KOPIE 13994
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What We Know
By WILLIAM J .. BENNETT
called Ron . Perelman, chairman of publicly pledging cooperation, the White
Whenever the subject is scandal, Pres- Revlon's parent company, on her behalf.
House has followed a strategy of
ident Clinton's apologists argue that his
We know that Ms. Lewinsky received a stonewalling and blocking inquiries from
critics fail to distinguish facts from "mere job offer from U.N. Ambassador Bill both Ms. Jones's lawyers and Mr. Starr's
allegations." The public, they aver, should Richardson after meeting with him at the office. We know that for weeks the presiwithhold judgment until the facts 1ue in. Watergate complex, where Ms. Lewinsky dent made the fictitious claim that he
Implicit is the notion that there is no em- lives. We know that according to Ms. could not comment on the Lewinsky matpirical basis from which to draw infer- Lewinsky's proffer, as reported in the ter because he was legally required to keep
ences and render reasonable judgments. Times, Mr. Clinton told her that if she silent. We know that in January the presiIn the wake of Judge Susan Webber were in New York, she might be able to dent said of the Lewinsky matter: "You
Wright's dismissal of the Paula Jon~s law- avoid testifying in the Jones lawsuit. And and the American people have a right to
suit, the Clintonites have been embold- we know that Ms. Lewinsky's job offers get answers. I'd like for you to have more
·
rather than less, sooner rather than later.
ened; they are frantically claiming that we came from New York.
• Betty CUrrie. We know that on a Sun- So we'll work through it as quickly as we
know nothing.
But in fact we know quite a lot. There day in January, the day after his deposi- can and get all those questions out there to
are many important questions, <trising· tion in the Paula Jones case, Mr. Clinton you." And we know that in February, after
from facts, about whether America's presi- met with his personal secretary, Betty having answered almost none of the key
dent has (among other things) committed Currie. According to lawyers familiar with questions surrounding the Lewinsky story,
perjury, suborned perjury and obstructed her testimony, he posed and answered a Mr. Clinton said, "I've told the American
justice. Given that the Clinton administra- series of questions to guide her through an people what is essential for them to know
tion employs a nonstop, dust-in-your-eyes account of his relationship with Ms. Lewin- about this."
• Executive privilege. We know that Mr.
machine, it is important to recapitulate sky. We know that in his deposition the
president placed Betty Currie at the center Clinton has invoked claims of executive
what we know:
• Monica Lewinsky. We know the presi- · of all Lewinsky-related matters, and that privilege · that are even broader than
dent has denied, under oath and in public
statements, any. crimThe steady march toward impeachment hearings
inal wrongdoing and
any sexual relations
is not surprising; abuse of power, ·obfuscation, thugwitli "that woman."
gery and an ends-justify-the-means mentality are the
But we also know
there are 20 hours of
coin of the Clinton realm.
tape recordings between Ms. Lewinsky
Mr. Clinton told Ms. Lewinsky (according Richard Nixon's-claims.few legal scholars
and her erstwhile colleague Linda Tripp,
to those familiar with her proffer) that she defend. We know the president is now
in which Ms. Lewincould explain her White House visits as claiming his lawyers are asserting executrips to see Ms. Currie. And we know Mr. tive privilege without his knowledge: "The
sky goes into detail
Clinton took Ms. Currie, one of the crucial first time I learn about a lot of these legal
about her affair with
the president, and in
.
.
witnesses in the Starr investigation, on his arguments is when I see them in the
which, according to Momca Lewznsky
paper," Mr. Clinton told a reporter. We
recent trip to Africa.
people who have heard the tapes, she
• Kathleen Willey. We know that when know that in 1994 Mr. Clinton said of assertclaims Mr. Clinton directed her to testify Ms. Jones's lawyers subpoenaed any let- ing executive privilege, "It's hard for me to
falsely in the Paula Jones case. We know, ters from Kathleen Willey, Mr. Clinton imagine a circumstance in which that
too, that Ms. Lewinsky's lawyer, William falsely denied that he had any such docu- would be an appropriate thing for me to
Ginsburg, gave Independent Counsel Ken- ments. Two months later, after Ms. Willey do." And we know that in 1994, then-White
neth Starr a "proffer" of testimony in went public on "60 Minutes" with her alle- House counsel Lloyd Cutler wrote a memowhich Ms. Lewinsky reportedly confirmed gations of presidential groping, Mr. Clin- randum in which he said it is White House
ton personally ap- practice "not to assert executive privilege"
a sexual relationship with Mr. Clinton.
