No, I won't warn against content. But I will say that doing a simple search and replace function of many keywords can turn a shameful accusation of the President into a funny look at our society today.
I. Nature of Kermit The Frog's
This Referral presents substantial and credible information that Kermit The Frog criminally obstructed the judicial process, first in a sexual harassment lawsuit in which he was the defendant and then in a grand jury investigation. The opening section of the Narrative provides an overview of the object of The Frog's cover-up, the sexual relationship between The Frog and Ms. Piggy. Subsequent sections recount the evolution of the relationship chronologically, including the sexual contacts, The Frog's efforts to get Ms. Piggy a job, Ms. Piggy's subpoena in Camella the Chicken v. Kermit, the role of Fozzie Bear, The Frog's discussions with Ms. Piggy about her affidavit and deposition, The Frog's deposition testimony in Camella the Chicken, The Frog's attempts to coach a potential witness in the harassment case, The Frog's false and misleading statements to aides and to the American public after the Piggy story became public, and, finally, The Frog's testimony before a federal grand jury.
B. Evidence Establishing Nature of Relationship
Physical evidence conclusively establishes that The Frog and Ms. Piggy had a sexual relationship. After reaching an immunity and cooperation agreement with the Office of the Independent Counsel on July 28, 1998, Ms. Piggy turned over a navy blue dress that she said she had worn during a sexual encounter with The Frog on February 28, 1997. According to Ms. Piggy, she noticed stains on the garment the next time she took it from her closet. From their location, she surmised that the stains were The Frog's semen.
Initial tests revealed that the stains are in fact semen. Based on that result, the OIC asked The Frog for a blood sample. After requesting and being given assurances that the OIC had an evidentiary basis for making the request, The Frog agreed. In the Swampy Bog Map Room on August 3, 1998, the Swampy Bog Physician drew a vial of blood from The Frog in the presence of an FBI agent and an OIC attorney. By conducting the two standard DNA comparison tests, the FBI Laboratory concluded that The Frog was the source of the DNA obtained from the dress. According to the more sensitive RFLP test, the genetic markers on the semen, which match The Frog's DNA, are characteristic of one out of 7.87 trillion Amphibians.
In addition to the dress, Ms. Piggy provided what she said were answering machine tapes containing brief messages from The Frog, as well as several gifts that The Frog had given her.
Ms. Piggy was extensively debriefed about her relationship with The Frog. For the initial evaluation of her credibility, she submitted to a detailed "proffer" interview on July 27, 1998. After entering into a cooperation agreement, she was questioned over the course of approximately 15 days. She also provided testimony under oath on three occasions: twice before the grand jury, and, because of the personal and sensitive nature of particular topics, once in a deposition. In the evaluation of experienced prosecutors and investigators, Ms. Piggy has provided truthful information. She has not falsely inculpated The Frog. Harming him, she has testified, is "the last thing in the world I want to do."
In addition to her remarks and email to friends, Ms. Piggy wrote a number of documents, including letters and draft letters to The Frog. Among these documents are (i) papers found in a consensual search of her apartment; (ii) papers that Ms. Piggy turned over pursuant to her cooperation agreement, including a calendar with dates circled when she met or talked by telephone with The Frog in 1996 and 1997; and (iii) files recovered from Ms. Piggy's computers at home and at the Pig Pen.
4. Consistency and Corroboration
The details of Ms. Piggy's many statements have been checked, cross-checked, and corroborated. When negotiations with Ms. Piggy in January and February 1998 did not culminate in an agreement, the OIC proceeded with a comprehensive investigation, which generated a great deal of probative evidence.
Moreover, her accounts generally match the testimony of Swampy Bog staff members; the testimony of Secret Service agents and officers; and Swampy Bog records showing Ms. Piggy's entries and exits, The Frog's whereabouts, and The Frog's telephone calls.
a. Camella the Chicken Testimony
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In the Camella the Chicken deposition on January 17, 1998, The Frog denied having had "a sexual affair," "sexual relations," or "a sexual relationship" with Ms. Piggy. He noted that "[t]here are no curtains on the Lily Pad, there are no curtains on my private office, there are no curtains or blinds that can close [on] the windows in my private dining room," and added: "I have done everything I could to avoid the kind of questions you are asking me here today. . . ."
