(4 of 9)
By autumn, the stakes were rising for Clinton. On Oct. 1, he received interrogatories from Jones' lawyers asking for a list of women other than his wife with whom he had sought to have sexual relations. Six days later, Lewinsky sent the President another letter complaining about her stalled job search. She was cooling on the U.N. idea now and wanted Clinton to help her get a job in the private sector. After 2 a.m. on Oct. 10, the report says, Clinton called Lewinsky and unloaded on her: "If I had known what kind of person you really were, I never would have gotten involved with you," he told her. She complained that he had not done enough to help her. Clinton said he was eager to help. She told him she wanted a job in New York City by the end of October, and he promised to try.
The next day, a Saturday, she was invited for a visit with Clinton, according to the report. They met in the study and discussed jobs. He told her to prepare a list of New York companies she wanted to work for. She suggested that the hyperconnected lawyer Vernon Jordan might help. Clinton was receptive. He also told her that he had asked White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles to get her old boss, legislative affairs director John Hilley, to write a recommendation.
On Oct. 16, Lewinsky sent Clinton a "wish list" of jobs she'd like in New York. Later that fall, U.N. ambassador Bill Richardson decided to interview the former intern in Washington. The night before the meeting, she says, Clinton called to boost her confidence. Eventually, Richardson offered her a job. She turned it down.
It fell to Jordan to find the right job. In his testimony, he claimed to have received assurances from Lewinsky and Clinton that there was no sex. But Lewinsky testified that Jordan knew "with a wink and a nod that I was having a relationship with the President." Just after the Oct. 11 meeting in which Monica suggested to Clinton that Jordan help her find a job, Clinton spoke to him by phone. Clinton has testified that it was Currie who brought Jordan into the effort. But Lewinsky testified that Currie called Jordan at the President's initiative. Jordan, who met Lewinsky in November, said he assumed the same.
Jordan moved slowly at first; he had no contact with Lewinsky for more than a month. But by Dec. 6, Clinton had even more reason to placate the woman: his lawyers showed him a list of witnesses the Jones team was planning to call. Among them was Lewinsky. On Sunday, Dec. 7, Jordan met with the President at the White House. Jordan denied that Lewinsky or the Jones case was discussed, but four days later he was meeting with Lewinsky for the second time, giving her the names of three business contacts. Later that day he called three executives to recommend her.
In that meeting, Jordan got a clue, if he needed one, that Lewinsky was more than an acquaintance of Clinton's. She said she got angry at Clinton "when he doesn't call me enough or see me enough." Lewinsky says he told her to take her frustrations out on him rather than on Clinton. "You're in love, that's what your problem is," he said. After the meeting, Jordan says, he called Clinton and told him that he would try to get Lewinsky a job in New York.