proved the release of in circumstances involving communicaExtensive Personal Attention
15 notes and letters in tions relating to investigations of personal ·
We know that Ms. Lewinsky told others
an effort to discredit wrongdoing by government officials.
about her encounters with the president,
• Procuring and silencing women. We
h~r. We . know Mr.
and that others claim to have heard Mr.
qinton
claimed know that state troopers who served on
Clinton's messages left on Ms. Lewinsky's
tfurough his lawyer Mr. Clinton's Arkansas security detail
home answering machine. We know that
that he had "no spe- have sworn under oath they procured
under oath Ms. Tripp said she was told by
cific recollection" of women for then-Governor Clinton; that
Ms. Lewinsky to "lie and deny," and that
his meeting with Ms. Mr. Clinton acknowledges that he spoke to
Ms. Lewinsky passed along to Ms. Tripp
Willey, and later said the troopers' former supervisor, Buddy
three pages of "talking points" givi11g her
that he "has a very Young, about their disclosures; that three
instructions on how to lie under oath.
·
clear memory" of the state troopers have
We know the president gavt~ Ms.
Kathleen Willey meeting. We know testified under oath
Lewinsky gifts that have been turned over
that according to Ms. that they or their famto investigators, and that she sent courier Willey's sworn statement, she was sexual- ilies were threatened
packages to the president. We know that, ly molested by the president. We know that .by Clinton associates
according to lawyers familiar with Ms. two months after Ms. Willey was subpoe- if they talked; and
Lewinsky's proffer who were quoted in the naed in the Paula-Jones case, Democratic that
Dolly
Kyle
New York Times, the'proffer says th1~ pres- fund-raiser Nathan Landow t1eW her to his Browning said under
ident told Ms. Lewinsky she would not estate, where, according to sources famil- penalty of perjury
have to turn over the gifts, subpoenaed by iar with Ms. Willey's grand jury testimo- that her own brother,
Ms. Jones's lawyers, if she did not have ny, Mr. Landow pressed her not to say a 1992 Clinton camthem in her possession. We know that Ms. anything about her encounter with Mr. paign worker, warned
Lewinsky turned the gifts over to Mr. Clin- Clinton.
her that if she talked
ton's personal secretary, Betty Currie,
• Gennifer Flowers. We know that about he~ alle~ed s~xPaula Jones
who subsequently gave them to Mr. Starr's Hillary Clinton told "60 Minutes" in 1992 ual relatronshrp wrth
investigators. And we know that m:;tr1y for- that "part of what I believe with all my Mr. Clinton, "we will destroy you." We
mer and current Clinton aides do not be- heart is that the voters are tired of people know that people have testified under oath
lieve the president when he says that noth- who lie to them." We know that during the that Mr. Clinton helped secure government
ing sexual happened between himself and same interview Mr. Clinton denied that he jobs for women with whom he had affairs,
Ms. Lewinsky.
had an affair with Gennifer Flowers. And and that lawyer John B. Thompson has
We know that Ms. Lewinsky, a former we know that six years later, when asked said under oath that his friend M. Samuel
intern, made at least 37 visits to the White under oath if he ever had sexual relations Jones toid him Mr. Jones was paying
House after she was reassigned to the Pen- with Ms. Flowers, Mr. Clinton answered women for their silence,
tagon, and that Mr. Clinton met with her yes. We know that on the matter of the af• Private investigators and attempts to
after she was subpoenaed by Ms. Jones's fair, Mr. Clinton is on tape. telling Ms. discredit the independent counsel. We know
lawyers. ·We know that Ms. Lewinsky re- Flowers: "Deny it." And we know l'y1s. that on Feb. 22 the White House issued a
ceived extensive personal attentiol1 and Flowers is on tape telling Mr. Clinton: categorical denial that it "or any of Presijob-placement help from Vernon Jordan, a "The only thing that concerns me ... at dent Clinton's private attorneys has hired
Washington power broker and Clinton con- this point, is the state job," to which Mr. or authorized any private investigator to
fidant. We know that Ms. Lewinsky told Clinton replies, "Yeah, I never thought look into the background of ... investigaMs. Tripp that until Mr. Jordan got her a about that. ... If they ever ask if you've tors, prosecutors or reporters." We know
job, she would refuse to file her affidavit talked to me about it, you can say no." And that the next day Terry Lenzner said that
declaring that she never had sexual rela- we know that Ms. Flowers testified under his firm, Investigative Group Inc., had
tions with the president, according to oath that when she told Mr. Clinton she been retained by the law firm representing
lawyers familiar with the case. We know had lied to a grievance committee, he said, Mr. Clinton in Mr. Starr's investigation,
that Ms. Lewinsky received a job offer "Good for you."
