Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
WILLEY�S CREDIBILITY QUESTIONED
Meanwhile, Willey found herself under even more
scrutiny over the weekend.
Time Magazine is reporting in this week�s edition that
Willey invented a tale of pregnancy to get back at a
boyfriend and enlisted former confidant Julie Steele to lie on
her behalf. And a new figure emerged Saturday to
corroborate one heavily disputed aspect of her charges
agains the president.
Scandal Erupts
Time is reporting that Willey was in the midst of a brief
relationship with a British-born soccer coach in the summer
of 1995.
In an interview with the FBI, Steele has claimed that
Willey told her lover, Shaun Docking, she was pregnant
with his twins, even though Willey had told Steele she was
not pregnant.
But one disputed aspect of Willey�s story � that she
confided details of the 1993 alleged encounter with Clinton
to her friend, Julie Hiatt Steele, right after it happened �
was corroborated Saturday by Richmond, Va., television
producer Bill Poveromo.
In an affidavit that Clinton�s lawyers have used to
undercut Willey�s credibility, Steele swore that Willey never
mentioned the incident when it happened and later asked
Steele to lie and say that she was told in 1993 about
Clinton�s alleged unwanted pass.
Clinton accuser Kathleen
Willey
Poveromo, who works
for WWBT-TV, told The
Associated Press that
Steele, his friend of several
years, confided in him over
dinner at her home last
April that �the president had
groped Kathy (Willey) and
that Julie did know about it
right after it happened.�
Steele later changed
her story in the affidavit and
in press reports �because
she freaked and panicked,�
Poveromo said.
Nancy Luque, Steele�s Washington attorney, said:
�She absolutely stands by her affidavit. She did not tell
Poveromo that the Clinton-Willey encounter occurred
because she didn�t ever believe that it had.�
Willey, herself, defended letters she sent to President
Clinton after the alleged encounter and accused the White
House of trying to ruin her reputation by releasing them.
In an interview in the issue of Newsweek on
newsstands Monday, Willey said by distributing the letters,
which were friendly in tone despite the encounter she
alleged, the White House was �trying to make me look like
a wacko.�
Willey also said there was nothing improper about the
letters, which she portrayed as a way of trying to secure a
job.
�I never hid those letters. They were my way of saying,
�Hello, I�m still out here. I need a job,�� she said. �I had
made a decision that I was going to put that incident behind
me. I made that choice, and I�m allowed to make that
choice.�
New polls Saturday indicated, however, that many
people question whether she was telling the truth. A
CNN/Time poll, which was conducted three days after
Willey�s nationally televised charges last Sunday, indicated
that half of Americans (52 percent) believe Clinton has
engaged in a �pattern of sexual misconduct.� Respondents
were split over whether to believe Willey and nearly half (48
percent) said she went public with her story for monetary
gain.
--
Two rules in life:
1. Don't tell people everything you know.
2.
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