Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Jones' Attorneys Allege Cover-Up
> WASHINGTON (AP) -- Paula Jones' attorneys filed court
> papers Saturday contending President Clinton obstructed
> justice by withholding letters, notes and telephone
> messages between the president and Kathleen Willey until
> after she accused him of a crude sexual advance on
> national television.
>
> In the new papers and an accompanying press release, the
> attorneys made an accusation against Clinton from 20
> years ago involving a woman who had not been mentioned
> in the Jones case previously. Clinton's attorney said it
> was an act of desperation and the woman's lawyer said,
> ``These are vicious rumors and allegations. We're not
> going to take any position. We're not going to get
> involved.''
>
> Regarding the Willey documents, Mrs. Jones' lawyers said
> the White House had expressly denied any such papers
> existed, including records about Ms. Willey's
> employment, appointments, duties, conferences, logs and
> telephone records.
>
> The attorneys for Mrs. Jones, who has accused the
> president of sexual harassment while he was governor of
> Arkansas, said they asked three months ago for documents
> concerning Ms. Willey, a volunteer worker at the White
> House.
>
> In the days after Ms. Willey made her allegations in a
> ``60 Minutes'' interview on March 15, the White House
> released 17 documents, which consisted of notes, letters
> and telephone messages.
>
> Some of the letters, signed ``Fondly, Kathleen,'' were
> cited as evidence that the two remained on good terms
> even after Clinton allegedly fondled her just outside
> the Oval Office in November 1993.
>
> The lawyers said their court filing offers ``new
> evidence of witness tampering and coverup by defendant
> Clinton.''
>
> A White House counsel, Jim Kennedy, said Saturday the
> ``letters and other papers'' referred to by the Jones
> lawyers in their latest filing ``are White House
> documents'' as opposed to Clinton's personal papers.
> ``Mrs. Jones attorneys ... failed to seek these records
> from the White House.''
>
> Kennedy said Mrs. Jones lawyers on other occasions have
> sought White House documents and were aware that
> different subpoenas are necessary to obtain personal
> items from Clinton and to obtain White House documents.
>
> The filing was made in Little Rock, Ark., where the
> harassment lawsuit is slated to go to trial May 27. The
> federal judge handling the case is weighing a motion by
> Clinton's lawyers to dismiss Mrs. Jones' lawsuit.
>
> In court papers, Jones's attorneys also said they have
> gathered evidence suggesting Clinton may have sexually
> assaulted an Arkansas woman in the late 1970s while he
> was the state's attorney general. Clinton's lawyer
> called the allegation an act of desperation and said in
> a statement that the woman has denied it under oath.
>
> The court filing includes a letter from the 1992
> campaign year in which Phillip David Yoakum, an
> acquaintance of the woman, writes to her and says she
> confided to him about an incident which he says took
> place 14 years earlier in a hotel room during a
> conference of the Arkansas State Nursing Home
> Association in Little Rock.
>
> Clinton lawyer Robert Bennett said releasing the
> material ``is an act of desperation by reckless and
> irresponsible lawyers who know they have a weak case in
> the Paula Jones case.''
>
> ``They know that (the woman) under oath has denied these
> allegations,'' Bennett added. ``What they are doing is
> with the financial support of the Clinton haters they
> are trying to taint the jury pool and humiliate the
> president. We have about seven more weeks of this and
> finally will be in court where these super leakers will
> have to present hard evidence.''
>
> Contacted at her home, the woman told The Associated
> Press, ``I'm aware of the letter. I have no comment on
> any of it.'' The letter was dated Oct. 23 1992 and
> purported to describe an incident that occurred in 1978.
> The allegation in the Jones' court papers said Clinton
> ``assaulted her and then bribed and/or intimidated her
> and her family into remaining silent about this
> outrage.''
>
> The Van Buren, Ark., registered nurse referred questions
> to her lawyer, Bill Walters, who said: ``It's a vicious
> process going on and I think these are vicious rumors
> and allegations. We're not going to take any position.
> We're not going to get involved.''
--
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