B. First Meetings with the President
The month after her White House internship began, Ms. Lewinsky and the President began what she characterized as "intense flirting." At departure ceremonies and other events, she made eye contact with him, shook hands, and introduced herself. When she ran into the President in the West Wing basement and introduced herself again, according to Ms. Lewinsky, he responded that he already knew who she was. Ms. Lewinsky told her aunt that the President "seemed attracted to her or interested in her or something," and told a visiting friend that "she was attracted to [President Clinton], she had a big crush on him, and I think she told me she at some point had gotten his attention, that there was some mutual eye contact and recognition, mutual acknowledgment."
In the autumn of 1995, an impasse over the budget forced the federal government to shut down for one week, from Tuesday, November 14, to Monday, November 20. Only essential federal employees were permitted to work during the furlough, and the White House staff of 430 shrank to about 90 people for the week. White House interns could continue working because of their unpaid status, and they took on a wide range of additional duties.(1)
During the shutdown, Ms. Lewinsky worked in Chief of Staff Panetta's West Wing office, where she answered phones and ran errands. The President came to Mr. Panetta's office frequently because of the shutdown, and he sometimes talked with Ms. Lewinsky. She characterized these encounters as "continued flirtation." According to Ms. Lewinsky, a Senior Adviser to the Chief of Staff, Barry Toiv, remarked to her that she was getting a great deal of "face time" with the President.(2)
C. November 15 Sexual Encounter
Ms. Lewinsky testified that Wednesday, November 15, 1995 -- the second day of the government shutdown -- marked the beginning of her sexual relationship with the President. On that date, she entered the White House at 1:30 p.m., left sometime thereafter (White House records do not show the time), reentered at 5:07 p.m., and departed at 12:18 a.m. on November 16. The President was in the Oval Office or the Chief of Staff's office (where Ms. Lewinsky worked during the furlough) for almost the identical period that Ms. Lewinsky was in the White House that evening, from 5:01 p.m. on November 15 to 12:35 a.m. on November 16.
According to Ms. Lewinsky, she and the President made eye contact when he came to the West Wing to see Mr. Panetta and Deputy Chief of Staff Harold Ickes, then again later at an informal birthday party for Jennifer Palmieri, Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff. At one point, Ms. Lewinsky and the President talked alone in the Chief of Staff's office. In the course of flirting with him, she raised her jacket in the back and showed him the straps of her thong underwear, which extended above her pants.(3)
En route to the restroom at about 8 p.m., she passed George Stephanopoulos's office. The President was inside alone, and he beckoned her to enter. She told him that she had a crush on him. He laughed, then asked if she would like to see his private office.(4) Through a connecting door in Mr. Stephanopoulos's office, they went through the President's private dining room toward the study off the Oval Office. Ms. Lewinsky testified: "We talked briefly and sort of acknowledged that there had been a chemistry that was there before and that we were both attracted to each other and then he asked me if he could kiss me." Ms. Lewinsky said yes. In the windowless hallway adjacent to the study, they kissed. Before returning to her desk, Ms. Lewinsky wrote down her name and telephone number for the President.
At about 10 p.m., in Ms. Lewinsky's recollection, she was alone in the Chief of Staff's office and the President approached. He invited her to rendezvous again in Mr. Stephanopoulos's office in a few minutes, and she agreed. (Asked if she knew why the President wanted to meet with her, Ms. Lewinsky testified: "I had an idea.") They met in Mr. Stephanopoulos's office and went again to the area of the private study. This time the lights in the study were off.
According to Ms. Lewinsky, she and the President kissed. She unbuttoned her jacket; either she unhooked her bra or he lifted her bra up; and he touched her breasts with his hands and mouth. Ms. Lewinsky testified: "I believe he took a phone call . . . and so we moved from the hallway into the back office . . . . [H]e put his hand down my pants and stimulated me manually in the genital area."(5) While the President continued talking on the phone (Ms. Lewinsky understood that the caller was a Member of Congress or a Senator), she performed oral sex on him.(6) He finished his call, and, a moment later, told Ms. Lewinsky to stop. In her recollection: "I told him that I wanted . . . to complete that. And he said . . . that he needed to wait until he trusted me more. And then I think he made a joke . . . that he hadn't had that in a long time."(7)
(....)