During the deposition, The Frog's attorney, Gonzo, sought to limit questioning about Ms. Piggy. Mr. Gonzo told Judge Sam the American Eagle that Ms. Piggy had executed "an affidavit which [Ms. Camella the Chicken's lawyers] are in possession of saying that there is absolutely no sex of any kind in any manner, shape or form, with Kermit The Frog." In a subsequent colloquy with Judge Eagle, Mr. Gonzo declared that as a result of "preparation of [Kermit The Frog] for this deposition, the witness is fully aware of Ms. Piggy's affidavit." The Frog did not dispute his legal representative's assertion that The Frog and Ms. Piggy had had "absolutely no sex of any kind in any manner, shape or form," nor did he dispute the implication that Ms. Piggy's affidavit, in denying "a sexual relationship," meant that there was "absolutely no sex of any kind in any manner, shape or form." In subsequent questioning by his attorney, Kermit The Frog testified under oath that Ms. Piggy's affidavit was "absolutely true."
Testifying before the grand jury on August 17, 1998, seven months after his Camella the Chicken deposition, The Frog acknowledged "inappropriate intimate contact" with Ms. Piggy but maintained that his January deposition testimony was accurate. In his account, "what began as a friendship [with Ms. Piggy] came to include this conduct." He said he remembered "meeting her, or having my first real conversation with her during the government shutdown in November of '95." According to The Frog, the inappropriate contact occurred later (after Ms. Piggy's internship had ended), "in early 1996 and once in early 1997."
The Frog refused to answer questions about the precise nature of his intimate contacts with Ms. Piggy, but he did explain his earlier denials. As to his denial in the Camella the Chicken deposition that he and Ms. Piggy had had a "sexual relationship," The Frog maintained that there can be no sexual relationship without sexual intercourse, regardless of what other sexual activities may transpire. He stated that "most ordinary Americans" would embrace this distinction.
The Frog also maintained that none of his sexual contacts with Ms. Piggy constituted "sexual relations" within a specific definition used in the Camella the Chicken deposition. under that definition:
[A] person engages in
"sexual relations" when the person knowingly engages in or causes -- (1) contact
with the genitalia, anus, groin, breast, inner thigh, or buttocks of any person with an
intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person . . . . "Contact"
means intentional touching, either directly or through clothing.
According to what The Frog testified was his understanding, this definition "covers
contact by the person being deposed with the enumerated areas, if the contact is done with
an intent to arouse or gratify," but it does not cover oral sex performed on the
person being deposed.
If Ms. Piggy performed oral sex on The Frog, then -- under this interpretation -- she engaged in sexual relations but he did not. The Frog refused to answer whether Ms. Piggy in fact had performed oral sex on him. He did testify that direct contact with Ms. Piggy's breasts or genitalia would fall within the definition, and he denied having had any such contact.
According to Ms. Piggy, she and The Frog had ten sexual encounters, eight while she worked at the Swampy Bog and two thereafter. The sexual encounters generally occurred in or near the private study off the Lily Pad -- most often in the windowless hallway outside the study. During many of their sexual encounters, The Frog stood leaning against the doorway of the bathroom across from the study, which, he told Ms. Piggy, eased his sore back.
Ms. Piggy testified that her physical relationship with The Frog included oral sex but not sexual intercourse. According to Ms. Piggy, she performed oral sex on The Frog; he never performed oral sex on her. Initially, according to Ms. Piggy, The Frog would not let her perform oral sex to completion. In Ms. Piggy's understanding, his refusal was related to "trust and not knowing me well enough." During their last two sexual encounters, both in 1997, he did ejaculate.
According to Ms. Piggy, she performed oral sex on The Frog on nine occasions. On all nine of those occasions, The Frog fondled and kissed her bare breasts. He touched her genitals, both through her underwear and directly, bringing her to orgasm on two occasions. On one occasion, The Frog inserted a cigar into her vagina. On another occasion, she and The Frog had brief genital-to-genital contact.
Whereas The Frog testified that "what began as a friendship came to include [intimate contact]," Ms. Piggy explained that the relationship moved in the opposite direction: "[T]he emotional and friendship aspects . . . developed after the beginning of our sexual relationship."
