TARADIDDLES
OR
"I HAVE
A VERY
CAREFUL THING
I SAID"
By William Jefferson Clinton,
President of the United States of America
The Wizard of Is
"It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is. If the
-- if he -- if 'is' means is and never has been, that is not -- that is
one thing. If it means there is none, that was a completely true statement.
. . . Now, if someone had asked me on that day, are you having any kind
of sexual relations with Ms. Lewinsky, that is, asked me a question in
the present tense, I would have said no. And it would have been completely
true."
From Grand Jury Testimony of WJC
Who Are You With When You're Alone
"[I]t depends on how you define alone.... [T]here were a
lot of times when we were alone, but I never really thought we were."
From Grand Jury Testimony of WJC
"I had a very
careful thing I said"
"I met with certain people, and [to] a few of them I said
I didn't have sex with Monica Lewinsky, or I didn't have an affair with
her or something like that. I had a very careful thing I said, and I tried
not to say anything else . . . . I remember that I issued a number of denials
to people that I thought needed to hear them, but I tried to be careful
and to be accurate....
"And I believe, sir, that -- you'll have to ask them what
they thought. But I was using those terms in the normal way people use
them....
"[I said] things that were true about this relationship.
That I used -- in the language I used, I said, there's nothing going on
between us. That was true. I said I did not have sex with her as I defined
it. That was true.... I said things that were true. They may have been
misleading, and if they were I have to take responsibility for it, and
I'm sorry."
From Grand Jury Testimony of WJC
"Let
me remind you, sir, I read this carefully"
The President also maintained that
none of his sexual contacts with Ms. Lewinsky constituted "sexual relations"
within a specific definition used in the Jones deposition. Under that definition:
[A] person engages in "sexual
relations" when the person knowingly engages in or causes -- (1) contact
with the genitalia, anus, groin, breast, inner thigh, or buttocks of any
person with an intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person
. . . . "Contact" means intentional touching, either directly or through
clothing.
According to what the President testified
was his understanding, this definition "covers contact by the person being
deposed with the enumerated areas, if the contact is done with an intent
to arouse or gratify," but it does not cover oral sex performed on the
person being deposed. He testified:
[I]f the deponent is the
person who has oral sex performed on him, then the contact is with -- not
with anything on that list, but with the lips of another person. It seems
to be self-evident that that's what it is. . . . Let me remind you, sir,
I read this carefully.
In the President's view, "any person,
reasonable person" would recognize that oral sex performed on the deponent
falls outside the definition.
If Ms. Lewinsky performed oral sex
on the President, then -- under this interpretation -- she engaged in sexual
relations but he did not. The President refused to answer whether Ms. Lewinsky
in fact had performed oral sex on him. He did testify that direct contact
with Ms. Lewinsky's breasts or genitalia would fall within the definition,
and he denied having had any such contact.
From the Starr Report
"I knew something
was up."
When the President was questioned about
this meeting with Ms. Currie in the grand jury, he testified that he recalled
the conversation, but he denied that he was "trying to get Betty Currie
to say something that was untruthful." Rather, the President testified
that he asked a "series of questions" in an effort to quickly "refresh
[his] memory." The President explained: "I wanted to establish . . . that
Betty was there at all other times in the complex, and I wanted to know
what Betty's memory was about what she heard, what she could hear . . .
. [a]nd I was trying to figure [it] out . . . in a hurry because I knew
something was up.")
In his grand jury testimony, the
President acknowledged that, "in fairness," Ms. Currie "may have felt some
ambivalence about how to react" to his statements. The President maintained
that he was trying to establish that Ms. Currie was "always there," and
could see and hear everything. At the same time, he acknowledged that he
had always tried to prevent Ms. Currie from learning about his relationship
with Ms. Lewinsky. "[I] did what people do when they do the wrong thing.
I tried to do it where nobody else was looking at it."
From the Starr Report
"I'm staying
on my former statement about that"
Q: The question is, if Monica Lewinsky
says that while you were in the Oval Office area you touched her breasts
would she by lying?
A: That is not my recollection. My
recollection is that I did not have sexual relations with Ms. Lewinsky
and I'm staying on my former statement about that. . . . My, my statement
is that I did not have sexual relations as defined by that.
Q: If she says that you kissed her
breasts, would she be lying?
A: I'm going to revert to my former
statement [that is, the prepared statement denying "sexual relations"].
Q: Okay. If Monica Lewinsky says
that while you were in the Oval Office area you touched her genitalia,
would she be lying? And that calls for a yes, no, or reverting to your
former statement.
A: I will revert to my former statement
on that....
Q: So touching, in your view then
and now -- the person being deposed touching or kissing the breast of another
person would fall within the definition?
A: That's correct, sir.
Q: And you testified that you didn't
have sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky in the Jones deposition, under
that definition, correct?
A: That's correct, sir.
Q: If the person being deposed touched
the genitalia of another person, would that be -- and with the intent to
arouse the sexual desire, arouse or gratify, as defined in definition (1),
would that be, under your understanding then and now --
A: Yes, sir.
Q: -- sexual relations.
A: Yes, sir.
Q: Yes it would?
