Impeachment: His Role in Clinton-Lewinsky Saga – Who Is Jackie Bennett Lawyer? – As Wabash men and professors gathered in Center Hall at seven o’clock on Wednesday night, a sense of irony permeated the air. For, the reason they all met in the same room was to hear a presentation from lawyer Jackie M. Bennett, Jr. Bennett was a prominent senior advisor to Kenneth Starr, who presided over the investigation and impeachment of the nation’s 42nd President, William Clinton.
The irony lies in the fact that one of Wabash’s most important, well-known alums is David E. Kendall, the summa cum laude Rhodes Scholar Wabash graduate who played a key role in the defense of President Clinton as his personal attorney in the Lewinsky scandal.
Bennett, now a partner at the Indianapolis law firm Taft, Stettinius, and Hollister, gave a presentation to those present regarding the Lewinsky scandal, his role in the investigation, and how he now views the affair in hindsight. “From 1995 to 1999 I worked for the Office of Independent Council,” Bennett said, “and was involved in a number of high profile investigations, most notably the impeachment of President Clinton.”
Bennett received the John Marshall Award in 1994 for legal excellence in prosecuting corruption, and is, if his presentation is any evidence, deserving of the title. “I hold uncompromising views regarding the criminality of President Clinton,” he said. “Clinton explicitly violated Article II, Section III of the United States Constitution, which states, ‘He [the President] shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.’ For Clinton, the ends justified the means, and he deserved to be impeached.”
The presentation began with extensive background information about the scandal. It all began, Bennett said, with the Paula Jones sexual harassment case. The case involved a young woman by the name of Paula Jones who was allegedly solicited by the President for sexual gratification. “At the time, Clinton was Governor of Arkansas,” Bennett said. “He had state troopers who were traveling with him go out and look for his women. When they found one, they would escort her up to the suite Clinton was staying at, and leave the two. Clinton, by the way, would procure these suites by telling the hotel managers that he had to take an important call from Washington.”
Jones, however, reacted negatively to Clinton’s aggressive sexual advances and fled the scene. It would not be until some years later, when Clinton became President and rumors emerged that Jones would come forward. That, Bennett said, was the prelude to Clinton’s eventual impeachment.
“Traditionally, the Clinton administration would react to threats with harsh intimidation and smear tactics,” he alleged. “It had expended over $100,000 in fees to private investigators to shut the women up. Jones, though, proceeded with a civil suit, and a judge allowed for the pre-trial phase of discovery. That resulted in a list of women to be deposed, of which Monica Lewinsky was one.”
Bennett and the Office of Independent Council was involved in the investigation from the beginning. Bennett personally received a call from one of Lewinsky’s friends, Linda Tripp, who had inside information on the case as well as recordings of Lewinsky admitting in great detail to her affair with the President. The rest, as they say, is history.
To Wabash’s great pride, Bennett acknowledged the incredible tenacity of his opponent in the defense of Clinton, the College’s own David Kendall.
“He’s brilliant,” he said. “One of the greatest lawyers I’ve had the pleasure of sparring with. I’ve had a lot of dealings with Kendall.”
Impeachment: His Role in Clinton-Lewinsky Saga – Cast of Characters In The Clinton-Lewinsky Saga
Kenneth Bacon: A spokesman for the Pentagon. Monica Lewinsky worked in his office after being transferred to the Defense Department.
Liz Bailey: The White House liaison from the Secretary of Defense’s office. She was subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury.
Jackie Bennett: A top Starr deputy. Bennett and other Starr staffers were accused of leaking grand jury information to the press. Judge Johnson ordered an investigation into the leaks, but nothing has come from the accusations.
Robert Bennett: The president’s attorney is a Washington superlawyer who charges $475 an hour. He has represented many celebrity clients, including former House Ways and Means Chairman Dan Rostenkowski, Reagan Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, Washington attorney Clark Clifford and Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott. Brash and bullying, Bennett evidently angered Linda Tripp with comments that she was untrustworthy, and that led her to contact Ken Starr’s office. While Bennett is still leading the president’s defense in the Paula Jones case, fellow attorneys David Kendall and Mickey Kantor have taken over the majority of the Monica Lewinsky dealings.