D. November 17 Sexual Encounter
(....)
Ms. Lewinsky testified:
We were again working late because it was during the furlough and Jennifer Palmieri . . . had ordered pizza along
with Ms. Currie and Ms. Hernreich. And when the pizza came, I went down to let them know that the pizza was there and it
was at that point when I walked into Ms. Currie's office that the President was standing there with some other people
discussing something.
And they all came back to the office and Mr. -- I think it was Mr. Toiv, somebody accidentally knocked pizza on my
jacket, so I went to go use the restroom to wash it off and as I was coming out of the restroom, the President was
standing in Ms. Currie's doorway and said, "You can come out this way."
Ms. Lewinsky and the President went into the area of the private study, according to Ms. Lewinsky. There, either in the hallway
or the bathroom, she and the President kissed. After a few minutes, in Ms. Lewinsky's recollection, she told him that she
needed to get back to her desk. The President suggested that she bring him some slices of pizza.(8)
A few minutes later, she returned to the Oval Office area with pizza and told Ms. Currie that the President had requested
it. Ms. Lewinsky testified: "[Ms. Currie] opened the door and said, 'Sir, the girl's here with the pizza.' He told me to come
in. Ms. Currie went back into her office and then we went into the back study area again."(9) Several witnesses confirm that
when Ms. Lewinsky delivered pizza to the President that night, the two of them were briefly alone.
Ms. Lewinsky testified that she and the President had a sexual encounter during this visit. They kissed, and the
President touched Ms. Lewinsky's bare breasts with his hands and mouth.(10) At some point, Ms. Currie approached the door leading
to the hallway, which was ajar, and said that the President had a telephone call. Ms. Lewinsky recalled that the caller was a
Member of Congress with a nickname. While the President was on the telephone, according to Ms. Lewinsky, "he unzipped his pants
and exposed himself," and she performed oral sex.(11) Again, he
stopped her before he ejaculated.
(....)
Records corroborate Ms. Lewinsky's recollection that the President took a call from a Member of Congress with a nickname.
While Ms. Lewinsky was at the White House that evening (9:38 to 10:39 p.m.), the President had one telephone conversation with a
Member of Congress: From 9:53 to 10:14 p.m., he spoke with Rep. H.L. "Sonny" Callahan.
(....)
E. December 31 Sexual Encounter
(....)
Sometime between noon and 1 p.m., in Ms. Lewinsky's recollection, she was in the pantry area of the President's
private dining room talking with a White House steward, Bayani Nelvis. She told Mr. Nelvis that she had recently smoked her
first cigar, and he offered to give her one of the President's cigars. Just then, the President came down the hallway from the
Oval Office and saw Ms. Lewinsky. The President dispatched Mr. Nelvis to deliver something to Mr. Panetta.(12)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, she told the President that Mr. Nelvis had promised her a cigar, and the President gave her
one.(13) She told him her name -- she had the impression that he
had forgotten it in the six weeks since their furlough encounters because, when passing her in the hallway, he had called her
"Kiddo." The President replied that he knew her name; in fact, he added, having lost the phone number she had given him, he had
tried to find her in the phonebook.(14)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, they moved to the study. "And then . . . we were kissing and he lifted my sweater and exposed
my breasts and was fondling them with his hands and with his mouth."(15) She performed oral sex. Once again, he stopped her
before he ejaculated because, Ms. Lewinsky testified, "he didn't know me well enough or he didn't trust me yet."(16)
(....)
(....)
A. January 7 Sexual Encounter
According to Ms. Lewinsky, she and the President had another sexual encounter on Sunday, January 7, 1996. Although White
House records do not indicate that Ms. Lewinsky was at the White House that day, her testimony and other evidence indicate that
she was there. The President, according to White House records, was in the Oval Office most of the afternoon, from 2:13
to 5:49 p.m.
