More excerpts from the Starr report:
B. The President Meets with Ms. Currie
Soon after the deposition, the President called Ms.
Currie and asked her to come to the White House the
next day.(1050) Ms. Currie acknowledged that, "It's rare
for [the President] to ask me to come in on
Sunday."(1051) The President wanted to discuss Ms.
Lewinsky's White House visits.(1052)
At approximately 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, January 18,
1998, Ms. Currie met with the President.(1053) The
meeting took place at her desk outside the Oval Office.
According to Ms. Currie, the President appeared
"concerned."(1054) He told Ms. Currie that, during his
deposition the previous day, he had been asked
questions about Monica Lewinsky.(1055) Ms. Currie
testified: "I think he said, 'There are several things you
may want to know.'"(1056) He proceeded to make a
series of statements,(1057) one right after the other:(1058)
"You were always there when she was there,
right?"
"We were never really alone."
"Monica [Lewinsky] came on to me, and I never
touched her, right?"
"You can see and hear everything, right?"(1059)
Ms. Currie testified that, based on his demeanor and the
way he made the statements, the President wanted her to
agree with them.(1060)
Ms. Currie testified that she did, in fact, agree with the
President when he said, "You were always there when
she was there, right?"(1063) Before the grand jury,
however, Ms. Currie acknowledged the possibility that
Ms. Lewinsky could have visited the President when
she was not at the White House.(1064)
With respect to whether the President was "never really
alone" with Ms. Lewinsky, Ms. Currie testified that
there were several occasions when the President and
Ms. Lewinsky were either in the Oval Office or in the
study without anyone else present.(1065)
Ms. Currie explained that she did not consider the
President and Ms. Lewinsky to be "alone" on such
occasions because she was at her desk outside the Oval
Office; accordingly, they were all together in the same
"general area."(1066) Ms. Currie testified that "the
President, for all intents and purposes, is never alone.
There's always somebody around him."(1067)
As to whether Ms. Lewinsky "came on" to him, Ms.
Currie testified that she "would have no reason to
know" whether Ms. Lewinsky ever "came on" to the
President because Ms. Currie was not present all the
time.(1068) Finally, as to whether she "could see and
hear everything," Ms. Currie testified that she should not
have agreed with the President.(1069) She testified that
when the President and Ms. Lewinsky were alone
together in the study, while Ms. Currie was at her desk,
she could "hear nothing."(1070)
The President also made the following statement during
their January 18, 1998 meeting, according to Ms.
Currie: "[Monica Lewinsky] wanted to have sex with
me, but I told her I couldn't do that."(1071) |
