March 19, 1998

Friend Accuses Willey of Plea for Her to Lie

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Excerpts From Affidavit of Julie Steele

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By JOHN M. BRODER

ASHINGTON -- Julie Hiatt Steele, a friend of Kathleen Willey, released a sworn affidavit Wednesday night, accusing Mrs. Willey of asking her to lie to corroborate her account of being sexually groped in the Oval Office by President Clinton.

The affidavit repeats Ms. Steele's contention that in conversations shortly after Mrs. Willey's meeting at the White House in 1993, Mrs. Willey "never said anything to suggest that President Clinton made sexual advances towards her or otherwise acted inappropriately in her presence."

The timing of the release of Ms. Steele's affidavit coincides with this week's concerted effort by the White House to control the damage from Mrs. Willey's graphic account on the CBS news program "60 Minutes" on Sunday evening of the alleged sexual encounter with the president.

The White House earlier this week released letters from Mrs. Willey to the president that portrayed a warm relationship and gave no hint that anything untoward had occurred between them.

In a short statement attached to the affidavit, Ms. Steele and her lawyer, Nancy Luque, call Ms. Steele "nobody's pawn," rebutting Mrs. Willey's description of her friend when confronted with Ms. Steele's conflicting account in the television interview.

"The White House wanted to try to discredit me, and they found a pawn in her," Mrs. Willey said in the interview.

Ms. Steele, who has known Mrs. Willey for 20 years, said that in the spring of 1997, Mrs. Willey called to tell her that she had just told Michael Isikoff, a reporter for Newsweek magazine, that the president "had 'groped' her and pulled at her clothing." She asked Ms. Steele to tell Isikoff that she had given Ms. Steele the same account after going to her house after the meeting with Clinton on Nov. 29, 1993. She said Mrs. Willey asked her to to "describe her demeanor as 'upset,' 'humiliated,' 'disappointed,' and 'harassed,"' according to the affidavit.

Ms. Steele complied with her friend's request, although she said that Mrs. Willey had not visited her house that day and that she had no knowledge of any such incident. She acknowledged later in the affidavit, filed as evidence in the Paula Jones sexual misconduct lawsuit against Clinton: "Mrs. Willey had asked me to lie to support her version of the event and that I had, in fact, done so."

Ms. Luque said Wednesday night that the White House did not influence their decision to release Ms. Steele's affidavit, but that Mrs. Willey's television interview did.

"It's my view that Julie's story was not adequately represented on '60 Minutes,"' Ms. Luque said. "That's why I wanted to release the affidavit. That decision was solely mine and Julie's. We took no direction from the White House and won't in the future."

When the president's lawyers sought her affidavit to discredit Mrs. Willey's deposition in the Jones case, Ms. Steele "felt no pressure" in giving the statement, Ms. Luque said.

Mrs. Willey's attorney, Daniel Gecker of Richmond, did not return telephone calls seeking comment.

White House officials have exerted considerable effort to question the accuracy of Mrs. Willey's television interview and her deposition in the Jones suit, which tells essentially the same story.

Ms. Steele's affidavit appears to support the White House campaign to question Mrs. Willey's story of being kissed and fondled in a hallway off the Oval Office in November 1993. Clinton has said that he remembers meeting with Mrs. Willey, on Nov. 29, 1993, but emphatically denies any sexual contact occurred.

On the same day that the president met with Mrs. Willey in his office, Mrs. Willey's husband, Ed, committed suicide, but neither Mrs. Willey nor Clinton knew of that when they met in mid-afternoon.

In her affidavit, Ms. Steele said that she had spoken to Mrs. Willey after the suicide and that Mrs. Willey told her that she had met with Clinton that day.

"I told Mrs. Willey that I could not make such statements because she had not come to my house that day and had never told me of any sexual advances by President Clinton," Ms. Steele says in her affidavit. "She repeatedly assured me that any discussion with Mr. Isikoff would be 'off the record' and that it would be all right if I lied to him. She told me she needed me to do this for her and that she would explain later."

Isikoff arrived later that day and Ms. Steele told the story as Mrs. Willey had requested. Ms. Steele said that Isikoff "readily accepted the story I provided" and assured her that her comments were off the record.

Three months later, in July, Isikoff called Ms. Steele to tell her the story of the Willey incident would soon be published. According to her affidavit, she told him that Mrs. Willey had asked her to lie to support her version of the event and that she had done so.

The president's lawyers have not only questioned Mrs. Willey's credibility, they also have questioned the nature of the CBS interview. Wednesday night, CBS News defended its interview and that it remained proud despite subsequent revelations that Mrs. Willey had been pursuing a book deal.

"We're very happy with the piece," said a CBS News spokeswoman, Sandy Genelius. "We thought it was very strong and eminently fair."

About 28 million people watched the interview, which was broadcast on "60 Minutes" on Sunday evening. Ms. Genelius said that if CBS had known then that Mrs. Willey had been pursuing a book deal, the interviewer, Ed Bradley, would have asked her about it.

Ms. Genelius said Mrs. Willey would also have been questioned about friendly letters she sent Clinton after Nov. 29, 1993, when she said he kissed her and touched her in a sexual manner. The White House released the texts of numerous letters on Monday to buttress Clinton's denials that he had done anything improper.

Mrs. Willey, 51, said on "60 Minutes" that the president made the advances in the Oval Office when she was most vulnerable. She was then a volunteer and had gone to see him to ask about a paying job to help her family.

Mrs. Willey's pursuit of a book deal, so far unsuccessful, was disclosed on Monday night on the CNN program "Larry King Live." King interviewed Robert Bennett, the president's lawyer, who complained about how "60 Minutes" had treated Clinton and Bennett himself.

Bennett said "60 Minutes" was "a program with a point of view" and that it had withheld some information helpful to the president. Bennett said Mrs. Willey had been pursuing a book deal, a fact confirmed later.