According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President telephoned her early that afternoon. It was the first time he had called her at
home. In her recollection: "I asked him what he was doing and he said he was going to be going into the office soon. I said,
oh, do you want some company? And he said, oh, that would be great." Ms. Lewinsky went to her office, and the President
called to arrange their rendezvous:
[W]e made an arrangement that . . . he would have the door to his office open, and I would pass by the office with some
papers and then . . . he would sort of stop me and invite me in. So, that was exactly what happened. I passed by and
that was actually when I saw [Secret Service Uniformed Officer] Lew Fox who was on duty outside the Oval Office,
and stopped and spoke with Lew for a few minutes, and then the President came out and said, oh, hey, Monica . . . come
on in . . . . And so we spoke for about 10 minutes in the [Oval] office. We sat on the sofas. Then we went into the
back study and we were intimate in the bathroom.(17)
Ms. Lewinsky testified that during this bathroom encounter, she and the President kissed, and he touched her bare breasts with
his hands and his mouth.(18) The President "was talking about
performing oral sex on me," according to Ms. Lewinsky.(19) But she
stopped him because she was menstruating and he did not. Ms. Lewinsky did perform oral sex on him.(20)
Afterward, she and the President moved to the Oval Office and talked. According to Ms. Lewinsky: "[H]e was chewing on a
cigar. And then he had the cigar in his hand and he was kind of looking at the cigar in . . . sort of a naughty way. And so
I looked at the cigar and I looked at him and I said, we can do that, too, some time."(21)
(....)
B. January 21 Sexual Encounter
On Sunday, January 21, 1996, according to Ms. Lewinsky, she and the President had another sexual encounter. Her time of
White House entry is not reflected in records. She left at 3:56 p.m. The President moved from the Residence to the Oval Office
at 3:33 p.m. and remained there until 7:40 p.m.
On that day, according to Ms. Lewinsky, she saw the President in a hallway by an elevator, and he invited her to the
Oval Office. According to Ms. Lewinsky:
We had . . . had phone sex for the first time the week prior(22), and I was feeling a little bit insecure about whether
he had liked it or didn't like it . . . . I didn't know if this was sort of developing into some kind of a longer-term
relationship than what I thought it initially might have been, that maybe he had some regular girlfriend who was
furloughed . . . .(23)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, she questioned the President about his interest in her. "I asked him why he doesn't ask
me any questions about myself, and . . . is this just about sex . . . or do you have some interest in trying to get to
know me as a person?" The President laughed and said, according to Ms. Lewinsky, that "he cherishes the time that he
had with me."(24) She considered it "a little bit odd" for him to speak of cherishing
their time together "when I felt like he didn't really even know me yet."
They continued talking as they went to the hallway by the study. Then, with Ms. Lewinsky in mid-sentence, "he
just started kissing me." He lifted her top and touched her breasts with his hands and mouth.(25)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President "unzipped his pants and sort of exposed himself,"(26)
and she performed oral sex.
At one point during the encounter, someone entered the Oval Office. In Ms. Lewinsky's recollection, "[The President]
zipped up real quickly and went out and came back in . . . . I just remember laughing because he had walked out there and
he was visibly aroused, and I just thought it was funny."
A short time later, the President got word that his next appointment, a friend from Arkansas, had arrived.
He took Ms. Lewinsky out through the Oval Office into Ms. Hernreich's office, where he kissed her goodbye.
C. February 4 Sexual Encounter and Subsequent Phone Calls
On Sunday, February 4, according to Ms. Lewinsky, she and the President had their sixth sexual encounter and their first
lengthy and personal conversation. The President was in the Oval Office from 3:36 to 7:05 p.m. He had no telephone calls in the
Oval Office before 4:45 p.m. Records do not show Ms. Lewinsky's entry or exit.
According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President telephoned her at her desk and they planned their rendezvous. At her suggestion,
they bumped into each other in the hallway, "because when it happened accidentally, that seemed to work really well," then
walked together to the area of the private study.
