May 6, 1999
Steele Wanted to Sell Information to Tabloids, Willey Testifies
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Issue in Depth: Clinton Impeachment Trial
By DON VAN NATTA Jr.
LEXANDRIA, Va. -- Kathleen E. Willey testified Wednesday that
she had repeatedly told her former friend, Julie Hiatt Steele,
about an unwelcome sexual encounter with President Clinton at the
White House in November 1993, and that Ms. Steele had offered to
corroborate the story and help sell it to a tabloid.
"I did not give her all the gory details, but I told her what
happened in the Oval Office," Ms. Willey told a federal jury here
at the obstruction of justice trial of Ms. Steele, who is being
prosecuted by the office of independent counsel Kenneth Starr. "We
talked about what had happened there; many, many times."
And Ms. Willey, a former White House volunteer, told jurors that
in March 1997, Ms. Steele had offered to corroborate her account in
an interview with Michael Isikoff, a reporter from Newsweek
magazine. "She offered -- I did not ask -- that she would be more
than happy to corroborate what happened," Ms. Willey testified.
"Julie wanted to be in this story."
In fact, Ms. Willey said, her friend was motivated by money, and
hoped to help sell the story to a tabloid to establish "an
education fund" for her young son.
"I told her I had no intention of going to a tabloid for any
amount of money," Ms. Willey said Wednesday.
Ms. Steele contends she never heard about Ms. Willey's encounter
with Clinton until 1997, when Ms. Willey asked her to corroborate
her account in the March interview with Isikoff.
And in a contentious cross-examination session Wednesday, Eric
Dubelier, one of Ms. Steele's lawyers, tried to raise questions
about Ms. Willey's truthfulness and her motives in telling the
story to Starr's prosecutors and to the CBS News program "60
Minutes" in March 1998.
For example, Dubelier pointed out that during her January 1998
deposition in Paula Corbin Jones' sexual misconduct lawsuit against
the president, Ms. Willey failed to recall precisely where the
president had touched her.
Dubelier made the point that Ms. Willey said "I don't recall"
or "I don't remember" 63 times during her deposition on Jan. 10,
1998. Ms. Willey answered, "I can't remember" when she was asked
if the president was "successful in kissing you."
In her testimony Tuesday, Ms. Willey provided a far more
detailed description of the incident she said occurred on Nov. 29,
1993. She told jurors that the president was "very forceful" and
that "his hands were all over me." And several friends of Ms.
Willey have testified that she had told them Clinton had given her
"a big old kiss."
The president, in his grand jury testimony last August, denied
making a sexual advance on Ms. Willey.
The trial of Ms. Steele marks the first and only criminal
prosecution arising from Starr's lengthy investigation of Clinton's
affair with Monica Lewinsky that led to the president's impeachment
and subsequent acquittal. The trial is clearly a top priority for
Starr, who had six members of his office sitting behind two
prosecution tables Wednesday.
In their opening statement on Monday, prosecutors told the jury
that Ms. Steele, in an attempt to ally herself with the president,
had lied when she refused to corroborate Ms. Willey's account.
If convicted of obstruction of justice and giving false
statements to investigators and two grand juries, Ms. Steele faces
a maximum of 35 years in prison.
For 20 years, Ms. Steele and Ms. Willey were very close friends
in Richmond, Va., but their deep animosity for each other over the
last two years was on display for the jury. Several times, Ms.
Willey stared angrily at Ms. Steele, who sat just several feet from
the witness stand.
Ms. Willey was asked to describe a confrontation with Ms. Steele
at a supermarket in Richmond over Easter weekend last month. Ms.
Willey acknowledged that she used an epithet toward Ms. Steele.
