Kathleen Willey

Kathleen Willey is a former White House volunteer aide who, on March 15, 1998, alleged on the TV news program 60 Minutes that Bill Clinton had sexually assaulted her on November 29, 1993, during his first term as President. She had been subpoenaed to testify in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case.[1]

Claims

According to Willey, during a meeting in the private study of the Oval Office, Clinton had embraced her tightly, kissed her on the mouth, grabbed her breast, and forced her hand on his genitals.[2] Clinton denied assaulting Willey. According to Monica Lewinsky's testimony, Clinton stated that the allegation was absurd because Willey is a small-breasted woman and he would never pursue such a woman.[3] The Clinton White House released details of 15 letters and 12 telephone messages that Willey had sent to Clinton after the alleged incident. In all of these, she appeared friendly and eager for more contact with Clinton.

According to Linda Tripp's grand jury testimony, she felt Willey pursued a romance with Clinton from the start of her White House affiliation. Willey had speculated with Tripp as to how she might be able to set up an assignation between herself and the president. She routinely attended events at which Clinton would be present, wearing a black dress she believed he liked. According to Tripp's testimony, Willey wondered if she and Clinton could arrange to meet in a home to which she had access, on the Chesapeake Bay.[4]

Investigation and current status

The Final Report of the U.S. Office of the Independent Counsel report noted that "Willey and President Clinton are the only direct witnesses to their meeting, and their accounts differ substantially on the crucial facts of what occurred." It also stated "Willey gave false information to the FBI about her sexual relationship with a former boyfriend, and acknowledged having lied about it when the agents confronted her with contradictory evidence. Following Willey's acknowledgment of the lie, the Independent Counsel agreed not to prosecute her for false statements in this regard."[5] According to Independent Counsel Robert Ray's report, "Willey's [Paula] Jones deposition testimony differed from her grand jury testimony on material aspects of the alleged incident."[6]

According to a book critical of Clinton by Candice E. Jackson, Tripp told Larry King in February 1999 that Willey is "an honest person" who was "telling the truth" about having been sexually assaulted by Clinton.[7] However, Tripp's grand jury testimony differs from Willey's claims regarding inappropriate sexual advances.[8]

Willey has a history of controversial claims including telling the FBI she was pregnant and she had a miscarriage when she did not.[9] On the evening of March 19, 1998, Julie Hiatt Steele, a friend of Willey, released an affidavit, accusing the former White House aide of asking her to lie to corroborate Ms. Willey's account of being sexually groped by President Clinton in the Oval Office.[10] An attempt by Kenneth Starr to prosecute Steele for making false statements and obstructing justice ended in a mistrial and Starr declined to seek a retrial after Steele sought an investigation against the former Independent Counsel for prosecutorial misconduct.[11]

In March 2000, U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth ruled that President Clinton had "committed a criminal violation" of the Privacy Act by releasing letters from Willey to the President that were written even after the alleged incident.[12] A three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court of Appeals later criticized this ruling,[13] though Willey subsequently filed suit against the White House, over this issue.[14]

On November 6, 2007, her book Target: Caught in the Crosshairs of Bill and Hillary Clinton was published by WND Books, an imprint of World Ahead Media and WorldNetDaily. In her book, Willey claimed that on Labor Day weekend 2007, her house was burglarized, with the only thing stolen being a manuscript of her book. Willey stated that she believes individuals with ties to Bill and Hillary Clinton are responsible for the break-in. She also filed a police report.[15]

A Scandal a Day

In July 2015 Kathleen Willey launched the website A Scandal A Day[16] as a "safe place" for people wronged by the Clintons[17] to come forward.[18] This was launched[19] with the support of Tom Watson and Maverick Investigations.[20] The site re-awakened dormant stories from Paula Jones[21] and others.[22] Willey was recently (late 2015) interviewed by Larry King about the incident.[23] After an initial flood of visitors the traffic seems to have stabilized at around 2200 views a day with 1100 of them being unique.[24]

Personal life

Willey's second husband, Edward E. Willey Jr., was found dead from a gunshot wound next to his vehicle parked along a hunting trail in rural King and Queen County, Virginia on November 29, 1993 — the day she claimed Clinton's sexual misconduct took place. His death was determined to be a suicide by investigators. She wrote in her book, and acknowledged in a 60 Minutes interview her suspicions of the Clintons' involvement in her husband's death pointing to similarities with White House aide Vince Foster's death which was also determined to be a suicide.