Sidney Blumenthal: White House communications aide and former reporter brought in to help with speech writing and communications strategy for Clinton’s second term.
Lanny Breuer: A member of White House counsel’s office, Breuer is a key day-to-day figure in damage-control efforts. Breuer has helped the White House handle subpoenas and document requests in the various investigations involving the Clinton Administration. He has appeared before the grand jury and was involved in the president’s attorney-client dispute with Ken Starr.
Plato Cacheris: The powerhouse Washington lawyer who represents Monica Lewinsky since she parted ways with William Ginsburg. This maestro of bargaining skills has defended the scandal-ridden since the Watergate days, and helped Lewinsky win a broad immunity agreement.
Rebecca Cameron: A White House aide to Nancy Hernreich, the chief of Oval office operations. She was subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury.
Harolyn Cardozo: A former White House volunteer and daughter of real estate developer and generous Democratic contributor, Nathan Landow. Before the grand jury, Cardozo was questioned about Kathleen Willey and Willey’s accusations against the president regarding unwanted sexual advances.
Francis Carter: Monica Lewinsky’s first attorney after the scandal broke. He was recommended to her by Clinton confidant Vernon Jordan. Lewinsky and Carter soon parted ways and Carter found himself requiring an attorney to defend against inquiries into conversations he had with Monica Lewinsky.
James Carville: A political consultant who helped run Clinton’s 1992 election campaign. A forceful and colorful defender of the president, Carville set up a Web site to rebut the president’s critics. Carville vowed that “a war” will be waged between the president’s friends and Starr over what Carville called the “scuzzy, slimy tactics” the Whitewater prosecutor used in the probe of allegations surrounding Clinton’s relationship with Lewinsky.
Bill Clinton: The president is facing the toughest scandal of his career. He has admitted a sexual relationship with Lewinsky, but continues to deny asking anyone to lie about it. Clinton’s Aug. 17 televised confession to the nation did nothing to put the matter to rest, only inflaming his critics further. But several subsequent apologies and the public broadcast of his grand jury testimony seems to have placated many Americans , sa Clinton still enjoys high favorability ratings. And Democratic gains in the midterm elections buoyed the president’s claim that the American people did not approve of the Republicans’ handling of the investigation and impeachment inquiry.
Hillary Rodham Clinton: The first lady has faced accusations of infidelity by her husband in the past, and, true to form, she is standing by her man. Leading the White House’s behind-the-scenes damage-control efforts, she successfully pushed for the Lewinsky case to be handled by Whitewater attorney Kendall instead of Bennett. She also pushed for the return of former operatives Kantor and Ickes. Mrs. Clinton has appeared on several news programs to defend her husband, blaming the allegations on a “vast right-wing conspiracy” that is part of a political effort to bring down the president.
Larry Cockell: The lead agent in Clinton’s security detail, Larry Cockell took center stage in Starr’s attempts to force Secret Service agents to testify before his grand jury.
Justin Coleman: A former White House intern who was subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury.
George Conway: A conservative lawyer who referred Tripp to James Moody, her lawyer. He also helped write a Supreme Court brief for Paula Jones and is active in conservative causes.
John Conyers: As the ranking Democratic member of the committee, Conyers, along with committee member Barney Frank of Massachusetts have taken the lead in vocalizing the Democratic opposition to the Republican’s inquiry process. He has the advantage of experience as the only member of the panel to have served during Watergate (he voted to impeach former President Richard Nixon.) First elected to the House in 1964, the Detroit representative was one of the Congressional Black Caucus’ founders.
Gregory Craig: The newest member of the president’s legal team, Craig has been the White House counsel in charge of responding to Independent Counsel Ken Starr’s referral, and in communicating matters of impeachment to the president. Prior to joining his work as special counsel, he served as Director of Policy and Planning at the Department of State
Betty Currie: The president’s personal secretary served as a link between Clinton and Lewinsky. According to the Lewinsky-Tripp tapes, Lewinsky claims that she visited the White House in the late afternoon or evenings and was signed in by Currie. She says she also addressed couriered packages intended for the president to Currie. Clinton friend and advisor Vernon Jordan said he helped Lewinsky in her employment search at Currie’s request.