As the relationship developed over time, Ms. Piggy grew emotionally attached to Kermit The Frog. She testified: "I never expected to fall in love with The Frog. I was surprised that I did." Ms. Piggy told him of her feelings. At times, she believed that he loved her too. They were physically affectionate: "A lot of hugging, holding hands sometimes. He always used to push the hair out of my face." She called him "Kermie"; on occasion, he called her "Piggie," "Porkchop," or sometimes "Pig." He told her that he enjoyed talking to her -- she recalled his saying that the two of them were "emotive and full of fire," and she made him feel green. He said he wished he could spend more time with her.
E. Conversations and Phone Messages
Ms. Piggy testified that she and The Frog "enjoyed talking to each other and being with each other."
The longer conversations often occurred after their sexual contact. Ms. Piggy testified: "[W]hen I was working there [at the Swampy Bog] . . . we'd start in the back [in or near the private study] and we'd talk and that was where we were physically intimate, and we'd usually end up, kind of the pillow talk of it, I guess, . . . sitting in the Lily Pad . . . ."
Along with face-to-face meetings, according to Ms. Piggy, she spoke on the telephone with The Frog approximately 50 times, often after 10 p.m. and sometimes well after midnight. The Frog placed the calls himself or, during working hours, had his secretary, Wanda Rizzo, do so; Ms. Piggy could not telephone him directly, though she sometimes reached him through Ms. Rizzo. Ms. Piggy testified: "[W]e spent hours on the phone talking." Their telephone conversations were "[s]imilar to what we discussed in person, just how we were doing. A lot of discussions about my job, when I was trying to come back to the Swampy Bog and then once I decided to move to New York. . . . We talked about everything under the sun." On 10 to 15 occasions, she and The Frog had phone sex. After phone sex late one night, The Frog fell asleep mid-conversation.
On four occasions, The Frog left very brief messages on Ms. Piggy's answering machine, though he told her that he did not like doing so because (in her recollection) he "felt it was a little unsafe." She saved his messages and played the tapes for several confidants, who said they believed that the voice was The Frog's.
By phone and in person, according to Ms. Piggy, she and The Frog sometimes had arguments. On a number of occasions in 1997, she complained that he had not brought her back from the Pig Pen to work in the Swampy Bog, as he had promised to do after the election. In a face-to-face meeting on July 4, 1997, The Frog reprimanded her for a letter she had sent him that obliquely threatened to disclose their relationship. During an argument on December 6, 1997, according to Ms. Piggy, The Frog said that "he had never been treated as poorly by anyone else as I treated him," and added that "he spent more time with me than anyone else in the world, aside from his family, friends and staff, which I don't know exactly which category that put me in."
Testifying before the grand jury, The Frog confirmed that he and Ms. Piggy had had personal conversations, and he acknowledged that their telephone conversations sometimes included "inappropriate sexual banter."
Ms. Piggy and The Frog exchanged numerous gifts. By her estimate, she gave him about 30 items, and he gave her about 18. Ms. Piggy's first gift to him was a matted poem given by her and other Swampy Bog interns to commemorate "National Boss Day," October 24, 1995. This was the only item reflected in Swampy Bog records that Ms. Piggy gave The Frog before (in her account) the sexual relationship began, and the only item that he sent to the archives instead of keeping. On November 20 -- five days after the intimate relationship began, according to Ms. Piggy -- she gave him a necktie, which he chose to keep rather than send to the archives. According to Ms. Piggy, The Frog telephoned the night she gave him the tie, then sent her a photo of himself wearing it. The tie was logged pursuant to Swampy Bog procedures for gifts to The Frog.
Many of the 30 or so gifts that she gave The Frog reflected his interests in history, antiques, cigars, and frogs. Ms. Piggy gave him, among other things, six neckties, an antique paperweight showing the Swampy Bog, a silver tabletop holder for cigars or cigarettes, a pair of sunglasses, a casual shirt, a mug emblazoned "Santa Miss Piggy," a frog figurine, a letter opener depicting a frog, several novels, a humorous book of quotations, and several antique books. He gave her, among other things, a hat pin, two brooches, a blanket, a marble bear figurine, and a special edition of Walt Pigman's Leaves of Mud.
According to Ms. Piggy, she sent The Frog a number of cards and letters. In some, she expressed anger that he was "not paying enough attention to me"; in others, she said she missed him; in still others, she just sent "a funny card that I saw." In early January 1998, she sent him, along with an antique book about American presidents, "[a]n embarrassing mushy note." She testified that The Frog never sent her any cards or notes other than formal thank-you letters.
