This one's even worse. Even heard Sam Donaldson say this morning driving in that "This is very serious.".
From today's Washington Times.
ÿÿThe most shocking information to come out of the Paula Jones lawsuit has little to do with Mrs. Jones herself. As reported in Newsweek, a former White House staffer named Kathleen Willey has testified under oath about a private meeting with Mr. Clinton to discuss her job prospects. In the sworn deposition, Mrs. Willey recounted that, while in a room adjacent to the Oval Office, the president made an unsolicited sexual advance, kissing and fondling her.
ÿÿÿÿÿJames Carville, the president's most energetic defender, dismisses this as "old news." It is not. Up until the recent deposition, Mrs. Willey's allegations were at best second- or third-hand; nor had they been put to the acid test of a sworn deposition. But now Mrs. Willey has told the story herself, and under oath. If the Newsweek report is correct about the contents of that deposition, Mrs. Willey's experience may have been as unpleasant as anything experienced by Mr. Packwood's victims.
ÿÿÿÿÿThe Clinton team's first line of defense is that the president's accusers are part of a right-wing effort to discredit him. It won't work in this case: Mrs. Willey and her husband worked on the Clinton campaign in 1992, and then she volunteered in the White House, working for Hillary Rodham Clinton. The second line of defense is that the accusers are interested in shaking down the president for money. This won't work either: Mrs. Willey didn't want anything other than to stay mum about the incident. She ignored the first subpoena served up by Mrs. Jones' lawyers; it was only under threat of a contempt of court citation that she testified under oath. Mrs. Willey was given a job with the U.S.O. by Mr. Clinton, and has every reason to try to stay on the president's good side. The last line of defense is that accusations about the president involve alleged offenses from the distant past. Mrs. Willey recounted an episode that not only took place while Mr. Clinton was president but also occurred at the heart of the White House.
ÿÿÿÿÿAs the deposition has been reported, Mrs. Willey was subjected to a sort of pressure that would seem to be the very essence of sexual harassment. Mrs. Willey met with the president to discuss a job when she was in a time of extreme vulnerability. Not long before, her husband, Edward E. Willey, had been accused of embezzlement. He was fending off law enforcement action by agreeing to pay back some $250,000; to help her husband, Mrs. Willey co-signed a promissory note for the total amount. Mrs. Willey was in a jam, and went to the president for help. With a paying job, she would be able to contribute to paying her husband's debt -- a debt that was so onerous that the very day Mrs. Willey met with the president, her husband killed himself. Much was said, in the Packwood case, of the power the senator had over a lobbyist, and how the abuse of that power made his advances despicable. Clearly, Mr. Clinton had far more power over Mrs. Willey: So what about his advances?
washtimes.com |
