C. Ms. Lewinsky's Notification of Her Transfer 
On Friday, April 5, 1996, Timothy Keating, Staff Director for Legislative
Affairs, informed Ms. Lewinsky that she would have to leave her White House
job.(304) According to Mr. Keating, he told her that she was not being
fired, merely "being given a different opportunity." In fact, she could
tell people it was a promotion if she cared to do so.(305) Upon hearing of
her dismissal, Ms. Lewinsky burst into tears and asked if there was any way
for her to stay in the White House, even without pay.(306) No, Mr. Keating
said. According to Ms. Lewinsky, "He told me I was too sexy to be working
in the East Wing and that this job at the Pentagon where I'd be writing
press releases was a sexier job."(307) 
Ms. Lewinsky was devastated. She felt that she was being transferred simply
because of her relationship with the President.(308) And she feared that
with the loss of her White House job, "I was never going to see the
President again. I mean, my relationship with him would be over."(309) 
D. Conversations with the President about Her Transfer 
1. Easter Telephone Conversations and Sexual Encounter 
On Easter Sunday, April 7, 1996, Ms. Lewinsky told the President of her
dismissal and they had a sexual encounter. Ms. Lewinsky entered the White
House at 4:56 and left at 5:28 p.m.(310) The President was in the Oval
Office all afternoon, from 2:21 to 7:48 p.m.(311) 
According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President telephoned her at home that day.
After they spoke of the death of the Commerce Secretary the previous week,
she told him of her dismissal: 
I had asked him . . . if he was doing okay with Ron Brown's death, and then
after we talked about that for a little bit I told him that my last day was
Monday. And . . . he seemed really upset and sort of asked me to tell him
what had happened. So I did and I was crying and I asked him if I could
come see him, and he said that that was fine.(312) 

At the White House, according to Ms. Lewinsky, she told Secret Service
Officer Muskett that she needed to deliver papers to the President.(313)
Officer Muskett admitted her to the Oval Office, and she and the President
proceeded to the private study.(314) 
According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President seemed troubled about her upcoming
departure from the White House: 
He told me that he thought that my being transferred had something to do
with him and that he was upset. He said, "Why do they have to take you away
from me? I trust you." And then he told me -- he looked at me and he said,
"I promise you if I win in November I'll bring you back like that."(315) 

He also indicated that she could have any job she wanted after the
election.(316) In addition, the President said he would find out why Ms.
Lewinsky was transferred and report back to her.(317) 
When asked if he had promised to get Ms. Lewinsky another White House job,
the President told the grand jury: 
What I told Ms. Lewinsky was that . . . I would do what I could to see, if
she had a good record at the Pentagon, and she assured me she was doing a
good job and working hard, that I would do my best to see that the fact
that she had been sent away from the Legislative Affairs section did not
keep her from getting a job in the White House, and that is, in fact, what
I tried to do. . . . But I did not tell her I would order someone to hire
her, and I never did, and I wouldn't do that. It wouldn't be right.(318) 

Ms. Lewinsky, when asked if the President had said that he would bring her
back to the White House only if she did a good job at the Pentagon,
responded: "No."(319) 
After this Easter Sunday conversation, the President and Ms. Lewinsky had a
sexual encounter in the hallway, according to Ms. Lewinsky.(320) She
testified that the President touched her breasts with his mouth and
hands.(321) 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."(322) Ms. Lewinsky performed oral
sex. The President did not ejaculate in her presence.(323) 
During this encounter, someone called out from the Oval Office that the
President had a phone call.(324) 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.(325) The telephone conversation was about politics, and Ms.
Lewinsky thought the caller might be Dick Morris.(326) 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.(327) 
A second interruption occurred a few minutes later, according to Ms.
Lewinsky. She and the President were in the study.(328) 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.(329) 

Ms. Lewinsky testified that she exited hurriedly through the dining room
door.(330) 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."(331) 
In addition to the record of the Dick Morris phone call, the testimony of
Secret Service Officer Muskett corroborates Ms. Lewinsky's account. Officer
Muskett was posted near the door to the Oval Office on Easter Sunday.(332)
He testified that Ms. Lewinsky (whom he knew) arrived at about 4:45 p.m.
carrying a manila folder and seeming "a little upset."(333) She told
Officer Muskett that she needed to deliver documents to the President.(334)
Officer Muskett or the plainclothes agent on duty with him opened the door,
and Ms. Lewinsky entered.(335) 
About 20 to 25 minutes later, according to Officer Muskett, the telephone
outside the Oval Office rang. The White House operator said that the
President had an important call but he was not picking up.(336) The agent
working alongside Officer Muskett knocked on the door to the Oval Office.
When the President did not respond, the agent entered. The Oval Office was
empty, and the door leading to the study was slightly ajar.(337) (Ms.
Lewinsky testified that the President left the door ajar during their
sexual encounters.(338)) The agent called out, "Mr. President?" There was
no response. The agent stepped into the Oval Office and called out more
loudly, "Mr. President?" This time there was a response from the study
area, according to Officer Muskett: "Huh?" The agent called out that the
President had a phone call, and the President said he would take it.(339) 
A few minutes later, according to Officer Muskett, Mr. Ickes approached and
said he needed to see President Clinton. Officer Muskett admitted him
through Ms. Currie's office.(340) Less than a minute after Mr. Ickes
entered Ms. Currie's reception area, according to Officer Muskett, the
pantry or dining room door closed audibly. Officer Muskett stepped down the
hall to check and saw Ms. Lewinsky walking away briskly.(341) 
At 5:30 p.m., two minutes after Ms. Lewinsky left the White House, the
President called the office of the person who had decided to transfer Ms.
Lewinsky, Evelyn Lieberman.(342) 
2. April 12-13: Telephone Conversations 
Ms. Lewinsky testified that the President telephoned her the following
Friday, April 12, 1996, at home. They talked for about 20 minutes.
According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President said he had checked on the reason
for her transfer: 
[H]e had come to learn . . . that Evelyn Lieberman had sort of spearheaded
the transfer, and that she thought he was paying too much attention to me
and I was paying too much attention to him and that she didn't necessarily
care what happened after the election but everyone needed to be careful
before the election.(343) 

According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President told her to give the Pentagon a
try, and, if she did not like it, he would get her a job on the
campaign.(344) 
In the grand jury, Ms. Lieberman testified that the President asked her
directly about Ms. Lewinsky's transfer: 
After I had gotten rid of her, when I was in there, during the course of a
conversation, [President Clinton] said, "I got a call about --" I don't
know if he said her name. He said maybe "-- an intern you fired." And she
was evidently very upset about it. He said, "Do you know anything about
this?" I said, "Yes." He said, "Who fired her?" I said, "I did." And he
said, "Oh, okay."(345) 

According to Ms. Lieberman, the President did not pursue the matter
further.(346) 
Three other witnesses confirm that the President knew why Ms. Lewinsky was
transferred to the Pentagon. In 1997, the President told Chief of Staff
Erskine Bowles "that there was a young woman -- her name was Monica
Lewinsky -- who used to work at the White House; that Evelyn . . . thought
she hung around the Oval Office too much and transferred her to the
Pentagon."(347) According to Betty Currie, the President believed that Ms.
Lewinsky had been unfairly transferred.(348) The President's close friend,
Vernon Jordan, testified that the President said to him in December 1997
that "he knew about [Ms. Lewinsky's] situation, which was that she was
pushed out of the White House."(349) 


Continue