There, according to Ms. Lewinsky, they kissed. She was wearing a long dress that buttoned from the neck to the ankles.
"And he unbuttoned my dress and he unhooked my bra, and sort of took the dress off my shoulders and . . . moved the bra . . . .
[H]e was looking at me and touching me and telling me how beautiful I was." He touched her breasts with his hands and
his mouth, and touched her genitals, first through underwear and then directly. She performed oral sex on him.
After their sexual encounter, the President and Ms. Lewinsky sat and talked in the Oval Office for about 45 minutes. Ms.
Lewinsky thought the President might be responding to her suggestion during their previous meeting about "trying to get to
know me." It was during that conversation on February 4, according to Ms. Lewinsky, that their friendship started to
blossom.
When she prepared to depart, according to Ms. Lewinsky, the President "kissed my arm and told me he'd call me, and then I
said, yeah, well, what's my phone number? And so he recited both my home number and my office number off the top of his
head."(27) The President called her at her desk later that afternoon and
said he had enjoyed their time together.
D. President's Day (February 19) Break-up
According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President terminated their relationship (only temporarily, as it happened), on Monday,
February 19, 1996 -- President's Day. The President was in the Oval Office from 11 a.m. to 2:01 p.m. that day. He had no
telephone calls between 12:19 and 12:42 p.m. Records do not reflect Ms. Lewinsky's presence at the White House.
In Ms. Lewinsky's recollection, the President telephoned her at her Watergate apartment that day. From the tone of his voice,
she could tell something was wrong. She asked to come see him, but he said he did not know how long he would be there. Ms.
Lewinsky went to the White House, then walked to the Oval Office sometime between noon and 2 p.m. (the only time she ever went to
the Oval Office uninvited). Ms. Lewinsky recalled that she was admitted by a tall, slender, Hispanic plainclothes agent on duty
near the door.
The President told her that he no longer felt right about their intimate relationship, and he had to put a stop to
it.(28) Ms. Lewinsky was welcome to continue coming to visit him, but
only as a friend. He hugged her but would not kiss her. At one point during their conversation, the President had a
call from a sugar grower in Florida whose name, according to Ms. Lewinsky, was something like "Fanuli." In Ms. Lewinsky's
recollection, the President may have taken or returned the call just as she was leaving.
(....)
E. Continuing Contacts
(No HOT SEX here.)
F. March 31 Sexual Encounter
(....)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President telephoned her at her desk and suggested that she come to the Oval Office on the
pretext of delivering papers to him. She went to the Oval Office and was admitted by a plainclothes Secret Service agent.
In her folder was a gift for the President, a Hugo Boss necktie.
In the hallway by the study, the President and Ms. Lewinsky kissed. On this occasion, according to Ms. Lewinsky, "he focused
on me pretty exclusively," kissing her bare breasts and fondling her genitals. At one point, the President inserted a cigar
into Ms. Lewinsky's vagina, then put the cigar in his mouth and said: "It tastes good."(29)
After they were finished, Ms. Lewinsky left the Oval Office and walked through the Rose
Garden.
(....)
1. Easter Telephone Conversations and Sexual Encounter
(....)
After this Easter Sunday conversation, the President and Ms. Lewinsky had a sexual encounter in the hallway, according to Ms.
Lewinsky. She testified that the President touched her breasts with his mouth and hands.(30)
According to Ms. Lewinsky: "I think he unzipped [his pants] . . . because it was sort of this running
joke that I could never unbutton his pants, that I just had trouble with it."
Ms. Lewinsky performed oral sex. The President did not ejaculate in her presence.(31)
During this encounter, someone called out from the Oval Office that the President had a phone call. He went back to
the Oval Office for a moment, then took the call in the study. The President indicated that Ms. Lewinsky should perform oral sex
while he talked on the phone, and she obliged. The telephone conversation was about politics, and Ms. Lewinsky thought
the caller might be Dick Morris.(32)
White House records confirm that the President had one telephone call during Ms. Lewinsky's visit:
from "Mr. Richard Morris," to whom he talked from 5:11 to 5:20
p.m.
