Filly Brown

It wasn't so much about bringing him down

it was, "Open your eyes, world

and see who this man is."

'Cause I knew eventually, it was gonna come out.

The dress was hanging in her closet.

You know, it was going to come out.

Linda Tripp had to listen to this...child, virtually

night after night with the whining phone calls

and he said this and he said that and blah blah blah.

'Linda is gonna have to betray Monica's trust.'

Yeah, oh, sure.

'I mean, was that, I mean'

'was she conflicted about that? Or--'

I don't know, I never discussed, one thing

I never discussed with Linda was trust.

It just was not, you know, in our wheelhouse

as they say now.

Linda thought she could get herself subpoenaed

in the Paula Jones thing

and so I called, uh, friends of a friend of mine.

Bill called at 2:30 in the morning

and there were two pieces

of bad news which he was passing along.

One was that Betty Currie's brother

had been killed in a car accident

and I had grown very close to Betty, I mean, our relationship

was complicated, but I cared very much for her

she had had another relative who had passed away recently

so this was distressing news to me.

And then, he really dropped the bombshell that he had seen

the witness list for the Paula Jones case

and I was on it.

The information about Betty spun me one way

and the information about the witness list

spun me completely the other way.

He told me that it broke his heart

and that he'd thought that I probably wouldn't

get called as a witness.

I was petrified.

I was frantic about my family, and this becoming public.

Thankfully, Bill helped me

lock myself back from that

and he said I could probably sign an affidavit

to get out of it, and he didn't even know

if a 100 percent I would be subpoenaed.

He did not say, "Now, listen you're gonna have to lie here."

But on the flip side, he also didn't say

"Listen, honey, this is gonna be really awful

we're gonna have to tell the truth."

A couple of days later, I got subpoenaed.

The subpoena specifically asked me to produce

for evidence, a hat pin.

I was hysterical. I called Linda Tripp.

I didn't know how to process any of it

and because Betty's brother had just passed away

I didn't wanna call her

so I called Vernon Jordan a prominent attorney

who was the president's best friend.

And I was crying so hard on the phone

he couldn't understand me.

He just said, "Come to my office."

Miss Lewinsky was, uh, in my office, uh

in the reception area, she had a subpoena.

I mentioned to him that I was worried

about the hat pin and he's like, "Nope, it's a vanilla

this a vanilla subpoena."

And then he said there, there are only two questions

"Did you have sex with the president

and did he ask for it?"

And so I said, "No," and "No."

'After your meeting with Miss Lewinsky'

'did you see the President of the United States'

later that evening?'

I did.

'And did you, uh, have a conversation with him alone?'

- I did. - 'No one else around?'

No one else around.

'And I know that's a redundant question.'

- It's okay. - 'Now..'

'Would you describe your conversation'

'with the president?'

Uh, we were upstairs, uh

in the White House, then I raised with him

the whole question of Monica Lewinsky

and asked him directly

if he'd had sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky

and the president said, "No, never."

'It appears to me that this is an extraordinary question'

'to ask the President of the United States.'

I'm asking a questio to my friend

who happens to be the President of the United States.

'And did you expect your friend'

'the President of the United States'

'to give you a truthful answer?'

I did.

'Did you rely upon the president's answer'

'in your decision to continue'

'your efforts to seek Miss Lewinsky a job?'

I believed him, and, uh, I continued to do

what I had been asked to do.

I didn't know whom to contact

and Vernon mentioned a lawyer

Frank Carter, and took me to meet him.

Frank Carter explained to me, if I'd signed an affidavit

denying having had an intimate relationship with the president

it might mean I wouldn't have to be deposed

in the Paula Jones case.

I did feel uncomfortable about it

but I felt it was the right thing to do, ironically, right?

So, the right thing to do, to break the law.

A few days later, Betty arranged for me to come in

for a little Christmas visit.

I really struggled before I went

because I thought maybe I should tell him about

that I had confided in Linda.

This is the first time I met Buddy, the dog

and we kind of all played around with Buddy in the office

and then we went into the back study

and we had a Christmas kiss.

Over the summer he had gone to Martha's Vineyard

and he brought back a bunch of different things.

He had this big canvas bag

from the Black Dog.

This marble bear, sunglasses.

It was the most presents he'd given me at one time.

He knew the subpoena was gonna ask to produce certain items

and yet he was giving me more gifts.

He clearly still trusted me.

I realized he was giving me all these gifts

and they're asking me to turn things over

and I kind of suggested, well, you know, like

if Betty had them, wouldn't I not be able

to turn them over?

So, I-I boxed them all up, and, um, she came over

and I gave her the box of items.

A few days later, I signed the affidavit

and it was evasive, a-and false.

'Did you notify anyone in the White House that the affidavit'

'in the Jones case had been signed by Miss Lewinsky?'

Yeah, I'm certain I told Betty Currie

and I'm fairly certain that I told the president.

'And what was his response when you informed him'

'that she had signed the affidavit?'

"Thank you very much."

Signing the affidavit felt for me, okay, I'm one step closer

to maybe being taken off the witness list

and it also reaffirmed

that I was on his team.

It was the first day back after Christmas vacation

and I went into the office on Monday morning

with the express purpose of sitting down

with my direct boss, Jackie Bennett

who was the deputy independent counsel.

Jackie and I were going through all these matters

that were relevant to the investigation

and the phone rang.

Jackie started talking to this person on the phone

and he was saying things like, "Uh-huh.

Yes, tell me about that.."

And I actually thought Jackie was talking to his wife.

So I got up to leave and give him privacy

and without saying anything, he went..

Jackie said to the person on the other end

"Listen, I've got a colleague in the office with me

do you mind if I put you on speaker phone?"

The speaker phone went on, and that was Linda Tripp.

She told us there was an intern at the White House

the intern had had a sexual relationship

with the President of the United States.

Monica Lewinsky was subpoenaed in the Paula Jones litigation

with the president.

Monica Lewinsky and the president

had discussed the testimony

and they had agreed together that Monica Lewinsky

and the president would lie under oath in that case.

So, she was alleging some pretty serious crimes

on behalf of the President of the United States.

Witness tampering, obstruction of justice, and perjury.

You know, we get calls all the time from nuts.

We get calls from people saying, you know

wanted to get into Clinton's sex life and we didn't care.

This was something very different.

This was, an allegation that the president and his allies

were encouraging somebody to obstruct justice.

Jackie asked if we could come and meet

Linda Tripp at her home.

She said "Yes."

At that time, it was rather late in the evening

there weren't many people in the office.

Sol Wisenberg was there, working.

Jackie just grabbed anybody who was in the office.

A few minutes later, we were in Sol's minivan

heading up to the Maryland suburbs

to meet with Linda Tripp.

We went out to see her.

Just didn't know what we'd find.

Her house was really very Christmas-y and well decorated.

And we sat in her living room, and it became apparent

that Linda Tripp had tapes

of her discussions with Monica Lewinsky.