Jones To Appeal Ruling Excluding Lewinsky From Her Case

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, Feb. 2) -- Paula Jones will appeal last week's federal court ruling excluding ex-White House intern Monica Lewinsky from the Jones case and halting evidence-gathering related to her, Jones' lawyers said Monday.

John Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Foundation, the group paying Jones' legal expenses, said, "a very important part of the case was taken away from us" by Judge Susan Webber Wright's rulings.

Meanwhile, President Bill Clinton's attorney, Bob Bennett, filed a new motion Monday with the judge that the scheduled May 27th trial date be moved to "March 23, 1998, or the earliest date thereafter that is convenient for the court." Bennett's new motion cited "substantial leaks of sealed discovery in this case [that] continue unabated and further support this request."

"Most recently these leaks include detailed references purportedly to the sealed deposition testimony of the president, and references to the deposition of a purported witness in this case, the transcript of which Newsweek claims to have seen ... The overwhelming weight of these leaks seem to favor plaintiff."

Last week, Wright ruled that while the Lewinsky matter might have some relevance it had no bearing on the "core issues" in the Jones case. She excluded Jones' lawyers from bringing up Lewinsky when the Jones case comes to trial in late May.

"The thing about the Monica Lewinsky deposition that was postponed was that we thought that that was going to lead to a lot more evidence. That's why it's called discovery; discovery leads to a lot more evidence and we were precluded from even doing that," Whitehead said.

"So we thought that a very important part of the case was taken away from us," he added. "At this point in time, we're moving to see how we can appeal this and what we're going to do, so this matter is not over yet."

Jones, a former clerical worker in Arkansas, claims that on May 8, 1991, while Clinton was Arkansas governor and she was a state employee, he invited her to a hotel room in Little Rock, Ark., exposed himself and asked that she perform oral sex. She said she rebuffed his advances and subsequently suffered a hostile work environment.

The Whitewater grand jury is investigating charges that Clinton had a sexual relationship with Lewinsky and then tried to get her to lie about it.

In the affidavit which Lewinsky gave to Jones' attorneys, she denied having a sexual relationship with the president and also denied that he or his friends tried to persuade her to lie under oath to cover up the affair.

Monday Feb. 2, 1998

• Clinton Unveils His Balanced Budget
• The Budget: Nitty-Gritty Details
• Republicans Criticize New Spending In Clinton Budget
• Starr Subpoenas Stephanopulous
• Jones To Appeal Ruling Excluding Lewinsky From Her Case
• Clinton Will Visit New Mexico Tuesday
• Panetta Won't Run For Governor
• Lewinsky's Mother To Marry Media Executive