and that Mr. Lenzner said if his investigafrom Revlon after Mr. Jordan personally
tors were looking into the backgrounds of
• Stonewalling. We know that while
'
members of Mr. Starr's staff, "I'd say
there was nothing inappropriate about
that." We know that Clinton adviser James
Carville declared "war" on the independent counsel, something no one acting on
behalf of an administration had ever done
before. And we know White House officials
have talked about "our continuing campaign to destroy Ken Starr."
We know, too, that if the president is
innocent of the felony allegations against
him, a vast number of people, representing all points on the political spectrum,
must have committed perjury.
The steady march toward impeachment hearings is not surprising; abuse of
power, obfuscation, thuggery and an endsjustify-the-means mentality are the coin of
the Clinton realm. In 1992 Mr. Clinton
promised Americans "the most ethical administration in the history of the republic." Since then, five independent counsels
have been appointed to investigate high
administration officials; Attorney General
Janet Reno has asked Mr. Starr to expand
his mandate on three separate occasions;
and even before the latest scandals broke,
Mr. Clinton presided over one of the most
scandal-plagued administrations in the
history of the republic.
The infamous acts include the improper acquisition of some 900 Federal Bureau
of Investigation files; the mysterious
reappearance (in the Clintons' private living quarters) of subpoenaed billing
records, crucial to a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. investigation, that had purportedly been missing for two years; the
administration's misrepresentation ·about
Mrs. Clinton and her commodity trades;
the half-million-dollar payments to former
Associate Attorney General Webster
Hubbell after he was forced to resign in
disgrace (including $100,000 from one of
James ·Riady's Hong Kong companies
and, with Mr. Jordan's help, $63,000 in
"consulting fees" from a holding company
controlled by Mr. Perelman); the selling
of the Lincoln bedroom; the illegal fundraising calls made from the White House;
the president's videotaped statement to
donors that, contrary to his previous denials, he was illegally raising soft money
to pay for reelection ads; the White
House's failure to turn over to congressional investigators videotapes of Mr.
Clinton's coffees with political donors
until months after they were requested;
its failure to turn over subpoenaed notes
by White House aide Bruce Lindsey until
the day after the Senate's Whitewater
Committee's authorization expired; the
improper use of the FBI to bolster false
White House claims of financial malfeasance in the firing of the White House
Travel Office; and the efforts to obstruct
the Resolution Trust Corp.'s investigation
of the failed Arkansas thrift, Madison
Guaranty Savings & Loan.
Salt in the Soil
The effects of the Clinton scandals will
be severe-particularly if the president, because of public indifference and congressional diffidence, escapes accountability
until the history books are written years
from now. If that happens, it will undercut
efforts toward the moral education of the
young, increase cynicism and further
erode the American public's trust in its political leaders. Indeed, Mr. Clinton has already devalued the office of the presidency.
It is axiomatic that the actions of the president strongly int1uence what America talks
about; consider, then, the nature of the
American public's discourse these days. He
is bringing America down. Through his
tawdry, reckless, irresponsible conduct, he
has plowed salt in America's civic soil. For
that, and for much else, he has rightfully
earned Americans' obloquy.
Mr. Bennett is author of "Our Sacred
Honor: Words of Advice From the Founders
in Stories, Letters, Poems a1td Speeches"
(Simon & Schuster, 1997).