Editing Clinton–Lewinsky scandal (section)

==Allegations of sexual contact==

[[File:Monica lewinsky.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Monica Lewinsky]] in May 1997]]

Lewinsky said she had sexual encounters with [[Bill Clinton]] on nine occasions from November 1995 to March 1997. According to her published schedule, First Lady [[Hillary Clinton]] was at the White House for at least some portion of seven of those days.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2008-03-19-852575883_x.htm| title= Lewinsky and the first lady| date= March 19, 2008 |agency= Associated Press |work=[[USA Today]] |access-date= January 19, 2010}}</ref>

In April 1996, Lewinsky's superiors relocated her job to the [[Pentagon (building)|Pentagon]], because they felt she was spending too much time around Clinton.<ref>Jeff Leen (January 24, 1998). [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/lewprofile.htm "Lewinsky: Two Coasts, Two Lives, Many Images"], ''[[The Washington Post]]''.</ref> According to his autobiography, then-[[United States Ambassador to the United Nations|United Nations Ambassador]] [[Bill Richardson]] was asked by the White House in 1997 to interview Lewinsky for a job on his staff at the United Nations. Richardson did so, and offered her a position, which she declined.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aim.org/media-monitor/bill-richardson-caught-in-clinton-undertow/|title=Bill Richardson Caught In Clinton Undertow|last1=Irvine|first1=Reed|first2=Cliff|last2=Kincaid|date=August 21, 1998|publisher=Accuracy in Media|access-date=March 5, 2012|archive-date=August 25, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130825051350/http://www.aim.org/media-monitor/bill-richardson-caught-in-clinton-undertow/|url-status=dead}}</ref> ''[[The American Spectator]]'' alleged that Richardson knew more about the Lewinsky affair than he declared to the [[Grand juries in the United States|grand jury]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://spectator.org/archives/1998/11/15/slick-billy/|title=The American Spectator : Slick Billy|last=York|first=Byron|date=November 15, 1998|work=[[American Spectator]]|access-date=March 5, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120423232401/http://spectator.org/archives/1998/11/15/slick-billy|archive-date=April 23, 2012}}</ref>

Lewinsky confided in [[Linda Tripp]] about her relationship with Clinton.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/president-girlfriend-linda-tripps-betrayal-monica-lewinsky-taped/story?id=59865969|title='The president has a girlfriend': Linda Tripp's betrayal of Monica Lewinsky and the taped phone calls|website=ABC News|language=en|access-date=March 19, 2020}}</ref> Tripp persuaded Lewinsky to save the gifts Clinton had given her, and not to dry clean a [[semen]]-stained blue dress to keep it as an "insurance policy."<ref name=":0" /> Tripp reported their conversations to literary agent [[Lucianne Goldberg]], who advised her to secretly record them,<ref>''U.S. News & World Report'', "The Monica Lewinsky Tapes", February 2, 1998, v.124 n.4 p.23.</ref> which Tripp began doing in September 1997. Goldberg also urged Tripp to take the tapes to [[Independent Counsel]] [[Kenneth Starr]] and bring them to the attention of people working on the Paula Jones case.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.newsweek.com/id/93748 |work=Newsweek |title=The Goldberg-Tripp-Jones Axis |date=November 9, 1998 |first1=Evan |last1=Thomas |first2=Michael |last2=Isikoff |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090625224317/http://www.newsweek.com/id/93748 |archive-date=June 25, 2009 |access-date=March 11, 2009 }}</ref> In the fall of 1997, Goldberg began speaking to reporters (including [[Michael Isikoff]] of ''[[Newsweek]]'') about the tapes.<ref>{{cite news|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|title=Lucianne Goldberg: in pursuit of Clinton|date=February 2, 1998|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,987748,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090228073410/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,987748,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 28, 2009|first1= John |last1= Cloud |first2= Edward |last2= Barnes |first3= Richard |last3= Zoglin}}</ref>

In the Paula Jones case, Lewinsky had submitted an [[affidavit]] that denied any physical relationship with Clinton. In January 1998, she attempted to persuade Tripp to commit perjury in the Jones case. Instead, Tripp gave the tapes to Starr, who was investigating the [[Whitewater controversy]] and other matters. Starr was now armed with evidence of Lewinsky's admission of a physical relationship with Clinton, and he broadened the investigation to include Lewinsky and her possible [[perjury]] in the Jones case.