have. That's why I question whether it
happened on the 28th, because she had a subpoena with
her, request for production. And I told her that if
they asked her for gifts, she'd have to give them
whatever she had, that that's what the law was.(244)
The President denied that he had asked Betty Currie to pick
up a box of gifts from Ms. Lewinsky:
Q: After you gave her the gifts on December 28th
[1997], did you speak with your secretary,
Ms. Currie, and ask her to pick up a box of gifts
that were some compilation of gifts that
Ms. Lewinsky would have --
WJC: No, sir, I didn't do that.
Q: -- to give to Ms. Currie?
WJC: I did not do that.(245)
* * * *
Q: [D]id you ever have a conversation with Betty
Currie about gifts, or picking something up from
Monica Lewinsky?
WJC: I don't believe I did, sir. No.
Q: You never told her anything to this effect, that
Monica has something to give you?
WJC: No, sir.(246)
| ||
![]() | ![]() |
![]() |
3. Summary of Gifts
The uncontroverted evidence demonstrates that the President
had given gifts to Ms. Lewinsky before December 28, 1997; that
the President told Ms. Lewinsky on the phone on December 17,
1997, that he had more gifts for her; that Ms. Lewinsky met with
the President at the White House on December 28; that on the
28th, Ms. Lewinsky was concerned about retaining possession of
the gifts the President had previously given her because they
were under subpoena; that on the 28th, the President gave several
Christmas gifts to Ms. Lewinsky; and that after that meeting,
Ms. Lewinsky transferred some gifts (including one of the new
gifts) to the President's personal secretary, Ms. Currie, who
stored them under her bed in her home.
Ms. Lewinsky testified that she spoke to the President on
December 28 about the gifts called for by the subpoena -- in
particular, the hat pin. The President agreed that they talked
about gifts, but suggested that the conversation might have taken
place before Ms. Lewinsky was subpoenaed on December 19. The
President said, however, that his memory is unclear on the
timing.(247)
The testimony conflicts as to what happened when
Ms. Lewinsky raised the subject of gifts with the President and
what happened later that day. The President testified that he
told Ms. Lewinsky that "you have to give them whatever you
have."(248) According to Ms. Lewinsky, she raised the possibility
of hiding the gifts, and the President offered a somewhat neutral
response.
Ms. Lewinsky testified that Betty Currie called her to
retrieve the gifts soon after Ms. Lewinsky's conversation with
the President. Ms. Currie says that she believes that
Ms. Lewinsky called her about the gifts, but she says she has a
dim memory of the events.(249)
The central factual question is whether the President
orchestrated or approved the concealment of the gifts. The
reasonable inference from the evidence is that he did.
1. The witnesses disagree about whether Ms. Currie called
Ms. Lewinsky or Ms. Lewinsky called Ms. Currie. That issue is
relevant because Ms. Currie would not have called Ms. Lewinsky
about the gifts unless the President directed her to do so.
Indeed, because she did not know of the gifts issue, there is no
other way that Ms. Currie could have known to make such a call
unless the President told her to do so.
Ms. Lewinsky's testimony on the issue is consistent and
unequivocal. In her February 1, 1998, handwritten statement, she
wrote: "Ms. Currie called Ms. L later that afternoon a[nd] said
that the Pres. had told her Ms. L wanted her to hold onto
something for her."(250) In her grand jury testimony, Ms. Lewinsky
said that several hours after she left the White House,
Ms. Currie called and said something along the lines of "The
President said you have something to give me."(251)
Ms. Currie's testimony is contrary but less clear.
Ms. Currie has stated that Ms. Lewinsky called her, but her
memory of the conversation, in contrast to Ms. Lewinsky's,
generally has been hazy and uncertain. As to whether she had
talked to the President about the gifts, for example, Ms. Currie
initially said she had not, but then said that Ms. Lewinsky (who
said that Ms. Currie had talked to the President) "may remember
better than I. I don't remember."(252)
Ms. Lewinsky's testimony makes more sense than Ms. Currie's
testimony. First, Ms. Lewinsky stated that if Ms. Currie had not
called, Ms. Lewinsky simply would have kept the gifts (and
perhaps thrown them away).(253) She would not have produced the
gifts to Ms. Jones's attorneys. And she would not have given
them to a friend or mother because she did not want to get anyone
else involved.(254) She was not looking for someone else to take
them.(255)
Also, Ms. Currie drove to Ms. Lewinsky's house to pick up
the gifts. That was only the second time that Ms. Currie had
ever gone there.(256) More generally, the person making the extra
effort (in this case, Ms. Currie) is ordinarily the person
requesting the favor.
2. Even if Ms. Lewinsky is mistaken and she did call
Ms. Currie first, the evidence still leads clearly to the
conclusion that the President orchestrated this transfer.
First, it is unlikely that Ms. Lewinsky would have involved
Ms. Currie in this matter unless the President had indicated his
assent when Ms. Lewinsky raised the issue with him earlier in the
day. Indeed, there is a logical flaw in the President's story:
If the President had truly suggested that Ms. Lewinsky produce
the gifts to Ms. Jones's attorneys, Ms. Lewinsky obviously would
not have turned around and called the President's personal
secretary to give the gifts to her, in direct contravention of
the President's instruction.