Sherrie Kelly Densuk: A former White House intern who was subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury.
Charles Duncan: Served as the White House personnel liaison to the Pentagon and arranged Lewinsky’s transfer to a Pentagon public affairs job.
Chris Engsov: A personal assistant to the president who was subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury.
Neysa Erbland: A friend of Monica Lewinsky’s who was subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury.
Gennifer Flowers: Flowers claimed she had a 12-year affair with Clinton. Clinton denied the affair in 1992 but CNN has reported that in his recent deposition in the Paula Jones case, the president admitted a sexual relationship.
Lewis C. Fox: A retired uniformed Secret Service guard, Fox said in media interviews he saw Clinton and Lewinsky together in the Oval Office on a weekend afternoon in late 1995.
Bill Ginsburg: A longtime Los Angeles-based medical malpractice attorney and friend of the Lewinsky family, Ginsburg represented Monica Lewinsky for much of the spring before they parted ways, and she got more experienced Washington counsel.
Lucianne Goldberg: Goldberg is a New York literary agent who suggested to Tripp that she secretly record her conversations with Lewinsky. Goldberg has said the suggestion was meant to protect Tripp, not to entrap Clinton. A former Nixon operative, Goldberg represented the Arkansas state troopers who went public with stories of Clinton womanizing, as well as Dolly Kyle Browning, who was trying to sell her later-debunked story of an affair with Clinton.
Steve Goodin: Former Clinton personal aide who was almost always at the president’s side, carrying his personal papers and nudging the president along if he ran behind schedule. The position gave him extraordinary access to the president, along with a close view of people with whom the president came into contact.
Al Gore: The vice president is a former senator from Tennessee and he ran for president in 1988. Gore is expected to seek the White House again in 2000. Gore is standing by his boss during this latest furor, leading White House efforts to rebuild support among congressional Democrats.
Nancy Hernreich: She is the director of Oval Operations and worked with Clinton when he was governor of Arkansas. Hernreich shares an office with Clinton secretary Betty Currie.
John Hilley: Former White House legislative affairs director, whose deputy hired Monica Lewinsky for a paying job after her internship. Also subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury.
Sydney Hoffman: A former U.S. attorney and now an associate of Plato Cacheris, Hoffman was instrumental in getting Lewinsky to testify. Hoffman was brought into the secretive New York meeting with Starr’s lawyers in order to put Monica at ease and was by Lewinsky’s side on the day of her grand jury testimony.
House Judiciary Committee: The House Judiciary Committee, led by chairman Henry Hyde (R-Illinios) recieved Starr report in September and promptly made it public. The panel, known on Capitol Hill as one of the most divided and partisan committees, also recommended that the full House launch a formal impeachment inquiry into President Bill Clinton. Hyde’s 21 Republicans and 16 Democrats are now charged with deciding whether Clinton’s actions are impeachable.
Henry Hyde: Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Illinois) is the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and will preside over the impeachment proceedings against Clinton. While Hyde is a Republican, he enjoys a reputation among members of both parties as being fair.
Harold Ickes: The former deputy White House chief of staff was unceremoniously dumped after the 1996 election at the behest of incoming Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles. Ickes is back, helping direct a political response to the Lewinsky investigation.
Judge Norma Holloway Johnson: The no-nonsense U.S. District Court judge presides over the grand jury, where she issues the first decisions dictating how far Starr can go with his investigation. She has handed down decisions favorable to Starr’s investigation on such important issues as executive privilege and the “protective function” privilege. Her first major decision against Starr came with her sanctions against him for alleged media leaks of grand jury information.
Jocelyn Jolley: She worked with Lewinsky in the legislative coordination office at the White House, and was dismissed the same day as Lewinsky.
