|
The Weight of Words
The minute details of Clinton's past testimony could save him -- or ruin him
August 17 (Court TV) --In the end, his fate lies in the details.
When President Clinton testifies today to the Monica Lewinsky grand jury, every single word he says will be filtered through the words he and Lewinsky have already said under oath -- words that have been scrutinized in painful detail.
Those words can be primarily found in three documents: Clinton's own testimony in his January 17 deposition in the Paula Jones case, Lewinsky's January 16 affidavit in that case, and the definition of sexual contact provided to the president during his Jones deposition.
Clinton and Lewinsky both denied having sexual relations in their respective prior testimony, but Lewinsky then reportedly told the grand jury that she and Clinton were sexually involved and that he suggested they deny the affair -- though he did not ask her to lie about it.
For a president who has previously used semantic differences to his own advantage, the truth may be more subtle. And what he admits to the grand jury today may be parsed through flexible interpretations of the definition of sex in the Jones case.
Here, then, the details of what's been said so far:
Clinton's Deposition
When questioned by Paula Jones attorney James Fisher, Clinton said that he knew Lewinsky through her work as an intern and as a staffer in the legislative affairs office of the White House.
They met for the first time late in 1995, Clinton said, and he never had a role in her advancement from internship to a full-time staff position.
Nor did he know when she moved from the White House to the Pentagon.
He wasn't sure how many times he met Lewinsky, but he discussed meeting her during the government shutdown of 1995: "[t]he whole White House was being run by interns, and she was assigned to work back in the Chief of Staff's office, and we were all working there, and so I saw her on two or three occasions then, and then when she worked at the White House, I think there was one or two other times when she brought some documents to me."
Clinton was "not sure" if he met her on social occasions at the White House.
He could not recall if they were ever in the Oval Office alone together, but said she might have "brought things to me once or twice on the weekends. In that case, whatever time she would be in there, drop it off, exchange a few words and go, she was there." He acknowledged he had "no specific recollection" of ever being alone with Lewinsky, but said it was "possible."
Fisher then asked Clinton if he and Lewinsky went to his private kitchen together, a question that brought significant protest from Bob Bennett, Clinton's personal lawyer, who was "afraid...this will leak." But U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright allowed the question.
After a long diatribe about the specifics of the kitchen, which he described as a "little cubbyhole," he said Lewinsky might have brought a pizza back there by herself, but Clinton did "not believe she was there alone, however."
Other specifics of the deposition:
Did Clinton and Lewinsky meet in the White House late at night? "I certainly don't think so," said Clinton. "I don't remember it." (Lewinsky was reportedly signed into the White House by Currie several times, allegedly to visit Clinton.) Did Clinton meet with Lewinsky after Currie signed in Lewinsky for a late-night visit? "Not to my knowledge," said Clinton.
The last time before January 17 that Clinton spoke with Lewinsky was "[p]robably sometime before Christmas," when Lewinsky visited Currie.
Clinton said Bruce Lindsey may have told Clinton that Lewinsky might testify in the Jones case, but the two men never discussed how to react to a Lewinsky subpoena.
Clinton was "not sure" if he ever discussed the case with Lewinsky and said that he, Currie and Lewinsky were joking at one point about how Jones' attorneys "were going to call every woman I'd ever talked to." "I don't think we ever had more of a conversation than that about it," he said.
Clinton knew that Vernon Jordan met with Lewinsky. (Jordan recommended a lawyer for Lewinsky after she received her subpoena.) He said that he believed Currie told him about Jordan and Lewinsky meeting. He knew that Lewinsky interviewed with U.N. Ambassador Bill Richardson about a job with Richardson's office. Did he ever talk to Richardson about getting Lewinsky a job in Richardson's office? "To my knowledge, no," Clinton said.
Clinton said that Jordan mentioned his meeting with Lewinsky to Clinton. Clinton "didn't have any negative knowledge" of Jordan meeting the former intern. "I mean there would be no reason for me to be negative about it. Vernon liked to help people," said Clinton.
