Willey passed lie detector on Clinton
2nd FBI test
found her truthful when she alleged sexual advance
Associated Press WASHINGTON, May 12 — After her initial lie detector test
was inconclusive, a second FBI test found Kathleen Willey was truthful when
she alleged that President Clinton made a sexual advance, according to newly
released documents.
The polygraph questions did not address the issue of whether Clinton’s
alleged advance against Willey was unwanted.
A FEDERAL JUDGE unsealed the 1998 lie detector results this week after news
organizations went to court to challenge the secrecy surrounding them.
In a three-page report, an FBI polygraph unit chief, James K. Murphy, noted that a Sept. 9, 1998,
lie detector test “which focused on President Clinton’s alleged behavior” regarding Willey was
“inconclusive.” The first test was administered by the FBI in Richmond, Va., near Willey’s home.
In a second test six days later at the FBI polygraph unit in Washington, Willey was asked, “In
November 1993 did the president place his hand on your breast?” and “Did President Clinton
place your hand on his groin?” Both times, Willey answered “yes,” the FBI summary stated.
“It is the opinion of this examiner that Ms. Willey was truthful” when responding to those two
questions, the FBI report said.
The polygraph questions did not address the issue of whether Clinton’s alleged advance against
Willey was unwanted. Willey says she rebuffed his alleged advance. Clinton denies making any
sexual advance.
Willey was the chief prosecution witness for Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr’s office in last
week’s obstruction trial of Julie Hiatt Steele, whose testimony conflicted with Willey’s account.
The jury deadlocked in Ms. Steele’s trial in Alexandria, Va.
In an interview Wednesday night on CNN’s “Larry King Live,” Willey said “I’d like to see” the
case “retried.” Of her testimony last week, she said, “I’ve done it once. I guess I could do it
again.”
Of her one-time friend Steele, Willey said, “I think she did try to obstruct justice” by telling Starr’s
investigators a story that contradicted part of Willey’s account.
Willey failed one part of the first lie detector test relevant to that trial, regarding whether she
provided details of the alleged incident to her friend Ms. Steele.
On the question of whether Willey told her friend details of the encounter, “physiological
responses were noted,” the examiner said, using language suggesting that Willey was being
deceptive.
The FBI report noted that the polygraph examiner in Richmond questioned Willey about her
response in the first test.
“Ms. Willey explained during the post-polygraph interview that she was unsure as to exactly
when she went to Julie Steele’s residence and was relying on a refreshed recollection provided
by Ms. Steele some time later,” the FBI summary stated.
In the second test six days later, Willey passed when she answered “yes” in response to two
similar questions:
—"Before 1997 did you tell Julie Steele that the president came on to you?”
—"In 1993 did you tell Julie Steele about an encounter with the president in his office?”
The FBI test concluded that “it is the opinion of this examiner that Ms. Willey was again truthful
when responding to the above listed questions during this test” about Steele.
In the FBI report released by U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton, a third set of polygraph questions
is blacked out because of an “ongoing investigation” by Starr’s office, the judge states in a court
order. In that third series of questions, Willey was also found to be “truthful,” the FBI report
states.
The FBI report noted that “Ms. Willey has provided investigators with information concerning
conversations she alleges to have had with Maryland developer and Democratic Party
contributor Nathan Landow during which Landow “is said to have suggested how she should
testify in the Paula Jones suit” against Clinton.
Hilton released the lie detector results after he was directed by the federal appeals court in
Richmond to reconsider his decision to keep certain documents in the Steele case secret.
© 1999 Associated Press.
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