Dish of Currie!
Chatterbox hears that the lawyer for Clinton secretary Betty Currie was
irritated that President Clinton overplayed Currie's initial denial of the Feb.
6 New York Times story regarding her testimony before Kenneth Starr's
grand jury....If you recall, Lawrence Wechsler, Currie's attorney, issued a
statement saying she was not "aware" of any legal or ethical impropriety.
Apparently the idea (see Chatterbox for 2/18) was to leave open the possibility
that others might interpret the facts, as Currie told them, to involve an
impropriety. Clinton immediately seized on the statement and declared to the
press that he was "pleased that Ms. Currie's lawyers stated
unambiguously--unambiguously--that she's not aware of any unethical
conduct."... Since Clinton also used the "aware" fuzzword, it's not clear what
Wechsler found so irritating. Perhaps he was more annoyed at White House
spinners, who turned Currie's statements into a denial that she' d been in any
way coached....But, hey, if Wechsler is irritated, Chatterbox is
irritated....
The big question in Washington at this point in time: Did Clinton use
Jesse Jackson to "get to" Currie and convince her not to contradict the
president in her testimony?... Jackson was the one who contacted Currie when
panicked White House officials couldn't locate her early in the scandal. (She
wasn't at work because she was testifying to Starr!) Today's Washington
Post says Jackson "has provided spiritual counseling to Currie...in recent
weeks." Last Friday's New York Times reported that Jackson "seemed
uncomfortable when asked about his relationship with Mrs. Currie"....But
Jackson is also quoted in the Post as doubting that Currie would have
acted on her own volition when she asked Vernon Jordan to get Monica Lewinsky a
job. That tends to undermine Clinton's case... Is Jackson actually planning
Sister Souljah's revenge?...
All the heat on Currie makes Chatterbox think: Was the sprawling,
seemingly loony essay by Henry Louis "Skip the Truth" Gates Jr. in last week's
New Yorker (see Chatterbox for 3/3) actually a far more
narrowly-targeted appeal than Chatterbox thought--specifically, an appeal for
Currie to lie for Clinton, much as Rose Mary Woods (the heroine of Gates'
essay) is thought to have lied for Nixon?... Sorry, Skip! Chatterbox's sources
(like everybody else's) say that nobody who knows Currie thinks she'll lie for
the president. Clinton spinners have also portrayed Currie as incorruptible.
They may, to their regret, be right...
Chatterbox has also learned that Currie once told friends President
Clinton and his wife lead such separated lives that the president only learned
Hillary was testifying before Starr's grand jury when he saw it on TV!...
Oedipuss at the Excelsior! To gain new insight into the Paula Jones
lawsuit, go buy a copy of David Maraniss' acclaimed Clinton bio First in His
Class . Turn to the second photograph, a weathered old portrait of Paula
Jones.... Wait a minute, that's not Paula Jones. That's a photo of Bill
Clinton's mother, Virginia Kelley!... The similarity is giving Chatterbox the
Freudian heebie-jeebies, for the second time this month. (The first was that
business about attorney William Ginsburg kissing the inside of baby Monica's
thighs.)... Those who say Jones is too unattractive to draw Clinton' s
attention--the Oscar Wilde defense--should be forced to ponder the implications
of this photo...
Least Plausible Perjury Payoff Dept.: The Washington Post
noted ominously that shortly before Arkansas ex-judge Beth Coulson gave a
deposition denying a sexual relationship with Clinton, the president "named her
to a committee of Arkansas friends to come up with name recommendations for his
new dog." ... Hey, honey, there's that and more in it for you if you keep
quiet!... Personally, Chatterbox would have held out for ambassador to
Switzerland....