Paula Jones: The former low-wage Arkansas state employee sued Clinton, alleging she suffered on the job after rejecting his sexual advances. Her sexual harassment lawsuit was dismissed in April, but in October she asked an appeals court to reinstate her claim. While the federal panel was considering the appeal, the Jones and Clinton legal teams finally agreed to settle the dispute for $850,000, but without an apology or admission of wrongdoing from the president. She lives with her husband, Steven Jones, and their two children in Orange County, California.
Vernon Jordan: An influential Washington lawyer and close advisor to Clinton, Jordan chaired the president’s transition team in 1992. The two are frequent golfing partners. Jordan sits on several major corporate boards and referred Lewinsky to two companies for possible employment. He helped Lewinsky find a Washington lawyer to help with her Paula Jones case affidavit, in which she denied having a sexual relationship with the president. Jordan said she told him the same thing. full story
Mickey Kantor: Kantor is a veteran Democratic strategist who worked on the 1992 Clinton campaign and was Commerce secretary in the first Clinton administration. He has returned to the White House as the first family’s lead attorney in the Lewinsky case.
Walter Kaye: Retired insurance executive and prominent Democratic contributor who put in a good word for Monica Lewinsky to get a White House internship. He was also subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury.
Janis Kearney: A presidential diarist who was subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury.
Tim Keating: A veteran Capitol Hill aide before working as a top deputy to former White House legislative affairs director John Hilley. Keating hired Lewinsky for a paying job in the Office of Legislative Affairs after her White House internship, and later transferred her to the Pentagon. He now works in the private sector in Washington.
David Kendall: Kendall is the Clintons’ personal lawyer for Whitewater matters. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton successfully pushed for him to be in charge of the Lewinsky case. A Rhodes scholar and Yale law school graduate, Kendall practiced civil rights law before joining the elite Washington, D.C., firm of Williams & Connolly.
Nathan Landow: Washington real estate mogul and enthusiastic Democratic supporter. His relationship with Kathleen Willey and questions surrounding her allegations against the president brought put him in the hot seat.
Terry F. Lenzner: His private investigation firm, Investigative Group Inc., works for Williams & Connolly, the law firm representing Clinton in the Whitewater investigation and the Lewinsky controversy.
Dr. Bernard Lewinsky: Monica Lewinsky’s father
Monica Lewinsky: A 25-year-old former White House intern, Lewinsky is at the heart of the scandal. Lewinsky came to the White House in June 1995 and later became a salaried employee in the White House Office of Legislative Affairs. She says her trysts with Clinton began in late 1995 during the government shutdown. She moved to the Defense Department in April 1996 and left the Pentagon, apparently on good terms, in December 1997. full story
Ann Lewis: Lewis is the White House communications director and political confidante of the Clintons. She has been one of the Clintons’ main defenders in the media.
Marcia Lewis: Monica Lewinsky’s mother appeared before the grand jury after attempts to quash a subpoena failed. Investigators suspect Lewinsky may have talked to her mother, with whom she shared a Watergate apartment, about her relationship with the president.
Evelyn Lieberman: Now director of the Voice of America, the former White House deputy chief of staff joined the administration as first lady Hillary Clinton’s assistant. She told The New York Times that Lewinsky was transferred to the Pentagon for “inappropriate and immature” behavior.
Bruce Lindsey: A longtime Arkansas associate of Clinton’s, Lindsey attended Georgetown University with the president and came to the White House, where he has functioned as a top behind-the-scenes political advisor. Starr named him an unindicted co-conspirator in the second Whitewater trial, on allegations Lindsey arranged meetings between then-Gov. Clinton and Arkansas banker Robert Hill, one of the defendants.
Joe Lockhart: Lockhart replaced Mike McCurry as White House Press Secretary when McCurry left his post in the fall. Lockhart, who served as press secretary for Clinton’s 1996 re-election campaign, was McCurry’s top deputy before transitioning into the top spot.
Abbe D. Lowell: The consummate Washington insider, Lowell serves as the chief counsel for Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee. He made his public debut before the committee October 5, arguing that nothing in Independent Counsel Ken Starr’s referral to Congress amounted to an impeachable offense. Lowell has made his career working on ethics cases, representing former Speaker Jim Wright (D-Texas), former Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski (D-Illinois) and Rep. Joseph M. McDade, (R-Pennsylvania) among others.
