In her first published accounts, Juanita Broaddrick said "I was
sexually assaulted by Bill Clinton" at a Little Rock, Ark., hotel
in 1978 when he was state attorney general.
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According to Mrs. Broaddrick, she first met Clinton when he visited the nursing home she operated in 1978. He was running for governor at the time and she was a campaign worker. Clinton invited her to visit him sometime at campaign headquarters, she said.
Mrs. Broaddrick said she was in Little Rock for a nursing home seminar and called the headquarters and arranged to meet Clinton for coffee at her hotel. He suggested they have coffee in her room, she said.
In the hotel room, Clinton forced her to have sex, Mrs. Broaddrick said.
Clinton lawyer David Kendall issued a denial as The Associated Press and today's Washington Post and New York Post ran stories based on interviews with Mrs. Broaddrick.
``Any allegation that the president assaulted Mrs. Broaddrick more than 20 years ago is absolutely false," Kendall said. "Beyond that, we're not going to comment."
White House spokesman Joe Lockhart was dismissive of the first published account of Mrs. Broaddrick's story, which appeared in Friday's Wall Street Journal.
"I spend very little time reading the Wall Street Journal editorial page," Lockhart told reporters. "They lost me after they accused the president of being a drug smuggler and a murderer."
As Mrs. Broaddrick's story emerged, Paula Jones said Friday night she has few regrets about her sexual harassment lawsuit against the president and would go through it again.
"It's been a hard, hard world. ... it was really hard, because I knew what the truth was; people didn't want to believe me," Mrs. Jones said on CNN's "Larry King Live."
She called the $850,000 that settled the case "somewhat of an apology. I don't think I would have ever gotten it from (Clinton's) mouth."
In the AP interview, Mrs. Broaddrick said she did not go to the police at the time "because of the mentality of the '70s. There I was, I was married, I was also in a relationship with another man, and ... I was there alone in a hotel room with the attorney general and I didn't think anyone would possibly believe me."
Asked why she was telling her story now, she said she was countering rumors that she had been bribed and intimidated to stay quiet. She also did an interview with NBC that has not been broadcast. Mrs. Broaddick said she felt the network had let her ``hang out to dry."
NBC spokeswoman Alex Constantinople said, "We don't comment on our news gathering."
As for Clinton, Mrs. Broaddrick said, "I don't have an agenda where he is concerned. I could care less what happens to the man."
Mrs. Broaddrick's name first came to light in the 1992 presidential campaign, when a friend to whom she had confided wrote a letter recounting her story.
Lawyers for Mrs. Jones subpoenaed Mrs. Broaddrick and obtained an affidavit in which she denied that Clinton made "unwelcome sexual advances toward me in the late seventies."
However, during Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's investigation of the Monica Lewinsky matter, Mrs. Broaddrick told investigators that the affidavit was false, according to a written summary of their interview with her. Starr sent some materials relating to Mrs. Broaddrick to the House of Representatives, where they were available for members to review before voting on impeachment.
December 22, 1998 Leaked ABC News Memo Details Rape Allegations
Here are: More Legal Documents in the Jones/Lewinsky cases.
Federal Judge Reprimands Jones lawyers for revealing the identity of Broaddrick: Jones Judge Warns About Witness Disclosure .
Jones Seeks Delay to Get Lewinsky Evidence .
JUDGE SLAPS PAULA LAWYERS FOR LEAKING NAMES .
Here is the Full Text of the Decision Dismissing Jones vs. Clinton case.
Order the Video of Clinton's Testimony.
Order Now: The Slave Children of Thomas Jefferson - Just Out
SHE'S 56 AND OWNS NURSING HOME
Here is a report from MSNBC: Woman claims Clinton assaulted her.
The New York Post, an extremely anti-Clinton publication, did not follow up this story on February 21, 1999. This means that they cannot confirm it either.
No photo of Juanita Broaddrick has yet been published anywhere.
The major media, CNN, MSNBC and AP, are only publishing the White House denial.
It seems likely that this "story" will turn out not to be a story.
Sam Sloan