Hillary 'home during Lewinsky encounters' 20/03/2008 - 07:21:02
Hillary Clinton was home in the White House on at least seven days when her husband had sexual encounters there with intern Monica Lewinsky, according to newly released files.
The information is revealed in Senator Clinton’s schedule, released this morning among 11,000 pages of papers from her years as first lady.
The papers also shed light on her struggle for health care reform early in the Clinton administration.
She also was an early champion of the North American Free Trade Agreement that she now criticises in her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The papers show her holding at least five meetings in 1993 aimed at helping win congressional approval of the deal.
The release of the documents reminds voters about Bill Clinton’s affair and the impeachment proceedings that brought Washington to a halt for a year.
The private crisis came at the most public of times for the first lady.
She had speeches scheduled, at home and abroad. She appeared by her husband’s side at an education event where he angrily dismissed the reports of sex with Ms Lewinsky.
Almost a year earlier, the schedules show, she was home on February 28, 1997, the day the report by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr says Bill Clinton had a sexual encounter with Ms Lewinsky in an Oval Office bathroom in the early evening, staining her blue dress.
Mrs Clinton had “drop by” events or meetings in the Map Room and Diplomatic Reception Room between 11am and 12.30pm that day, according to her schedule. It also lists plays that night and a concert, but it is not clear whether she attended.
More than a year earlier, on November 15, 1995, the first lady went to a mid-afternoon “meet & greet” photo opportunity at the White House with Nobel Laureates and their families. That night, Miss Lewinsky had what she later said was her first sexual encounter with the president, in the private study off the Oval office.
On January 21, 1996, the first lady and the president privately toured an exhibit at the National Gallery of Art. That afternoon, Lewinsky said, she and Bill Clinton had a sexual encounter in the hallway by the private study.
The schedules indicate Hillary Clinton was home on at least four other days when her husband and the intern got together.
The National Archives released the papers in Washington and at the Clinton presidential library in Arkansas after months of pressure from critics who say the Clintons were delaying the disclosure. The issue has dogged her bid for the White House.
In all, 11,046 pages have been made available. Nearly 4,800 pages have parts blacked out. Archivists said that’s to protect the privacy of third parties. Schedules for more than 30 days of activities were not included in this release.
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