The American Spectator

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Slick Billy

By Byron York on 11.15.98 @ 10:25AM

(Page 14 of 14)

"Didn't the president suggest that you go to Mr. Podesta?"

"I don't remember that," Currie answered. "John's an old friend of mine."

"Didn't the president also suggest Ambassador Richardson, too?" Bittman continued. "That you should contact Ambassador Richardson?"

"I don't remember him saying that, either," Currie said.

But what about the résumé? Bittman wanted to know. Currie herself sent it to the U.N. "We can show you a fax cover sheet that you faxed Monica's résumé to Ambassador Richardson," he told Currie. "Do you remember doing that?"

"I remember getting something to him," Currie said. "If you say I faxed a résumé, then I did that. I don't remember."

"Okay," Bittman said. "Do you remember how you got Monica's résumé?"

"I don't remember," Currie said. "I don't."

"What did the president tell you after he got this package?" Bittman asked.

"I don't remember him saying anything," Currie responded. "I just don't know. If he -- if he got the package and then he gave me the résumé from the package, that could have happened. I don't know. If Monica sent me the résumé herself, me directly, because I'm working on her behalf, I don't know that either. I just don't know how I got it."

As frustrating as such exchanges were to prosecutors, the news isn't all bad. Even though Starr ran into brick walls during the investigation, journalists now have an unprecedented opportunity to peer inside the most explosive political corruption case in a generation. The Starr papers released by Congress -- more than 8,000 pages made public so far -- contain innumerable examples of the administration's misrepresentations, half-truths, clever evasions, and outright lies. They are, in short, a veritable encyclopedia of Clinton scandal management. There's a lot to be learned -- for those curious enough to look.

This article by Byron York was published in the December 1998 issue of The American Spectator, where Mr. York was then an investigative reporter.

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