Clinton Files Essays - Lewinsky Scandal, Monica Lewinsky, Feminism

Clinton Files TEXT 1 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. The President moved from the Residence to the Oval Office at 3:33 p.m. and remained there until 7:40 p.m. 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. 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'tknow 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 . . . . 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? The President laughed and said, according to Ms. Lewinsky, that he cherishes the time that he had with me. 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. They continued talking as they went to the hallway by the study. Then, with Ms. Lewinsky in mid-sentence, he just started kissing me.He lifted her top and touched her breasts with his hands and mouth. According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President unzipped his pants and sort of exposed himself, and she performed oral sex. 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. A short time later, the President got word that his next appointment, a friend from Arkansas, had arrived. He took Ms. Lewinsky out through the Oval Office into Ms. Hernreich's office, where he kissed her goodbye. TEXT 2 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. He had no telephone calls in the Oval Office before 4:45 p.m. 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. 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 . . . . He was looking at me and touching me and telling me how beautiful I was. He touched her breasts with his hands and his mouth, and touched her genitals, first through underwear and then directly. She performed oral sex on him. 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. It was during that conversation on February 4, according to Ms. Lewinsky, that their friendship started to blossom. 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. The President called her at her desk later that afternoon and said he had enjoyed their time together. TEXT 3 We went back over by the bathroom in the hallway, and we kissed. We were kissing and he unbuttoned my dress and fondled my breasts with my bra on, and then took them out of my bra and was kissing them and touching them with his hands and with