Posted on 03/16/2003 1:16:05 PM PST by Pokey78
Ex-President Bill Clinton "sexually molested" a female steward aboard Air Force One and was later forced to apologize to the woman, a bombshell new book by White House whistleblower, Lt. Col. Robert Patterson reveals.
The identity of the woman, an enlisted member of the Air Force, is being protected by Lt. Col. Patterson. But the searing new account of a commander-in-chief preying upon a military subordinate could spell trouble for New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, who, as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, would have jurisdiction to investigate the incident.
In "Dereliction of Duty: The Eyewitness Account of How Bill Clinton Compromised America's National Security," the former presidential aide says that in 1997 he got a call from Lt. Col. Mark Donnelly, an Air Force One pilot and commander of the Presidential Pilot Office.
"We got a problem," Donnelly said. "One of our female stewards claims she was approached and touched inappropriately by President Clinton and she's upset."
Lt. Col. Donnelly said the attack happened "in one of the galleys on Air Force One. Apparently he cornered her."
Lt. Col. Patterson said he was distressed at the news. "I knew the woman Mark was referring to. She was bright, cherry and beautiful. She was also an enlisted member of the United States Air Force - and had just, apparently, been sexually molested by the commander in chief."
Donnelly told his colleague that the Clinton assault victim was "really upset but she doesn't want this to get out. She just wants an apology."
Patterson said he approached Kris Engskov, the president's personal aide, about arranging a meeting where Clinton would acknowledge the sexual misconduct and offer an apology.
"Two weeks later," Patterson recalled, "Kris walked into the compartment where I was seated on Air Force One. He said quietly, 'We got them together, the president apologized. She seems fine with it.'" Just to be sure, Patterson said, he confirmed that the apology had indeed taken place with Lt. Col. Donnelly.
News of Clinton's Air Force One sexual assault of a military enlistee comes at a particularly awkward time for the former first couple. Sen. Clinton has just completed tour of upstate New York military installations and has been full of praise for the military since she assumed the Armed Services post in January.
Adding to the potential fallout, news of the ex-commandeer-in-chief's sex attack on a female officer bears an eerie resemblance to reports from female cadets at the Air Force Academy in Colorado, who in the last few weeks have complained that male superiors pulled rank to get them into compromising situations, then sexually assaulted them.
Reacting to the burgeoning scandal, Secretary of the Air Force James G. Roche has vowed to investigate and take action.
"I don't want young women to feel that they have to make that kind of humiliating sacrifice to become officers," he told the New York Times on Sunday. Still, despite Secretary Roche's pledge for a top-to-bottom investigation, it's not clear that allegations by Air Force personnel against the ex-commander-in-chief would be part of any probe.
Though Lt. Col. Patterson's report of the sexual assault by Clinton is the first leveled by a female military officer, two other women have reported being attacked aboard Clinton's plane.
In 1995, the Washington Post revealed that Clinton's 1992 campaign had paid $37,500 in federal campaign matching funds to Kimberly Moore, head of a Little Rock accounting firm, who was forbidden to discuss details of her allegation under terms of the settlement. Campaign aides told the Post that Moore had complained about unwanted advances by a senior member of Clinton's staff rather than the president himself.
But in 1998, campaign plane flight attendant Christyne Zercher came forward with allegations that Clinton had fondled her breasts and repeatedly invited her into the plane's lavatory with his pants unzipped.
Sen. Clinton could not be reached on Sunday for comment on the new sexual harassment charges in Lt. Col. Patterson's book.
"Wattsamatta? What did I say"
Owl_Eagle
”Guns Before Butter.”
No, it bears an eerie resemblance to what he tried to pull on Kathleen Willey and Paula Jones...
He should be charged. The statute of limitiations has not run out.
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