Glen Maes: A White House steward posted in a small pantry and kitchen area in the West Wing that has a view of the president’ private adjoining study.
Nicole Maffeo: A 24-year old Boston p.r. consultant and former intern who testified earlier says grand jurors laughed and clapped when she asked why the independent counsel would spend taxpayer money “to fly me down here so I could spread my gossip to the grand jury.”
Ellen McCathran: A presidential diarist
Mike McCurry: The former White House press secretary, who plans stepped down this fall, bore the brunt of the media feeding frenzy over the Clinton-Lewinsky story with equal parts humor and frustration. During his daily briefings, McCurry was inundated with endless questions from the White House press corps. After leaving McCurry told an audience at the University of Pittsburgh that President Clinton was a “richly qualified leader” who was “exasperatingly stupid” in his personal life.
Lewis Merletti: The head of the Secret Service opposed Ken Starr’s subpoena of Secret Service personnel, stating that testimony before the grand jury would compromise the ability of the Secret Service to provide protection to officials. It was Merletti’s opposition that Janet Reno called upon to back her support of extending a “protective function privilege” for Secret Service personnel in the U.S. Appeals Court hearing on the matter.
In his affidavit, Merletti stated as backing for his concerns that a high-ranking official from an unnamed G-7 nation had privately expressed concern about using the service’s protection if personnel could be called to testify in court.
James A. Moody: A conservative lawyer who took Linda Tripp’s tape recordings to Starr. He is active in conservative causes.
Bayani Nelvis: A White House steward posted in a small pantry and kitchen area in the West Wing that has a view of the president’ private adjoining study.
Jennifer Palmieri: She worked as a scheduler and executive assistant to former Chief of Staff Leon Panetta. In that position, she supervised Lewinsky when she was a White House intern working in Panetta’s office.
Leon Panetta: A former congressman from California and former White House chief of staff, Panetta testified before Starr’s Whitewater grand jury in the Lewinsky case.
John Podesta: Deputy White House chief of staff refered Monica Lewinsky to U.N. Ambassador Bill Richardson for a job.
Ashley Raines: A staffer in the White House’s Office of Administration, Raines was a friend of Lewinsky, and sources say Lewinsky told her about the alleged relationship with President Clinton.
Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist: Rehnquist acted unilaterally to deny the White House’s request for stays on Secret Service testimony and testimony from White House lawyers. The requests came during the Supreme Court’s summer recess, allowing Rehnquist to make the decision on his own.
Janet Reno: U.S. Attorney General appointed by Clinton. Despite accusations that she has dragged her feet on appointing an independent counsel to investigate Democratic fund-raising in the 1996 campaign, she readily passed along Starr’s request to expand his investigation of the president.
Bill Richardson: As Ambassador to the U.N. interviewed Monica Lewinsky in October 1997 and offered her a job. She declined.
Charles C. F. Ruff: Ruff been a White House Counsel since 1997. Prior to that, he was Corporation Counsel to the District of Columbia. The former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia also served as special prosecutor in the Watergate Special Prosecution Force. From 1982 to 1995, Ruff was a partner in the Washington law firm of Covington & Burling.
David Schippers: The Democrat House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde appointed to lead the impeachment hearings against President Bill Clinton, Schippers is a newcomer to Washington. The prosecutor has spent much of his career in Chicago, and served in the Justice Department under President John Kennedy and Attorney General Robert Kennedy in the 1960’s. Schippers has described his style as “going for the jugular,” and often relies on a fiery demeanor. He has largely stayed away from politics in his 40-year career. Full story
Marsha Scott: Deputy Assistant to the president (and long-time personal friend)
Caroline Self: A former White House intern in Betty Currie’s office who was subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury.
Judge Lawrence Silberman: During the U.S. Court of Appeals hearing over the Secret Service testimony, Silberman attacked Attorney General Janet Reno, saying her decisions were tinged by politics and charging her with acting as if she were representing the president rather than the nation.
Nathaniel Speights: Speights, a respected Washington, D.C., lawyer, is part of Lewinsky’s legal team. He remained on the team after Bill Ginsburg was replaced by Jacob Stein and Plato Cacheris.
