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On Aug. 10, 1997, Steele and Mathieson met with Star senior editor Richard Gooding at a Richmond hotel, where they were paid $500. "There's no question [Steele] referred to an incident in the Oval Office", said Gooding. According to Gooding, Steele said that Willey had told her "she was afraid someone would come in and see them". Gooding concluded, however, that [neither] the pictures Steele was offering nor the story was worth the $20,000 she and Mathieson were asking....
Steele also described the Willey-Clinton encounter to a friend, Bill Poveromo, a Richmond TV producer, over dinner in the spring of 1997. Willey claimed that "the president had cornered her and fondled her", Steele told Poveromo. Steele "thought that Kathy was flattered by it", he said, and did not mention that Willey had asked her to lie....
Willey and Steele had a complex relationship. According to Willey, Steele had long pushed her to take her story to the tabloids--and split the proceeds. (A few days after Steele recanted to Newsweek, Steele sold a photo of Willey and Clinton to the National Enquirer for $7000.) Willey does, however, acknowledge she has asked Steele to lie for her in the past. In the early '80s, for example, Willey said she went out of town with another man--and asked Steele to cover for her. "I'm not a perfect person", Willey said. "I'm ashamed of a lot of things I've done"....
[Once she'd testified to Jones's lawyers...]: Now that his client's story was going public, Gecker says, "there was no sense not selling it". He called publisher Michael Viner and asked for a "minimum amount" of $300,000, according to Viner. Vinger suggested $100,000. "Unless it turns out that Monica Lewinsky is Bill Clinton's and Kathleen Willey's love child, I really dubt there'll be more money for this book", he told Gecker. Gecker also talked to the Star, but insists he never intended to sell the story to a supermarket tab...
Whatta buncha people... |
