Clinton Stuck to Script for His Testimony

Questioned about sexual intimacy with Monica S. Lewinsky just seven minutes into his grand jury appearance, President Clinton read a lengthy prepared statement that he referred to repeatedly, and sometimes testily, as prosecutors pressed for more details, according to a lawyer familiar with the president’s videotaped testimony.

The lawyer, who gave some details of the testimony Saturday on condition of anonymity, provided a full text of Clinton’s statement, which begins:

“When I was alone with Ms. Lewinsky on certain occasions in early 1996 and once in early 1997, I engaged in conduct that was wrong. These encounters did not consist of sexual intercourse, they did not constitute sexual relations as I understood that term to be defined at my Jan. 17, 1998, deposition. But they did involve inappropriate intimate contact. These inappropriate encounters ended at my insistence in early 1997. I also had occasional telephone conversations with Ms. Lewinsky that included inappropriate sexual banter.”

In later parts of his testimony, Clinton portrayed himself as a friend who, after their sexual contact ended, still tried to help find the former White House intern a new job and to help her avoid having to testify in the Paula Corbin Jones sexual harassment lawsuit. But Clinton said he took these actions out of concern for her and not because he was trying to silence her, the lawyer said.

The lawyer said the statement was prompted when prosecutor Robert Bittmann, one of independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr’s deputies, asked, “Were you ever physically intimate with Monica Lewinsky?” It was the first in a lengthy succession of sex-related questions that dominated the four-hour-plus session Aug. 17, the lawyer said.

Americans will see the president reading that statement and fending off prosecutors’ questions when the House, in an unprecedented move, releases the videotape Monday. Some cable TV networks are expected to air the video live.

Clinton also answers questions about Kathleen Willey, the woman who has accused him of an unwanted sexual advance, acknowledging that it was possible he tried to reach her as early as the fall of 1992 at a hotel in Williamsburg, Va., during a presidential debate, the lawyer said. Prosecutors confronted Clinton with a record of two calls he made to Willey’s room around that time.

As for the alleged advance in the White House in 1993, Clinton gave an identical answer to the one he gave in the Jones lawsuit, denying anything improper happened, except that he may have hugged her or kissed her forehead to comfort her, the lawyer said.

Clinton also acknowledged it was possible that he gave White House steward Bayani Nelvis a tie he had received as a gift from Lewinsky, the lawyer said.

It is the three-paragraph statement that will give Americans the first flavor of Clinton’s demeanor and lawyerly explanations throughout the rest of his grand jury testimony, a defense some of the president’s supporters now admit might involve too much “legal hairsplitting.”

Right after reading that statement, the lawyer said, Clinton took a prearranged 16-minute break. When questioning resumed, prosecutors continued to ask dozens of more questions seeking to press the president to further describe the sexual contacts.

At times, Clinton became testy and adamantly referred prosecutors back to his statement in response to questions that graphically described sexual encounters with Lewinsky.

When pressed about whether he lied during the Jones deposition, the president said he understood the term “sexual relations” defined by Jones’ lawyers in January to cover intercourse and any touching of Lewinsky that resulted in sexual gratification. Neither of those happened, the president testified. He said, however, that he did not believe oral sex performed on him by Lewinsky would have been covered by the definition.

Meanwhile, it was learned Saturday that a three-member federal appeals court panel will hear arguments Oct. 20 in St. Paul, Minn., on Jones’ appeal of the dismissal of her sexual harassment case involving Clinton.

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Clinton’s Grand Jury Statement

Text of the three-paragraph statement President Clinton read early in his Aug. 17 grand jury appearance, provided by a lawyer familiar with the testimony:

“When I was alone with Ms. Lewinsky on certain occasions in early 1996 and once in early 1997, I engaged in conduct that was wrong. These encounters did not consist of sexual intercourse, they did not constitute sexual relations as I understood that term to be defined at my Jan. 17, 1998, deposition. But they did involve inappropriate intimate contact. These inappropriate encounters ended at my insistence in early 1997. I also had occasional telephone conversations with Ms. Lewinsky that included inappropriate sexual banter.

“I regret that what began as a friendship came to include this conduct, and I take full responsibility for my actions. While I will provide the grand jury whatever other information I can, because of privacy considerations affecting my family, myself and others, and in an effort to preserve the dignity of the office I hold, this is all I will say about the specifics of these particular matters.

“I will try to answer to the best of my ability other questions, including questions about my relationship with Ms. Lewinsky, questions about my understanding of the term ‘sexual relations’ as I understood it to be defined at my Jan. 17, 1998, deposition, and questions concerning alleged subornation of perjury, obstruction of justice and intimidation of witnesses.”

Associated Press