Ken Starr: Former solicitor general for President George Bush, Starr replaced New York attorney Robert Fiske as independent counsel in August 1994. Though he has had a reputation for fairness, Starr, a Republican, has been buffeted by critics who say he is motivated by politics. Starr may not have helped his image by maintaining private clients with interests opposed to the Clinton Administration, and by addressing conservative groups. The White House has attacked Starr’s investigation as a “fishing expedition” with a political agenda. Starr sent 18 boxes containing his report on possible impeachable activities by Clinton to Congress September 9. full story
Julie Hiatt Steele: A onetime friend of Kathleen Willey, Steele’s comments to a Newsweek reporter indicated that she had been privy to Willey’s complaints about the Nov. 29, 1993 alleged encounter between Clinton and Willey. She has since rescinded, stating in an affidavit that Willey had asked her to lie to the Newsweek reporter about the encounter with the president. Steele now says that the events she described to the Newsweek reporter never took place.
Jacob Stein: Part of Monica Lewinsky’s new uber-lawyer team who replaced William Ginsburg. Stein is known as a master of the intricacies of the law and this Washington insider — and former special prosecutor — has a reputation for being brief and to the point.
George Stephanopoulos: Former presidential advisor who was quite verbose on the subject of the president’s demise early on in the Lewinsky scandal. He was subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury.
Harry Thomason: Hollywood producer and co-creator of such TV productions as “Designing Women,” Thomason is a friend and informal image consultant to Clinton. Thomason was one of the people who reportedly advised Clinton on damage control in the days after the Monica Lewinsky story hit the media. Full story
Patsy Thomasson: She was the deputy assistant to the president and deputy director of presidential personnel. She is now at the State Department. She also testified before the grand jury.
Jodie Torkelson: Assistant to the president for management and administration. Starr thought she would know details of Monica’s transfer to the Pentagon.
Linda Tripp: A government civil servant, Tripp set the scandal in motion by taking her taped conversations with Lewinsky to Starr. Tripp came to the White House during the Bush administration but was retained as an administrative secretary working in the counsel’s office when Clinton took office in 1993. She moved to the Pentagon in August 1994, where she later became friends with Lewinsky. Tripp also was one of the last to see Vince Foster alive. She was a quoted source in a 1997 Newsweek article alleging that Clinton had fondled a campaign volunteer named Kathleen Willey, and she is known as the source of never-proven allegations about former President George Bush’s private life. full story
U.S. Court of Appeals: Many of the contentious legal battles of the Lewinsky investigation have moved from Judge Johnson’s courtroom into the Court of Appeals. The court has been called upon to issue final decisions on attorney-client privilege and a “protective function” privilege for Secret Service members. The court is made up of 11 justices appointed by four different presidents. Three were appointed by Clinton, two by George Bush, four by Ronald Reagan and two by Jimmy Carter.
Robert Weiner: Staffer in the White House drug policy office who was subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury.
Kathleen Willey: Willey was a campaign volunteer who also worked at the White House in the counsel’s office and the social secretary’s office. Tripp alleged in a 1997 Newsweek story that Willey was kissed and fondled by President Clinton in 1993. Willey resisted testifying, saying she had nothing relevant to add to the case, but eventually confirmed the report in her deposition, according to news sources.
Judge Susan Webber Wright: The federal judge overseeing the Paula Jones case in Little Rock, Ark. She is a conservative Republican appointed by George Bush and is the same judge who presided over the bank fraud trial of the Clintons’ Whitewater partners, Jim and Susan McDougal. Though she imposed a strict gag order over the Jones case, Wright has granted Starr access to both Clinton’s deposition and Monica Lewinsky’s sworn affidavit from the Jones lawsuit.
Dale Young: The businesswoman and Lewinsky friend told the grand jury, and Newsweek, that Lewinsky had told her that she had a physical relationship with the president. Young said that on a 1996 hiking trip in the Catskills, Lewinsky confided that her relationship with Clinton included touching and phone calls, but that the president had made it a rule they stop short of sexual climax.
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