Willey’s Credibility Takes Hits

One week ago, Kathleen E. Willey’s powerful, nationally televised account of President Clinton’s unwelcome sexual advance shook the White House like an earthquake.

But, by week’s end, it was Willey’s credibility that had developed fissures: discrepancies in her various statements and those of others; her attorney’s efforts to peddle her story for large sums to help pay off crushing personal debts, and a series of warmly supportive letters to Clinton well after a 1993 episode that, she said, nearly provoked her to give the president of the United States “a good slap across the face.”

The contradictions are not entirely one-sided. Clinton’s detailed version of the fateful Nov. 29, 1993, encounter with Willey in the White House is inconsistent with the assertion by his lead attorney, Robert S. Bennett, last summer that the president had “no specific recollection of meeting [Willey] in the Oval Office.”

Nevertheless, the political threat to Clinton’s presidency that Willey posed in the immediate aftermath of her interview on CBS’ “60 Minutes” appears to have diminished, at least for now. Clinton’s defenders have been on the offensive as Willey faces newfound scrutiny. And public opinion polls show the resilient chief executive still riding high despite the latest salacious contretemps.

Clinton’s battle-tested allies felt sufficiently emboldened to question both the president’s utterly benign account--that he merely hugged a distraught Willey and consolingly kissed her on the forehead--as well as Willey’s allegations that he groped her breasts and placed her hand on his genitals.

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“I think that something happened in the Oval Office,” said a close advisor, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Whatever form it took, it was consensual. It was not a sexual assault.”

Willey’s allegation had appeared credible in part because she was a longtime Clinton supporter and friend and had seemingly come forward only after she was dragged into Paula Corbin Jones’ sexual-harassment lawsuit against Clinton.

What motive could Willey possibly have had for embellishing, or even fabricating, such a charge, and then going on national television to tell it to the world?

By midweek, much speculation focused on her attorney’s efforts to secure a book or tabloid magazine deal for about $300,000 to help Willey pay off judgments to creditors. It was this urgent financial need that prompted Willey, then a White House volunteer, to see Clinton in November 1993 to ask for a paying job.

Willey, 51, has made no public comments since her television appearance. Her attorney, Daniel Gecker, reiterated that his client told the truth.

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The emergence of information that challenges her motives and, ultimately, her credibility, has not surprised independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr’s staff, according to people familiar with the investigation. Willey testified this month before the federal grand jury investigating whether Clinton lied about his relations with various women, including former White House intern Monica S. Lewinsky, or encouraged others to do so.

Willey is an unlikely presidential adversary, given her path to the White House.

A native of Richmond, Va., who attended college for a year and once worked as an airline flight attendant, she was married to Edward E. Willey Jr., a real estate attorney and the son of a powerful Virginia state senator. Her husband was active in local politics and, starting in the late 1980s, Kathleen Willey became increasingly involved with prominent Virginia Democrats.

While raising her two children, she volunteered for then-Lt. Gov L. Douglas Wilder and co-chaired Wilder’s inaugural gala when he was elected governor in 1989.

Willey first met Clinton at a Wilder fund-raiser in 1989. She was an early organizer for him in Richmond during his 1992 presidential campaign; she remained loyal even when he was first besieged by accusations of womanizing.

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Richard S. “Major” Reynolds III, a former Virginia legislator, recalled telling Willey he could no longer back Clinton after Gennifer Flowers said in early 1992 that she had engaged in a long-term affair with the then-Arkansas governor. Reynolds said Willey responded that she was sorry he felt that way “but she clearly was going to continue to support” Clinton.

Willey said during the TV interview that she was among those who greeted Clinton at the Richmond airport when he arrived before a presidential debate in October 1992. She said that after Clinton dispatched someone to get her phone number, he called and, during the course of their conversation, asked her to bring him some chicken soup. She declined, she said, because “my instincts told me that he wasn’t interested in chicken soup.”

On election night, Willey and her husband flew to Little Rock, Ark., to celebrate. Willey began volunteering in the White House, making the 105-mile trip from Richmond by train. Associates say Willey, long “fascinated with politics and big names,” was drawn to the presidential limelight.

But by late 1993, Willey’s world was unraveling. She had lived an upscale life-- fancy cars, expensive clothes, a handsome home, a vacation condo--but her husband had become financially overextended. By November 1993, he had been accused of stealing $274,000 from a client. He asked his wife to co-sign a note promising repayment within two weeks, court records show. The note was due on Nov. 30.

On Nov. 28, Willey had a bitter confrontation with her husband, and he packed a bag and left. Unable to reach him, she kept her appointment with Clinton the next day.

In their respective sworn statements, Willey and Clinton agree that she was deeply upset and told the president she needed a paying job as the result of a financial crisis.

“I embraced her, I put my arms around her, I may have kissed her on the forehead,” Clinton said in his Jan. 17 deposition in the Jones case. “There was nothing sexual about it. I was trying to calm her down and trying to reassure her.”