Willey was remarried in November 1999 to Bill Schwicker,[25] whom she divorced in 2006. Currently, she works and resides in Powhatan County, Virginia.[26]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Sparking the Scandal". TIME. February 2, 1998. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
  2. ↑ "Willey v. Clinton: Who's Lying? - March 15, 1998". www.cnn.com. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
  3. ↑ "The Starr Report". www.washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2016-01-12.
  4. ↑ http://a255.g.akamaitech.net/7/255/2422/11may20041152/icreport.access.gpo.gov/hd105-316/3753-4374.pdf
  5. ↑ (OIC Final Report, Appendix B)
  6. ↑ pdf) Archived November 11, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ↑ Candice E. Jackson, Their Lives: The Women Targeted by the Clinton Machine, (World Ahead Media, 2004) page 148
  8. ↑ "Stalking the president". Salon.com. January 1999. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
  9. ↑ "The Lives Of Kathleen Willey". CNN. March 30, 1998. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
  10. ↑ John M. Broader (March 19, 1998). "Friend Accuses Willey for Plea to her to Lie". New York Times. Retrieved February 15, 2014.
  11. ↑ Peter Levy (November 30, 2001). Encyclopedia of the Clinton Presidency. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 328–329. ISBN 978-0313312946. Retrieved February 15, 2014.
  12. ↑ "Judge rules White House violated privacy of Kathleen Willey". CNN. March 29, 1998. Archived from the original on January 14, 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
  13. ↑ Stout, David (May 27, 2000). "White House Loses and Gains in Ruling on a Privacy Act Case". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
  14. ↑ "Willey Files Suit Against Clintons". CNN. September 21, 2000. Retrieved 2008-05-25.
  15. ↑ "Target: Caught in the cross hairs of Bill and Hillary Clinton". November 2007. Retrieved February 5, 2016.
  16. ↑ ""a SCANDAL a day" Home". Kathleen Willey. Retrieved 2016-01-18.
  17. ↑ "Hillary Clinton’s Scandalous Record". Global Research. Retrieved 2016-01-18.
  18. ↑ "Bill Clinton sexual harassment accuser launches anti-Hillary website". Mail Online. Retrieved 2016-01-18.
  19. ↑ "Critics Trounce Hillary Clinton and Her Sexual Predator Husband". www.infowars.com. Retrieved 2016-01-18.
  20. ↑ Tumulty, Karen; Sellers, Frances Stead (2016-01-06). "The Bill Clinton scandal machine revs back up and takes aim at his wife". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2016-01-18.
  21. ↑ "Paula Jones: Clinton 'Two Faced,' 'Liar,' 'Cares Nothing About Women at All'". Breitbart. Retrieved 2016-01-18.
  22. ↑ "In Their Own Words: Why Bill’s ‘Bimbos’ Fear a Hillary Presidency - Breitbart". Breitbart. Retrieved 2016-01-18.
  23. ↑ "In an exclusive interview, Kathleen Willey discusses what it's like to be at ground zero in one of the biggest political and sex scandals of the century.". Style Weekly. Retrieved 2016-01-18.
  24. ↑ "Ascandaladay.com Is Worth Approx. $1,680.00 - DomainTally". www.domaintally.com. Retrieved 2016-01-18.
  25. ↑ "Kathleen's Story - Part 3". Style Weekly. Richmond, Virginia. 13 July 1999. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  26. ↑ Roop, Jason (20 February 2008). "Kathleen's Crusade". Style Weekly. Retrieved 18 February 2014.

External links

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