A second interruption occurred a few minutes later, according to Ms. Lewinsky. She and the President were in the
study. Ms. Lewinsky testified:
Harold Ickes has a very distinct voice and . . . I heard him holler "Mr. President," and the President looked at me and I
looked at him and he jetted out into the Oval Office and I panicked and . . . thought that maybe because Harold was so
close with the President that they might just wander back there and the President would assume that I knew to leave.
Ms. Lewinsky testified that she exited hurriedly through the dining room door. That evening, the President called and asked
Ms. Lewinsky why she had run off. "I told him that I didn't know if he was going to be coming back . . . . [H]e was a little
upset with me that I left."
(....)
(....)
A. Resumption of Meetings with the President
(....)
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(33)
(....)
D. February 28 Sexual Encounter
According to Ms. Lewinsky, she and the President had a sexual encounter on Thursday, February 28 -- their first in
nearly 11 months. White House records show that Ms. Lewinsky attended the taping of the President's weekly radio address on
February 28. She was at the White House from 5:48 to 7:07 p.m. The President was in the Roosevelt Room (where the radio
address was taped) from 6:29 to 6:36 p.m., then moved to the Oval Office, where he remained until 7:24 p.m. He had no telephone
calls while Ms. Lewinsky was in the White House.
Wearing a navy blue dress from the Gap, Ms. Lewinsky attended the radio address at the President's invitation (relayed
by Ms. Currie), then had her photo taken with the President. Ms. Lewinsky had not been alone with the President since she had
worked at the White House, and, she testified, "I was really nervous." President Clinton told her to see Ms. Currie after
the photo was taken because he wanted to give her something.(34)
"So I waited a little while for him and then Betty and the President and I went into the back office," Ms. Lewinsky
testified. (She later learned that the reason Ms. Currie accompanied them was that Stephen Goodin did not want the
President to be alone with Ms. Lewinsky, a view that Mr. Goodin expressed to the President and Ms. Currie. Once they had
passed from the Oval Office toward the private study, Ms. Currie said, "I'll be right back," and walked on to the back pantry or
the dining room, where, according to Ms. Currie, she waited for 15 to 20 minutes while the President and Ms. Lewinsky were in the
study. Ms. Currie (who said she acted on her own initiative) testified that she accompanied the President and Ms. Lewinsky out
of the Oval Office because "I didn't want any perceptions, him being alone with someone."
In the study, according to Ms. Lewinsky, the President "started to say something to me and I was pestering him to kiss
me, because . . . it had been a long time since we had been alone." The President told her to wait a moment, as he had
presents for her.(35) As belated Christmas gifts, he gave her a
hat pin and a special edition of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass.
Ms. Lewinsky described the Whitman book as "the most sentimental gift he had given me . . . it's beautiful and it
meant a lot to me." During this visit, according to Ms. Lewinsky, the President said he had seen her Valentine's Day
message in the Washington Post, and he talked about his fondness for "Romeo and Juliet."(36)
Ms. Lewinsky testified that after the President gave her the gifts, they had a sexual encounter:
[W]e went back over by the bathroom in the hallway, and we kissed. We were kissing and he unbuttoned my dress and
fondled my breasts with my bra on, and then took them out of my bra and was kissing them and touching them with his hands
and with his mouth.
And then I think I was touching him in his genital area through his pants, and I think I unbuttoned his shirt and
was kissing his chest. 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.(37)
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. Then, saying that "I don't want to disappoint you,"
the President consented. For the first time, she performed oral sex through completion.
When Ms. Lewinsky next took the navy blue Gap dress from her closet to wear it, she noticed stains near one hip and on the
chest. FBI Laboratory tests revealed that the stains are the President's semen.(38)
(....)
