Jones' Lawyers Show Their Hand

Clinton's lawyer calls documents 'a pack of lies'

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, March 13) -- Lawyers for Paula Jones filed 700 pages of legal arguments and evidence Friday, trying to convince an Arkansas judge to let Jones' sexual harassment lawsuit against President Bill Clinton go to trial.

In its filing in Little Rock, Ark., the Jones team sought to show why her case should proceed to trial as scheduled on May 27. The president's legal team has asked the judge in the case to dismiss the lawsuit.

Jones' lawyer, Donovan Campbell, called the evidence in the case "very graphic and very important." He accused the Clinton team of trying to suppress evidence and obstruct justice, saying the president's "entire defensive case is weak."

"You can show a pattern and practice of prior conduct involving the same type of conspiracy to approach women through the use of state troopers ... to provide sexual favors," Campbell said. "That's a pattern and practice that gives rise to an inference that there has been a conspiracy and an agreement to do that with respect to Ms. Jones."

In its brief, Jones' team claims the record before the court "provides good reason to believe that Mr. Clinton and those acting on his behalf have engaged in a vast enterprise to suppress evidence in this case and otherwise corrupt these proceedings."

The documents, which include former White House intern Monica Lewinsky's subpoena and affidavit from that controversy, seek to show a pattern of women either benefiting or suffering harm on the job, depending on their response to Clinton's alleged advances.

'Took the opportunity to sexually assault her'

One of them is Kathleen Willey, who was recently deposed by Jones' attorneys. Willey is a former White House aide who claims Clinton groped her in a room near the Oval Office when she asked him for a paying job.

Regarding Willey, the documents say, "Mr. Clinton took the opportunity to sexually assault her just outside the Oval Office, apparently fulfilling a longstanding desire of his."

"Ms. Willey features very prominently in our filing today," Campbell told reporters.

A decision on Clinton's motion to dismiss is expected by U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright later this month or in early April. Wright has already ruled the Lewinsky matter is not admissible in the Jones case.

Legal experts consider it highly unlikely Jones' entire suit would be dismissed.

The legal papers that were filed give the public its most complete preview yet of what could come out at trial, if the case gets that far.

Jones says that in May 1991, while Clinton was governor of Arkansas and she was a clerk with the state's industrial development agency, he exposed himself to her in a Little Rock hotel room and asked for oral sex. After she said no, she suffered from job discrimination, according to Jones.

Jones case: Compelling or cotton candy?

Clinton has denied Jones' claims, including that he was responsible for denying her proper raises and advancement.

Clinton had no comment on Friday's dramatic developments, letting his lawyer, Bob Bennett, speak for him.

"She has no case, she has suffered no damages, she was never harassed," Bennett said. He called the Jones' filing a scurrilous attempt to humiliate Clinton and compared the Jones' team alleged evidence to cotton candy.

"When you bite into it, it just doesn't exist," Bennett said. "I believe very strongly there is no legal case here."

Asked about Jones' claim of a pattern of misbehavior toward women by Clinton, Bennett said, "I tell you no such evidence exists. They have recycled a bunch of old rumors ... There is no pattern and you're not going to find a pattern."

Added Bennett: "This is a form of insanity, what's going on here."

Included in the filing were portions of Clinton's deposition and other statements made during the discovery phase of the Jones case.

The brief and documents were filed just after 4 p.m. ET in U.S. District Court in Little Rock.

Jones' lawyers, in a news release handed out with the documents, said they have "compelling evidence" to support all of Jones' claims against Clinton of job discrimination and sex harassment.

More details about Gennifer Flowers

Also included in the filing were additional details about Gennifer Flowers, a woman who has alleged a 12-year affair with Clinton before he was president.

Regarding Flowers, the Jones' lawyers said, "Mr. Clinton encouraged her to lie under oath to an Arkansas review board investigating whether she had received her job because of her affair with Mr. Clinton.

"Mr. Clinton told her what he has told many other women with whom he has had a sexual relationship -- if we both deny the relationship, no one can prove it," the lawyers said.

A declaration by one-time Lewinsky friend Linda Tripp, given to the Jones lawyers, was also included, as was testimony from a doctor who concluded that Jones suffered distress from her alleged encounter with Clinton.

The filing also mentioned Clinton's contacts with Dolly Kyle Browning, a longtime friend of Clinton and a high school classmate. "Mr. Clinton testified untruthfully about his relationship with her," the lawyers said. They added that Clinton "fabricated notes of a conversation" with Ms. Browning that he "has used as evidence in this case to support his denial of their affair."

The documents presented new information regarding a former Miss America, Elizabeth Ward from Russellville, Ark. According to the motion, Ms. Ward confided to a friend that "Mr. Clinton had made unwanted sexual advances."

According to the woman in whom Ms. Ward confided, the former Miss America "broke down crying" when she related the story to her friend, the lawyers said in the papers.

When Ms. Ward's name came up during the 1992 president campaign, she issued a statement saying she never had a sexual relationship with Clinton.

White House press secretary Mike McCurry, asked in advance of the papers' release about whether the president was dreading them, said, "He's a human being and he has human reaction when he reads stuff like that, sure."

In Long Beach, Calif., where she lives, Jones had no comment on the latest turn in her case.

Jones, who spoke to CNN early Friday via a security intercom at her condominium, said, "I don't have anything to say right now."

Friday March 13, 1998

• More Of Paula Jones' Case To Go Public
• What Do We Know In The Lewinsky Controversy
• Joe Kennedy Won't Seek Re-Election
• Senator Pushes For Fund-Raising Counsel Again
• Former White House Intern Subpoenaed

Documents:
• Legal Documents Released In The Jones v. Clinton Case

Video On Demand
• CNN Special: What Do We Know?