1. Easter Telephone Conversations and Sexual Encounter

On Easter Sunday, April 7, 1996, Ms. Lewinsky told the President of her dismissal and they had a sexual encounter. Ms. Lewinsky entered the White House at 4:56 and left at 5:28 p.m.⁽³¹⁰⁾ The President was in the Oval Office all afternoon, from 2:21 to 7:48 p.m.⁽³¹¹⁾

According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President telephoned her at home that day. After they spoke of the death of the Commerce Secretary the previous week, she told him of her dismissal:

I had asked him . . . if he was doing okay with Ron Brown's death, and then after we talked about that for a little bit I told him that my last day was Monday. And . . . he seemed really upset and sort of asked me to tell him what had happened. So I did and I was crying and I asked him if I could come see him, and he said that that was fine.⁽³¹²⁾

At the White House, according to Ms. Lewinsky, she told Secret Service Officer Muskett that she needed to deliver papers to the President.⁽³¹³⁾ Officer Muskett admitted her to the Oval Office, and she and the President proceeded to the private study.⁽³¹⁴⁾

According to Ms. Lewinsky, the President seemed troubled about her upcoming departure from the White House:

He told me that he thought that my being transferred had something to do with him and that he was upset. He said, "Why do they have to take you away from me? I trust you." And then he told me -- he looked at me and he said, "I promise you if I win in November I'll bring you back like that."⁽³¹⁵⁾

He also indicated that she could have any job she wanted after the election.⁽³¹⁶⁾ In addition, the President said he would find out why Ms. Lewinsky was transferred and report back to her.⁽³¹⁷⁾

When asked if he had promised to get Ms. Lewinsky another White House job, the President told the grand jury:

What I told Ms. Lewinsky was that . . . I would do what I could to see, if she had a good record at the Pentagon, and she assured me she was doing a good job and working hard, that I would do my best to see that the fact that she had been sent away from the Legislative Affairs section did not keep her from getting a job in the White House, and that is, in fact, what I tried to do. . . . But I did not tell her I would order someone to hire her, and I never did, and I wouldn't do that. It wouldn't be right.⁽³¹⁸⁾

Ms. Lewinsky, when asked if the President had said that he would bring her back to the White House only if she did a good job at the Pentagon, responded: "No."⁽³¹⁹⁾

After this Easter Sunday conversation, the President and Ms. Lewinsky had a sexual encounter in the hallway, according to Ms. Lewinsky.⁽³²⁰⁾ She testified that the President touched her breasts with his mouth and hands.⁽³²¹⁾ According to Ms. Lewinsky: "I think he unzipped [his pants] . . . because it was sort of this running joke that I could never unbutton his pants, that I just had trouble with it."⁽³²²⁾ Ms. Lewinsky performed oral sex. The President did not ejaculate in her presence.⁽³²³⁾

During this encounter, someone called out from the Oval Office that the President had a phone call.⁽³²⁴⁾ He went back to the Oval Office for a moment, then took the call in the study. The President indicated that Ms. Lewinsky should perform oral sex while he talked on the phone, and she obliged.⁽³²⁵⁾ The telephone conversation was about politics, and Ms. Lewinsky thought the caller might be Dick Morris.⁽³²⁶⁾ White House records confirm that the President had one telephone call during Ms. Lewinsky's visit: from "Mr. Richard Morris," to whom he talked from 5:11 to 5:20 p.m.⁽³²⁷⁾

A second interruption occurred a few minutes later, according to Ms. Lewinsky. She and the President were in the study.⁽³²⁸⁾ Ms. Lewinsky testified:

Harold Ickes has a very distinct voice and . . . I heard him holler "Mr. President," and the President looked at me and I looked at him and he jetted out into the Oval Office and I panicked and . . . thought that maybe because Harold was so close with the President that they might just wander back there and the President would assume that I knew to leave.⁽³²⁹⁾

Ms. Lewinsky testified that she exited hurriedly through the dining room door.⁽³³⁰⁾ That evening, the President called and asked Ms. Lewinsky why she had run off. "I told him that I didn't know if he was going to be coming back . . . . [H]e was a little upset with me that I left."⁽³³¹⁾

In addition to the record of the Dick Morris phone call, the testimony of Secret Service Officer Muskett corroborates Ms. Lewinsky's account. Officer Muskett was posted near the door to the Oval Office on Easter Sunday.⁽³³²⁾ He testified that Ms. Lewinsky (whom he knew) arrived at about 4:45 p.m. carrying a manila folder and seeming "a little upset."⁽³³³⁾ She told Officer Muskett that she needed to deliver documents to the President.⁽³³⁴⁾ Officer Muskett or the plainclothes agent on duty with him opened the door, and Ms. Lewinsky entered.⁽³³⁵⁾

About 20 to 25 minutes later, according to Officer Muskett, the telephone outside the Oval Office rang. The White House operator said that the President had an important call but he was not picking up.⁽³³⁶⁾ The agent working alongside Officer Muskett knocked on the door to the Oval Office. When the President did not respond, the agent entered. The Oval Office was empty, and the door leading to the study was slightly ajar.⁽³³⁷⁾ (Ms. Lewinsky testified that the President left the door ajar during their sexual encounters.⁽³³⁸⁾) The agent called out, "Mr. President?" There was no response. The agent stepped into the Oval Office and called out more loudly, "Mr. President?" This time there was a response from the study area, according to Officer Muskett: "Huh?" The agent called out that the President had a phone call, and the President said he would take it.⁽³³⁹⁾

A few minutes later, according to Officer Muskett, Mr. Ickes approached and said he needed to see President Clinton. Officer Muskett admitted him through Ms. Currie's office.⁽³⁴⁰⁾ Less than a minute after Mr. Ickes entered Ms. Currie's reception area, according to Officer Muskett, the pantry or dining room door closed audibly. Officer Muskett stepped down the hall to check and saw Ms. Lewinsky walking away briskly.⁽³⁴¹⁾

At 5:30 p.m., two minutes after Ms. Lewinsky left the White House, the President called the office of the person who had decided to transfer Ms. Lewinsky, Evelyn Lieberman.⁽³⁴²⁾