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Politics : Bill Clinton Scandal - SANITY CHECK -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DMaA who wrote (27215)	1/12/1999 11:56:00 AM
From: Daniel Schuh	Respond to of 67261

Her problems began in March 1997, Ms. Steele said, when Ms. Willey, who had been her close friend in Richmond since the late 1970s, asked her to speak with a Newsweek reporter, Michael Isikoff. Isikoff was pursuing an article about a possible encounter between Ms. Willey and Clinton. Ms. Steele said Ms. Willey called her and begged her to tell Isikoff, who was on his way to Ms. Steele's house, that the president had groped her. She said that Ms. Willey wanted her to say that she was so upset about the encounter that she told Ms. Steele about it the night it happened, four years earlier. Ms. Steele now says none of that was true. She said she had lied for Ms. Willey about other relationships and agreed to again. "I never thought it would get into print or become the god-awful thing it's become," Ms. Steele said. Ms. Luque, her lawyer, added, "Julie wouldn't minimize the stupidity of lying to Michael Isikoff, but she never imagined in her wildest dreams that all of this would be visited on her." Five months later, as Isikoff was proceeding with an article about the Willey matter, Ms. Steele recanted. Isikoff reported Ms. Steele's initial account and her recantation in his Newsweek article. (http://www.nytimes.com/library/politics/110198clinton-steele.html) Steele was supposed to back up Willey, sometimes she did, sometimes she didn't. She sure didn't set Willey up, by all indications. But you can spin it out anyway you want, DMA. Now Starr wants her to figure out that the "truth" is what Starr says the truth is. Steele admits to inconsistent stories. Why Starr gets to pick the one he likes, beats me. As to the lovely Ms. Tripp, she gets into the story too. Ms. Steele's version of events is only one of several accounts of the Willey matter. There is Ms. Willey's accusation of a pass and the president's absolute denial. There are the accounts of two friends of Ms. Willey, Linda Tripp and Harolyn Cardozo, who have both said that Ms. Willey was happy about a pass she described from the president. As for their one-time close friendship, Ms. Steele and Ms. Willey no longer speak. Months ago, they had an angry encounter at a market in Richmond. Of all her mistakes, Ms. Steele said, believing that Ms. Willey was her friend was the biggest. No one expects the Starr Inquisition.