Willey, by contrast, said Clinton’s hug “continued longer than I expected.” She said “he attempted to kiss me,” touched her breasts and “put my hands on his genitals.” She recalled him saying “he had wanted to do that for a long time.”

The following day, Ed Willey was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

While only Clinton and Kathleen Willey know what happened between them, statements by two Willey associates contradict elements of her account.

Linda Tripp, the former White House employee who later secretly taped Lewinsky’s tales of her alleged relations with Clinton, said she ran into Willey in the West Wing that day. Willey was “disheveled. Her face was red, and her lipstick was off. She was flustered, happy and joyful,” Tripp told Newsweek magazine last year. She said Willey confided that the president had kissed and fondled her in his private office.

The only other person Willey said she told about the incident, aside from her attorney, was Julie Steele, a close friend of 20 years. In early 1997, after Willey had told Newsweek about Clinton’s alleged sexual advance, Steele initially confirmed that her friend shared this account with her on the same day Willey had visited Clinton.

Several months later, however, Steele reversed herself. She said Willey had told her about the meeting in 1993 but that she “never said anything to suggest that President Clinton made sexual advances towards her or otherwise acted inappropriately.” In a sworn affidavit, Steele said she had provided the bogus account entirely at Willey’s request.

Willey countered on “60 Minutes” that the White House had “found a pawn” in Steele.

On Saturday, an acquaintance of Steele’s dealt a new blow to her credibility, telling the Associated Press that Steele confided to him last year that Willey had told her of being groped by Clinton “right after it happened.”

Richmond attorney Michael Morchower said that at Ed Willey’s funeral, Kathleen Willey told him and others “that she had invited the president, and he was going to try to arrange his schedule so he could attend. She was very excited about that.”

Clinton did not attend, and Willey returned to the Oval Office to see him alone on Dec. 10, 1993. She said she did so because the White House remained “my best opportunity for employment,” and described Clinton as “very kind and solicitous.”

Willey landed a paid job as a staff assistant in the White House counsel’s office, and in April 1994, began working three days a week answering phones and typing letters. But she was let go six months later; former White House aides said she lacked the necessary skills.

She met with Clinton upon departing and sought another appointment. In an Oct. 18, 1994, letter signed “Fondly, Kathleen,” she told him she “would like to be considered for an ambassadorship or a position in an embassy overseas.” Several weeks later, in another missive, she called herself Clinton’s “number one fan.”

During the following year, Willey attended two international conferences at government expense. In 1996, the White House appointed her to the governing board of the United Services Organization, which entertains and assists U.S. military members worldwide. But she did not secure a paid position.

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In early 1996, at Willey’s request, the White House recommended her for a fund-raising position at the Democratic National Committee. Offered a low-level job, sources said, she turned it down.

In the last of 15 letters from Willey to Clinton released by the White House--nine written after their much-disputed encounter--she congratulated him on his reelection in November 1996.

Meanwhile, Willey was being pursued by creditors. Gone were the vacation condo and the large home across the James River from Richmond. She moved into a three-bedroom rented house and worked at a bread company and a salon.

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In a 1995 court proceeding, Willey was asked about the events of Nov. 29, 1993, and said nothing about her alleged sexual encounter with Clinton. She also said she “did not talk to anyone at the White House” about her financial travails.

In 1996, after her husband’s former client had successfully sued the Willey estate, she was ordered to pay nearly $274,500 plus interest. By July 1997, garnishment proceedings against her were underway.

Willey gave her deposition in the Jones case in January. Shortly thereafter, Beverly Hills publisher Michael Viner said he received a call from Willey’s attorney, who was seeking about $300,000 for Willey’s story to cover a debt left by her husband. Viner said that by Gecker’s account, Clinton “may have made a pass” at Willey but his actions fell short of sexual harassment. Viner said he initially felt the story was worth $100,000.

Phil Bunton, editor of the supermarket tabloid Star magazine, said his publication also talked to Gecker about buying Willey’s story. He said the attorney expressed some interest in February but set an asking price of at least $300,000; the magazine offered $50,000 but talks ended when Willey went on “60 Minutes,” he said.

Gecker acknowledged discussions with both Viner and the Star but insisted Willey’s allegations were not motivated by money. He denied seeking $300,000 from either source.

Willey said in a sworn statement in February that she discussed the Clinton encounter “extensively” with Nathan Landow, a real estate developer and former Maryland Democratic Party chairman. Landow has emphatically denied that he attempted to influence Willey’s testimony.

Meanwhile, a recent Time magazine/CNN poll found that 44% of Americans thought Clinton did not make “an unwanted sexual advance” toward Willey, while 41% believed he did. But 61% said Clinton’s sexual behavior is not relevant to how he should be judged in office, and his overall approval rating remained at an extremely high 67%.

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Times staff writers Jim Risen in Richmond, Va., David Willman in Washington and staff researcher Scott Wilson in Los Angeles contributed to this story.