A Day of Humiliation, Relief

President Clinton escaped conviction by the Senate in his impeachment trial in February, but he could not escape the justifiable wrath of a federal magistrate in Arkansas on Monday on a matter closely related to the impeachment case against him. U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright ruled that Clinton lied when questioned last year in the Paula Corbin Jones sexual harassment case. For giving “false, misleading and evasive answers that were designed to obstruct the judicial process,” Wright found Clinton in civil contempt of court. The second president to be impeached becomes the first to be so cited.

The monetary penalty attached to the contempt ruling includes payment to Jones for attorneys’ fees and similar expenses arising out of Clinton’s “willful failure” to give honest answers in his deposition. Clinton has already agreed to pay Jones $850,000 to settle her lawsuit. But there is more. Clinton, a lawyer, could be disbarred under a canon prohibiting “dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.” It has long been obvious that his deposition in the Jones suit, in which he swore “I have never had sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky,” was a lie.

A day that brought fresh humiliation for the president also brought relief for Susan McDougal, his former partner in the Whitewater land speculation affair that set in motion independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr’s prolonged and hugely expensive investigation. McDougal, who served 18 months in jail for refusing to cooperate with Starr’s inquisitors, was acquitted by a federal jury on obstruction of justice charges. The jury failed to agree on two other counts of civil contempt. McDougal became a familiar figure over a period of years as she was repeatedly led from jail cell to courtroom in shackles. We have had enough of that, and more than enough of the whole Whitewater affair. Starr has been trying to get McDougal since 1993. It is time for Starr to leave her in peace and cease his endless inquiries.