E. March 29 Sexual Encounter
According to Ms. Lewinsky, she had what proved to be her final sexual encounter with the President on Saturday, March 29,
1997. Records show that she was at the White House from 2:03 to 3:16 p.m., admitted by Ms. Currie. The President was in the
Oval Office during this period (he left shortly after Ms. Lewinsky did, at 3:24 p.m.), and he did not have any phone calls
during her White House visit.
According to Ms. Lewinsky, Ms. Currie arranged the meeting after the President said by telephone that he had something
important to tell her. At the White House, Ms. Currie took her to the study to await the President. He came in on crutches, the
result of a knee injury in Florida two weeks earlier.
According to Ms. Lewinsky, their sexual encounter began with a sudden kiss: "[T]his was another one of those occasions when I
was babbling on about something, and he just kissed me, kind of to shut me up, I think." The President unbuttoned her blouse
and touched her breasts without removing her bra. "[H]e went to go put his hand down my pants, and then I unzipped them
because it was easier. And I didn't have any panties on. And so he manually stimulated me." According to Ms. Lewinsky, "I
wanted him to touch my genitals with his genitals," and he did so, lightly and without penetration.(39)
Then Ms. Lewinsky performed oral sex on him, again until he ejaculated.
According to Ms. Lewinsky, she and the President had a lengthy conversation that day. He told her that he suspected
that a foreign embassy (he did not specify which one) was tapping his telephones, and he proposed cover stories. If ever
questioned, she should say that the two of them were just friends. If anyone ever asked about their phone sex, she should
say that they knew their calls were being monitored all along, and the phone sex was just a put-on.
(....)
1. Including blowjobs.
2. "Face time"... uh huhhuhhuh huh!
3. I believe this completely exonerates the President of all wrongdoings that followed.
4. Note to self: I've got to get a private office....
5. ...As opposed to automatically?
6. "Oh Baby! What? No, sorry, ah meant 'Oh Senator.'"
7. I believe this completely exonerates the President of all wrongdoings that followed.
8. Ms. Lewinsky clearly saw an opportunity to capitalize on and twist around the President's
natural urge for pizza.
9. (Jotting this down) A private office... with a study....
10. This is *not necessarily* sex. There may have still been remnants of the pizza accident
on her chest.
11. "Oh honey! What? No, uh, ah said Oh 'Sonny.'"
12. Absolutely NOT a blowjob.
13. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
14. ...but he couldn't find "Interns" in the yellow pages...
15. Okay, I move that we take fondling of the breasts as a given. Any seconders?
16. Didn't *know* her well enough? Didn't *trust* her? I believe this completely exonerates the
President, on the basis of insanity.
17. A private office... with a study... and a bathroom....
18. Yeah yeah, again with the breasts....
19. "Ah been thinkin' about havin' an improper relationship with ya, Honey...."
20. "No, slow down, Baby, it only works when ah'm on th' phone with a Senator."
21. (President nods and smiles, but secretly is a bit puzzled.)
22. "Okay, now yer puhformin' improper oral sexual contact on me, and ah'm gettin' closer to
eee-jacky-latin', and ah'm talkin to the Senator on th' other line, and, oh Baby, now I STOP YA!
Whew... was it good fer you?"
23. "I'd like ya tuh meet Wilhelmina Horton."
24. i.e. "No one else gives me blowjobs."
25. Gasp! I wasn't expecting THAT!
26. "Sort of" exposed himself? This may not necessarily constitute "improper relations."
27. (Cue screechy-violin stalker music)
28. Evidence of the President's morals.
29. According to "Cigar Aficionado" magazine, this may not necessarily constitute
"improper relations."
30. Naturally.
31. More evidence of the President's morals.
32. "Yeah, suck that dick! What? No, I said 'I second that, Dick.'"
33. "M" might not necessarily have been Monica Lewinsky. It might've been Dick "M"orris.
34. A tube steak smothered in underwear.
35. A tube steak smothered in underwear.
36. That Claire Danes is HOT.
37. I believe this completely exonerates the President of all wrongdoings that followed.
38. HellOOO... there's an amazing new product known as LAUNDRY DETERGENT... ever heard of it?
39. This does not necessarily constitute "improper relations."