Warning: Graphic details about a scandal in Washington DC
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A. January 7 Sexual Encounter
According to Ms. Lewinsky, she and the President had another sexual encounter on Sunday, January 7, 1996. Although White House records do not indicate that Ms. Lewinsky was at the White House that day, her testimony and other evidence indicate that she was there.(202) The President, according to White House records, was in the Oval Office most of the afternoon, from 2:13 to 5:49 p.m.(203)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President telephoned her early that afternoon. It was the first time he had called her at home.(204) In her recollection: "I asked him what he was doing and he said he was going to be going into the office soon. I said, oh, do you want some company? And he said, oh, that would be great."(205) Ms. Lewinsky went to her office, and the President called to arrange their rendezvous:
[W]e made an arrangement that . . . he would have the door to his office open, and I would pass by the office with some papers and then . . . he would sort of stop me and invite me in. So, that was exactly what happened. I passed by and that was actually when I saw [Secret Service Uniformed Officer] Lew Fox who was on duty outside the Oval Office, and stopped and spoke with Lew for a few minutes, and then the President came out and said, oh, hey, Monica . . . come on in . . . . And so we spoke for about 10 minutes in the [Oval] office. We sat on the sofas. Then we went into the back study and we were intimate in the bathroom.(206)
Ms. Lewinsky testified that during this bathroom encounter, she and the President kissed, and he touched her bare breasts with his hands and his mouth.(207) The President "was talking about performing oral sex on me," according to Ms. Lewinsky.(208) But she stopped him because she was menstruating and he did not.(209) Ms. Lewinsky did perform oral sex on him.(210)
Afterward, she and the President moved to the Oval Office and talked. According to Ms. Lewinsky: "[H]e was chewing on a cigar. And then he had the cigar in his hand and he was kind of looking at the cigar in . . . sort of a naughty way. And so . . . I looked at the cigar and I looked at him and I said, we can do that, too, some time."(211)
Corroborating aspects of Ms. Lewinsky's recollection, records show that Officer Fox was posted outside the Oval Office the afternoon of January 7.(212) Officer Fox (who is now retired) testified that he recalled an incident with Ms. Lewinsky one weekend afternoon when he was on duty by the Oval Office:(213)
[T]he President of the United States came out, and he asked me, he says, "Have you seen any young congressional staff members here today?" I said, "No, sir." He said, "Well, I'm expecting one." He says, "Would you please let me know when they show up?" And I said, "Yes, sir."(214)
Officer Fox construed the reference to "congressional staff members" to mean White House staff who worked with Congress -- i.e., staff of the Legislative Affairs Office, where Ms. Lewinsky worked.(215)
Talking with a Secret Service agent posted in the hallway, Officer Fox speculated on whom the President was expecting: "I described Ms. Lewinsky, without mentioning the name, in detail, dark hair -- you know, I gave a general description of what she looked like."(216) Officer Fox had gotten to know Ms. Lewinsky during her tenure at the White House, and other agents had told him that she often spent time with the President.(217)
A short time later, Ms. Lewinsky approached, greeted Officer Fox, and said, "I have some papers for the President." Officer Fox admitted her to the Oval Office. The President said: "You can close the door. She'll be here for a while."(218)
B. January 21 Sexual Encounter
On Sunday, January 21, 1996, according to Ms. Lewinsky, she and the President had another sexual encounter. Her time of White House entry is not reflected in records. She left at 3:56 p.m.(219) The President moved from the Residence to the Oval Office at 3:33 p.m. and remained there until 7:40 p.m.(220)
On that day, according to Ms. Lewinsky, she saw the President in a hallway by an elevator, and he invited her to the Oval Office.(221) According to Ms. Lewinsky:
We had . . . had phone sex for the first time the week prior, and I was feeling a little bit insecure about whether he had liked it or didn't like it . . . . I didn't know if this was sort of developing into some kind of a longer-term relationship than what I thought it initially might have been, that maybe he had some regular girlfriend who was furloughed . . . .(222)
According to Ms. Lewinsky, she questioned the President about his interest in her. "I asked him why he doesn't ask me any questions about myself, and . . . is this just about sex . . . or do you have some interest in trying to get to know me as a person?"(223) The President laughed and said, according to Ms. Lewinsky, that "he cherishes the time that he had with me."(224) She considered it "a little bit odd" for him to speak of cherishing their time together "when I felt like he didn't really even know me yet."(225)
They continued talking as they went to the hallway by the study. Then, with Ms. Lewinsky in mid-sentence, "he just started kissing me."(226) He lifted her top and touched her breasts with his hands and mouth.(227) According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President "unzipped his pants and sort of exposed himself," and she performed oral sex.(228)
At one point during the encounter, someone entered the Oval Office. In Ms. Lewinsky's recollection, "[The President] zipped up real quickly and went out and came back in . . . . I just remember laughing because he had walked out there and he was visibly aroused, and I just thought it was funny."(229)
A short time later, the President got word that his next appointment, a friend from Arkansas, had arrived.(230) He took Ms. Lewinsky out through the Oval Office into Ms. Hernreich's office, where he kissed her goodbye.(231)
C. February 4 Sexual Encounter and Subsequent Phone Calls
On Sunday, February 4, according to Ms. Lewinsky, she and the President had their sixth sexual encounter and their first lengthy and personal conversation. The President was in the Oval Office from 3:36 to 7:05 p.m.(232) He had no telephone calls in the Oval Office before 4:45 p.m.(233) Records do not show Ms. Lewinsky's entry or exit.
According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President telephoned her at her desk and they planned their rendezvous. At her suggestion, they bumped into each other in the hallway, "because when it happened accidentally, that seemed to work really well," then walked together to the area of the private study.(234)
There, according to Ms. Lewinsky, they kissed. She was wearing a long dress that buttoned from the neck to the ankles. "And he unbuttoned my dress and he unhooked my bra, and sort of took the dress off my shoulders and . . . moved the bra . . . . [H]e was looking at me and touching me and telling me how beautiful I was."(235) He touched her breasts with his hands and his mouth, and touched her genitals, first through underwear and then directly.(236) She performed oral sex on him.(237)
After their sexual encounter, the President and Ms. Lewinsky sat and talked in the Oval Office for about 45 minutes. Ms. Lewinsky thought the President might be responding to her suggestion during their previous meeting about "trying to get to know me."(238) It was during that conversation on February 4, according to Ms. Lewinsky, that their friendship started to blossom.(239)
When she prepared to depart, according to Ms. Lewinsky, the President "kissed my arm and told me he'd call me, and then I said, yeah, well, what's my phone number? And so he recited both my home number and my office number off the top of his head."(240) The President called her at her desk later that afternoon and said he had enjoyed their time together.(241)
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