Clinton could not recall directly giving Lewinsky a gift. He could recall getting gifts from her, including a tie.
Clinton said he never gave Lewinsky any money.
But the crux of the Lewinsky portion of the deposition focuses on specifics about the alleged relationship between Clinton and Lewinsky, and it is at this point in the questioning that linguistic details become crucial.
Did Clinton have "an extramarital sexual affair" with Lewinsky? "No," Clinton responded. "It would not be the truth," he said, for her to have told anyone the two of them had a "sexual affair."
Q:...And so the record is completely clear, have you ever had sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky, as that term is defined in Deposition Exhibit 1, as modified by the Court?
MR. BENNETT: I object because I don't know that he can remember --
JUDGE WRIGHT: Well, it's real short. He can -- I will permit the question and you may show the witness definition number one.
A. I have never had sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky. I've never had an affair with her.
(For more about the definition of "sexual relations" used in the deposition, see below.)
Lewinsky's Affidavit
Lewinsky filed an affidavit in the Jones case on January 16, 1998. She filed it anonymously -- and is referenced in the case as "Jane Doe #6."
[ full text of Lewinsky affidavit ]
Much of the affidavit deals with details of her employment at the White House and the Pentagon.
"I have the utmost respect for the President, who has always behaved appropriately in my presence," Lewinsky said.
"I have never had a sexual relationship with the President," Lewinsky said, "he did not propose that we have a sexual relationship, he did not offer me employment or other benefits for rejecting a sexual relationship."
After months of negotiations, Lewinsky reached a deal with independent counsel Kenneth Starr for use immunity in return for testimony in which she reportedly said that she and Clinton did have a sexual relationship, though one that may not have involved penetrative sex.
Definition of "sexual relations"
If Clinton has an out in the Lewinsky matter, it may exist because of a single document: the definition used by the court in his Paula Jones deposition.
The full definition, as provided to Clinton, is as follows:
Definition of Sexual Relations
For the purposes of this deposition, a person engages in "sexual relations" when the person knowingly engages in or causes -
(1) contact with the genitalia, anus, groin, breast, inner thigh, or buttocks of any person with an intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person;
(2) contact between any part of the person's body or an object and the genitals or anus of another person; or
(3) contact between the genitals or anus of the person and any part of another person's body.
"Contact" means intentional touching, either directly or through clothing.
On the piece of paper shown to Clinton, the first definition is circled.
Going back to the Clinton deposition for a moment, the questioning about sex between Clinton and Lewinsky was interrupted by Clinton lawyer Bennett. Judge Wright intercedes and allows questioning along the lines of "definition number one."
Just what Wright meant isn't entirely clear, though it's likely she was referring to the first, circled definition on the sheet shown to the president. There have also been reports that Wright made modifications to the definition, though no such modification is recorded in publicly available transcripts of the deposition, and it is unclear at what point Wright would have made such a modification. One source familiar with the investigation told Court TV that, prior to Clinton being questioned about sex with Lewinsky, Wright had already struck out the second and third definitions provided to the president.
If the president has any ability to evade a perjury charge during his testimony today, it will likely come from the wrangling between Jones' lawyers, Clinton's lawyers and the court over the definition of sex.
If, as has been repeatedly suggested, Clinton and Lewinsky had a sexual relationship that involved Lewinsky performing oral sex for Clinton but nothing else, the first definition of sex provided to Clinton would indicate, in a surreal twist, that Lewinsky had sex with Clinton -- but Clinton didn't have sex with her.
If the president was led to understand that his answer about sex with Lewinsky was based on the first definition, he may be able to tell the grand jury that he answered truthfully, even if he and Lewinsky did engage in sexual contact.
It's a semantic difference, and even if it technically keeps Clinton from having perjured himself, it will be up to Congress -- and the American people -- to decide whether they think he is a truthful man.
-Jon Bonné
Additional reporting by Court TV's Lamar Proctor. | 
Full Coverage