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Jordan's testimony on job search conflicts with Lewinsky

By Charles Bierbauer/CNN

WASHINGTON (October 2) -- It's important to know who put Monica Lewinsky in touch with Vernon Jordan and when.

According to transcripts of his grand jury appearances, released Friday, Jordan testified: "The first time I ever heard the name Monica Lewinsky is when Ms. Betty Currie called me about Monica Lewinsky ... in early December, I believe."

Jordan

Lewinsky recalls it differently. On November 5, a full month earlier, she sent a friend an e-mail describing her first meeting with Jordan.

"Woo. What a day. I met with the big creep's best friend this morning," she wrote. To Lewinsky Clinton is the "creep," and Jordan is the "best friend."

The e-mail continued: "He (Jordan) said with regard to my job search, 'We're in business.' We'll see. He also said the creep had talked to him and as I was leaving he said, 'You come very highly recommended.'"

Jordan did meet with the president on November 5, but he does not remember meeting Lewinsky.

Could the president, not his secretary Betty Currie, have urged his friend Jordan to get Lewinsky a job and get her out of Washington?

Over the course of Independent Counsel Ken Starr's investigation, Jordan was called to the grand jury five times. Following one of the appearances, he complained that he was being asked the same questions "over and over again." His discrepancy with dates may be one reason.

And what he knew about the Clinton/Lewinsky relationship is central to the question of whether Jordan participated in a cover-up.

He denies he had anything to cover up.

Jordan says he did not question the relationship until December 19 when a distraught Lewinsky called to say she had been subpoenaed in the Paula Jones case.

"So if a woman comes, who has worked in the White House, with a subpoena to participate or be a witness in a sexual harassment case and if they're in tears and upset and all of that ... You didn't have to be an einstein to know that that (sex) was a question that had to be asked," Jordan testified. "The subpoena changed the circumstances."

Lewinsky denied a sexual relationship and later that day the president told Jordan: "No, never."

The documents show Jordan kept an interested president updated on the prospects of finding Lewinsky a job and a lawyer.

While Jordan clearly played the roles of job finder, facilitator and friend, his testimony reveals his counsel is not always heeded.

Jordan says he urged the president, his lawyers and his chief of staff to settle the Paula Jones lawsuit at almost any cost.


Investigating the President

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Friday, October 2, 1998

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