Second, it also is unlikely that Ms. Currie would have
driven to Ms. Lewinsky's home, retrieved the gifts from
Ms. Lewinsky, and stored them under her bed at home without being
asked to do so by the President -- at least, without checking
with him. It would have been out of character for Ms. Currie to
have taken such an action without the President's approval. For
example, when helping Ms. Lewinsky in her job search, Ms. Currie
said that she told the President of her plans and agreed that she
"would not have tried to get Ms. Lewinsky a job if . . . [I]
thought the President didn't want [me] to."(257)
3. Even if the President did not orchestrate the transfer
to Ms. Currie, there is still substantial evidence that he
encouraged the concealment and non-production of the gifts by
Ms. Lewinsky. The President "hoped that this relationship would
never become public."(258) The President gave Ms. Lewinsky new
gifts on December 28, 1997. Given his desire to conceal the
relationship, it makes no sense that the President would have
given Ms. Lewinsky more gifts on the 28th unless he and
Ms. Lewinsky understood that she would not produce all of her
gifts in response to her subpoena.
4. The President had a motive to orchestrate the
concealment of gifts, whether accomplished through Ms. Currie
indirectly or through Ms. Lewinsky directly. The President knew
that Ms. Lewinsky was concerned about the subpoena. Both of them
were concerned that the gifts might raise questions about the
relationship. By confirming that the gifts would not be
produced, the President ensured that these questions would not
arise.
The concealment of the gifts also ensured that the President
could provide false and misleading statements about the gifts
under oath at his deposition (as he did) without being concerned
that Ms. Lewinsky might have produced gifts that the President
was denying (or minimizing the number of). If Ms. Lewinsky had
produced to Ms. Jones's attorneys all of the gifts that she had
given to Ms. Currie, then the President could not plausibly have
said "I don't recall" in response to the question, "[H]ave you
ever given any gifts to Monica Lewinsky?" He could not have
said, "I don't remember a specific gift."(259) Indeed, unless the
President knew that Ms. Lewinsky had not complied with the
subpoena, it is unlikely he would have risked lying about the
number and nature of the gifts he had given her.
In analyzing the evidence on this issue, it also bears
mention that President Clinton likely operated no differently
with respect to the gifts than he did with respect to testimony.
It is clear that he lied under oath and that Ms. Lewinsky filed a
false affidavit after the President suggested she file an
affidavit. So there is little reason that he would not have
attempted to ensure (whether directly or subtly) that
Ms. Lewinsky conceal the gifts as a corollary to their mutual
lies under oath. (Also, it was the President's pattern to use
Ms. Currie as an intermediary in dealing with Ms. Lewinsky.(260))
The President's apparent response to all of this is that
Ms. Lewinsky on her own contacted Ms. Currie and involved her in
this endeavor to hide subpoenaed evidence, and that Ms. Currie
complied without checking with the President. Based on the
testimony and behavior of both Ms. Currie and Ms. Lewinsky, those
inferences fall outside the range of reasonable possibility.
There is substantial and credible information, therefore,
that the President endeavored to obstruct justice by
participating in the concealment of subpoenaed evidence.
B. January 5, 1998, Note to the President
1. Evidence Regarding the January 5, 1998 Note
On December 16, 1997, the President was served by
Ms. Jones's attorneys with a request for production of documents,
including documents relating to "Monica Lewisky" [sic]. The
request placed upon the President a continuing obligation to
preserve and produce responsive documents. Notes and letters
from Ms. Lewinsky were responsive and relevant.
On January 4, 1998, Ms. Lewinsky left a book for the
President with Ms. Currie.(261) Ms. Lewinsky had enclosed in the
book a romantic note that she had written, inspired by a recent
viewing of the movie Titanic.(262) In the note, Ms. Lewinsky told
the President that she wanted to have sexual intercourse with
him, at least once.(263)
On January 5, in the course of discussing her affidavit and
possible testimony in a phone conversation with the President,
Ms. Lewinsky says she told the President, "I shouldn't have
written some of those things in the note."(264) According to
Ms. Lewinsky, the President said that he agreed and that she
should not write those kinds of things on paper.(265)
On January 15, President Clinton served responses to
Ms. Jones's second set of document requests, which again asked
for documents that related to "Monica Lewisky." The President
stated that he had "no documents" responsive to this request.(266)
2. President Clinton's Testimony
The President remembered the book Ms. Lewinsky had given him
about the Presidents and testified that he "did like it a lot."(267)
President Clinton testified that he did not recall a romantic
note enclosed in the book or when he had received it.(268)
3. Summary on January 5, 1998, Note
The request for production of documents that the President
received from Ms. Jones's attorneys called for all documents
reflecting communications between him and Ms. Lewinsky. The note
given to him by Ms. Lewinsky on January 5, 1998, fell within that
category and would have been revealing about the relationship.
Indeed, had the note been produced, the President might have been
foreclosed from denying a sexual relationship at his deposition.
Based on Ms. Lewinsky's testimony, there is substantial and
credible information that the President concealed or destroyed
this note at a time when such documents were called for by the
request for production of documents.(269)
© Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company |
||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() ![]() |
||
![]() ![]() |
|