Reprinted from The Washington Times, March 2, 1998
Starr to ask Willey if fund-raiser pressured her
By Joyce Howard Price
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Independent Counsel Kenneth W. Starr wants to find out if Nathan Landow, a major fund-raiser for the Democratic Party, improperly pressured Kathleen Willey to deny that President Clinton fondled her in a small White House study in November 1993.
The grand jury probing the White House sex-and-lies scandal will undoubtedly ask Mrs. Willey about this when she appears before it as early as next week, according to a report published in this week's issue of Newsweek.
Mr. Landow, interviewed for the report, said he may have offered assistance to Mrs. Willey and acknowledged speaking to her as recently as several weeks ago.
But he angrily denied he had tried to get her to change her story about sexual advances by the president.
"You've got no ... proof of anything other than what I've told you," the Marylander, who personally gave $247,000 to the Democratic Party and raised more than $600,000 for Mr. Clinton's two presidential campaigns, told Newsweek.
A spokesman said the White House has no knowledge of any contacts between Mr. Landow, a fixture at White House fund-raising coffees before the 1996 election, and Mrs. Willey, who says Mr. Clinton groped her when she went to see him about getting a full-time job more than four years ago.
The magazine provides a highly detailed account of what it says Mrs. Willey told close associates about her meeting with the president. Newsweek said it obtained this information last year and noted that it is "consistent with her recent sealed, sworn deposition in the Paula Jones case."
Sources, whom Newsweek did not identify, said Mrs. Willey told them the president took her into a small study off the Oval Office, hugged and kissed her, fondled her breasts and placed one of her hands on his erect penis. "I've wanted to do this ever since the first time I laid eyes on you," Mr. Clinton purportedly said.
Paula Jones' lawyers wanted to question Mrs. Willey to try to see if Mr. Clinton has a pattern of making sexual advances. She gave her deposition Jan. 10, at which time she was asked if she had talked to anyone besides her attorneys about the accusations.
Mrs. Willey did not identify anyone at that time. But Newsweek said she amended her deposition last month to say she had talked to Mr. Landow about her testimony but offered no other details.
Mr. Landow, a wealthy real estate investor who lives on the Eastern Shore, was subpoenaed last week by lawyers for Mrs. Jones, who is suing Mr. Clinton for sexual misconduct. Mrs. Jones says he asked her to perform oral sex in a Little Rock hotel room in May 1991, when Mr. Clinton was Arkansas governor and she was a low-level state government employee.
Mr. Landow told Newsweek he never discussed Mrs. Willey's testimony in the Jones case with her. But the magazine reported it was told by another "source familiar with Willey's account" that Mr. Landow "appeared to suggest [to her] that it would be 'better' if her story never came out."
While denying that, Mr. Landow told Newsweek in a follow-up phone call that Mrs. Willey had complained to him late last year that Mrs. Jones' attorneys were trying to compel her testimony and she was suffering "mental anguish."
Mr. Landow said that when he learned in December Mrs. Willey was about to have back surgery, "I may have said, 'If I could do anything to help you, let me know.'"
Mrs. Willey reportedly got to know Mr. Landow through his daughter, Harolyn Cardozo. Mrs. Willey and Mrs. Cardozo, wife of lawyer Michael Cardozo, who ran Mr. Clinton's first legal defense fund, worked together as volunteers in the White House social office.
Senior White House adviser Paul Begala was asked about the Newsweek report yesterday on CNN's "Late Edition."
"This is not a person we can rely on in terms of credibility," Mr. Begala said.
He cited a recent affidavit by Julia Steele, described as a close friend of Mrs. Willey's, who accused Mrs. Willey of trying to get her to lie about what happened with Mr. Clinton.
But Newsweek noted that last March Miss Steele told its correspondents Mrs. Willey had told her she'd been groped by Mr. Clinton and felt "humiliated."
"Just two weeks ago ... Steele repeated to Newsweek that Willey had told her about a sexual 'overture' by Clinton," the magazine said.Copyright 1998 News World Communications, Inc.
Reprinted with permission of
The Washington Times.
To subscribe to the Washington Times National Weekly Edition, click this icon or call 800-363-9118.