A: Yes it would. If you had a direct
contact with any of these places in the body, if you had direct contact
with intent to arouse or gratify, that would fall within the definition.
Q: So you didn't do any of those
three things --
A: You --
Q: -- with Monica Lewinsky.
A: You are free to infer that my
testimony is that I did not have sexual relations, as I understood this
term to be defined.
Q: Including touching her breast,
kissing her breast, touching her genitalia?
A: That's correct.
From Grand Jury Testimony of WJC
"No specific
recollection"
Q: . . . At any time were you and Monica
Lewinsky together alone in the Oval Office?
[videotape shows approximately five-second
pause before answer]
WJC: I don't recall, but as I said,
when she worked at the legislative affairs office, they always had somebody
there on the weekends. I typically worked some on the weekends. Sometimes
they'd bring me things on the weekends. She -- it seems to me she brought
things to me once or twice on the weekends. In that case, whatever time
she would be in there, drop it off, exchange a few words and go, she was
there. I don't have any specific recollections of what the issues were,
what was going on, but when the Congress is there, we're working all the
time, and typically I would do some work on one of the days of the weekends
in the afternoon.
Q: So I understand, your testimony
is that it was possible, then, that you were alone with her, but you have
no specific recollection of that ever happening?
WJC: Yes, that's correct. It's possible
that she, in, while she was working there, brought something to me and
that at the time she brought it to me, she was the only person there. That's
possible.
Q: At any time were you and Monica
Lewinsky alone in the hallway between the Oval Office and this kitchen
area?
WJC: I don't believe so, unless we
were walking back to the back dining room with the pizza. I just, I don't
remember. I don't believe we were alone in the hallway, no.
The President was then asked about
any times he may have been alone in any room with Ms. Lewinsky:
Q: At any time have you and Monica
Lewinsky ever been alone together in any room of the White House?
WJC: I think I testified to that
earlier. I think that there is a, it is -- I have no specific recollection,
but it seems to me that she was on duty on a couple of occasions working
for the legislative affairs office and brought me some things to sign,
something on the weekend. That's -- I have a general memory of that.
From Civil Deposition
of WJC
The President
offered several responses
At his grand jury
appearance, the President also was asked about his counsel's statement
to Judge Wright that Ms. Lewinsky's affidavit denying a "sexual relationship"
was equivalent to saying "there is absolutely no sex of any kind in any
manner, shape or form" with President Clinton.... [T]he President was asked
how he lawfully could have sat silent while his attorney -- in the President's
presence and on his behalf -- made a false statement to a United States
District Judge in an effort to forestall further questioning. The
President offered several responses.
First, the
President maintained that he was not paying "much attention" when Mr. Bennett
said that there is "absolutely no sex of any kind" between the President
and Ms. Lewinsky." The President further stated: "That moment, that whole
argument just passed me by. I was a witness." The President's explanation
is difficult to reconcile with the videotape of the deposition, which shows
that the President was looking in Mr. Bennett's direction when his counsel
made this statement.
Alternatively,
the President contended that when Mr. Bennett said that "there is absolutely
no sex of any kind," Mr. Bennett was speaking only in the present tense
and thus was making a completely true statement. The President further
stated: "It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is," and that
"actually, in the present tense that is an accurate statement".... The
President's suggestion that he might have engaged in such a detailed parsing
of the words at his deposition is at odds with his assertion that the "whole
argument passed me by."
Finally, the
President took issue with the notion that he had any duty to prevent his
attorney from making a false statement to Judge Wright: "Mr. Bennett was
representing me. I wasn't representing him."
From the Starr Report
I, POTUS,
am not just any person
The President said that by receiving oral sex, he
would not "engage in" or "cause" contact with the genitalia, anus, groin,
breast, inner thigh, or buttocks of "any person" because "any person" really
means "any other person." The President further testified before
the grand jury: "[I]f the deponent is the person who has oral sex performed
on him, then the contact is with -- not with anything on that list,
but with the lips of another person."
The President's linguistic parsing is unreasonable. Under
the President's interpretation (which he says he followed at his deposition),
in an oral sex encounter, one person is engaged in sexual relations, but
the other person is not engaged in sexual relations.
From the Starr Report
No sex, depending
on Ms. Lewinsky's state of mind
The President also maintained that Ms. Lewinsky's affidavit,
as it ultimately was filed denying a "sexual relationship," was not necessarily
inaccurate. He testified that, depending on Ms. Lewinsky's state of mind,
her statement denying a sexual relationship could have been true.
"I believe at the time that she filled out this affidavit,
if she believed that the definition of sexual relationship was two people
having intercourse, then this is accurate. And I believe that is the definition
that most ordinary Americans would give it."
From the Starr Report
I Didn't Force
Her
The definition used at the President's
deposition also covers acts in which the deponent "cause[d] contact" with
the genitalia or anus of "any person." When he testified to the grand jury,
the President said that this aspect of the definition still does not cover
his receiving oral sex. The President said that the word "cause" implies
"forcing to me" and "forcible abusive behavior." And thus the President
said that he did not lie under oath in denying that he "caused" contact
with the genitalia of any person because his activity with Ms. Lewinsky
did not include any nonconsensual behavior.
From the Starr Report
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