THE MOMENT (THAT BILL CLINTON WISHES NEVER HAPPENED); CLINTON'S VIDEO DECEPTION SCREENED DURING HEARING.Byline: Steven Thomma Knight Ridder
Knight Ridder (IPA: /ˈrɪdɚ/) was an American media company, specializing in newspaper and Internet publishing. Newspapers Jan. 17, 1998. Sitting against a stark white wall, occasionally sipping from a white coffee cup, President Clinton appeared cool, even confident at the very moment he was putting his presidency in jeopardy. Sometimes pausing when asked about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky Monica Samille Lewinsky (born July 23, 1973) is an American woman with whom the former United States President Bill Clinton admitted (after initially denying) to having had an "inappropriate relationship"[1] while Lewinsky worked at the White House in 1995 and 1996. , Clinton nonetheless seemed at ease with his answers as he calmly denied a sexual relationship with Lewinsky and told lawyers he couldn't remember even being alone with her. ``I have never had sexual relations sexual relations pl.n. 1. Sexual intercourse. 2. Sexual activity between individuals. with Monica Lewinsky,'' he said. ``I've never had an affair with her.'' ``I don't recall'' ever being alone with her, he added later. Made under oath, they were the answers that got Clinton in trouble, answers his own lawyers now call maddening and which one of his accusers said Thursday came from ``his own crafty mind.'' Just a few words, videotaped in a deposition he gave in a sexual harassment sexual harassment, in law, verbal or physical behavior of a sexual nature, aimed at a particular person or group of people, especially in the workplace or in academic or other institutional settings, that is actionable, as in tort or under equal-opportunity statutes. lawsuit, they set off a months-long cover-up as well as charges of perjury perjury (pûr`jərē), in criminal law, the act of willfully and knowingly stating a falsehood under oath or under affirmation in judicial or administrative proceedings. , obstruction of justice A criminal offense that involves interference, through words or actions, with the proper operations of a court or officers of the court. The integrity of the judicial system depends on the participants' acting honestly and without fear of reprisals. and abuse of power that could lead to a vote by the House of Representatives next week to impeach To accuse; to charge a liability upon; to sue. To dispute, disparage, deny, or contradict; as in to impeach a judgment or decree, or impeach a witness; or as used in the rule that a jury cannot impeach its verdict. him. Clinton made the responses Jan. 17 as part of Paula Corbin Jones' sexual harassment lawsuit against him. The lawsuit since was dismissed. Americans got their first chance to see the tape Thursday as the House Judiciary Committee Judiciary Committee may refer to:
In cases of Impeachment, involving the president, vice president, or other federal officers, the House of Representatives prepares the articles of against Clinton. Transcripts were released in October, but the tape had been seen only by Jones' attorneys, the staff of Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr and the committee members and staff. In these tapes, Clinton reveals none of the animation, none of the anger or charm he showed a federal grand jury that questioned him six months later. Sitting erect, the president spends much of the time looking in the direction of his attorney, Robert Bennett, or straight ahead. Indeed, it is such a neutral performance that attorneys for both sides used different parts of the tape to punctuate punc·tu·ate v. punc·tu·at·ed, punc·tu·at·ing, punc·tu·ates v.tr. 1. To provide (a text) with punctuation marks. 2. their arguments that Clinton was a calculating liar in the tape or that he was trapped by a confusing definition of sexual relations. ``I thought you and the public should hear how this all first started,'' said Abbe Lowell, the Democratic counsel to the House Judiciary Committee as he introduced the first excerpts. He played a section showing Clinton sitting passively, occasionally fidgeting with his pen or his glasses, while his attorney, another unidentified attorney and U.S. Judge Susan Webber Wright Susan Webber Wright (b. 1948) is a United States District Court judge presently serving as the chief judge of the Eastern District of Arkansas. She received national attention when she dismissed Paula Jones's sexual harassment lawsuit against President Bill Clinton in 1998. debate what definition of sexual relations should be used in questioning Clinton. Given a definition that did not include oral sex, Clinton said he did not have sexual relations with Lewinsky. Lowell conceded that Clinton was trying to deceive the questioners from discovering his relationship with Lewinsky. ``His responses were an attempt to answer the questions evasively,'' Lowell said. ``In the 20-20 hindsight of almost a year, we know he could have, should have acted better.'' But Lowell insisted that Clinton did not intend to lie, and that he should not be impeached for his deception. David Schippers, the Republican counsel to the committee, showed several more excerpts of the taped testimony. ``I'd like you to listen to the president's deceptions for yourself,'' he said, turning to questions of whether Clinton was ever alone in the Oval Office or an adjoining hallway where Lewinsky later testified she and Clinton frequently engaged in oral sex. Asked whether he was ever alone with Lewinsky in the Oval Office, Clinton paused for five seconds, and said, ``I don't recall.'' Growing expansive, Clinton explained that Lewinsky worked in the Legislative Affairs Office of the White House and that she brought him papers to sign on weekends. ``It's possible that she, in, while she was working there, brought something to me and that at the time she brought it to me, she was the only person there.'' Asked whether he had ever been alone with her in the hallway off the Oval Office, Clinton said, ``I don't believe so, unless we were walking back to the dining room with the pizza. I just don't believe we were alone in the hallway.'' CAPTION(S): photo PHOTO (color) President Clinton speaks during his Jan. 17 deposition in the Paula Jones harassment suit. CNN CNN or Cable News Network Subsidiary company of Turner Broadcasting Systems. It was created by Ted Turner in 1980 to present 24-hour live news broadcasts, using satellites to transmit reports from news bureaus around the world. |
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