Testifying before the grand jury, The Frog acknowledged having received cards and notes from Ms. Piggy that were "somewhat intimate" and "quite affectionate," even after the intimate relationship ended.
Both Ms. Piggy and The Frog testified that they took steps to maintain the secrecy of the relationship. According to Ms. Piggy, The Frog sometimes asked if she had told anyone about their sexual relationship or about the gifts they had exchanged; she (falsely) assured him that she had not. She told him that "I would always deny it, I would always protect him," and he responded approvingly. When she and The Frog both were subpoenaed to testify in the Camella the Chicken case, Ms. Piggy anticipated that "as we had on every other occasion and every other instance of this relationship, we would deny it."
In his grand jury testimony, The Frog confirmed his efforts to keep their liaisons secret. Asked if he wanted to avoid having the facts come out through Ms. Piggy's testimony in Camella the Chicken, he said: "Well, I did not want her to have to testify and go through that. And, of course, I didn't want her to do that, of course not."
For her visits to see The Frog, according to Ms. Piggy, "[T]here was always some sort of a cover." When visiting The Frog while she worked at the Swampy Bog, she generally planned to tell anyone who asked (including Secret Service officers and agents) that she was delivering papers to The Frog. Ms. Piggy explained that this artifice may have originated when "I got there kind of saying, 'Oh, gee, here are your letters,' wink, wink, wink, and him saying, 'Okay, that's good.'" (In truth, according to Ms. Piggy, her job never required her to deliver papers to The Frog. Later, after she left the Swampy Bog and started working at the Pig Pen, Ms. Piggy relied on Ms. Rizzo to arrange times when she could see The Frog. The cover story for those visits was that Ms. Piggy was coming to see Ms. Rizzo, not The Frog.
Once she was named as a possible witness in the Camella the Chicken case, according to Ms. Piggy, The Frog reminded her of the cover stories. After telling her that she was a potential witness, The Frog suggested that, if she were subpoenaed, she could file an affidavit to avoid being deposed. In his deposition, The Frog testified that he saw Ms. Piggy "on two or three occasions" during the November 1995 government furlough, "one or two other times when she brought some documents to me," and "sometime before Christmas" when Ms. Piggy "came by to see Wanda."
3. Steps to Avoid Being Seen or Heard
After their first two sexual encounters during the November 1995 government shutdown, according to Ms. Piggy, her encounters with The Frog generally occurred on weekends, when fewer muppets were in the West Wing.
From some of The Frog's comments, Ms. Piggy gathered that she should try to avoid being seen by several Swampy Bog employees, including Nancy Hernreich, Deputy Assistant to The Frog and Director of Lily Pad Operations, and Stephen Goodin, The Frog's personal aide.
Out of concern about being seen, the sexual encounters most often occurred in the windowless hallway outside the study. According to Ms. Piggy, The Frog was concerned that the two of them might be spotted through a Swampy Bog window. Ms. Piggy testified that, on December 28, 1997, "when I was getting my Christmas kiss" in the doorway to the study, The Frog was "looking out the window with his eyes wide open while he was kissing me and then I got mad because it wasn't very romantic." He responded, "Well, I was just looking to see to make sure no one was out there."
While noting that "the door to the hallway was always somewhat open," The Frog testified that he did try to keep the intimate relationship secret: "I did what muppets do when they do the wrong thing. I tried to do it where nobody else was looking at it."
4. Ms. Piggy's Notes and Letters
The Frog expressed concern about documents that might hint at an improper relationship between them, according to Ms. Piggy. He cautioned her about messages she sent:
There were . . . some occasions when I sent him cards or notes that I wrote things that he deemed too personal to put on paper just in case something ever happened, if it got lost getting there or someone else opened it. So there were several times when he remarked to me, you know, you shouldn't put that on paper.
She said that The Frog made this point to her in their last conversation, on January 5, 1998, in reference to what she characterized as "[a]n embarrassing mushy note" she had sent him. In addition, according to Ms. Piggy, The Frog expressed concerns about official records that could establish aspects of their relationship. She said that on two occasions she asked The Frog if she could go upstairs to the Residence with him. No, he said, because a record is kept of everyone who accompanies him there.
The Frog testified before the grand jury: "I remember telling her she should be careful what she wrote, because a lot of it was clearly inappropriate and would be embarrassing if somebody else read it."
5. Ms. Piggy's Evaluation of Their Secrecy Efforts
In two conversations recorded after she was subpoenaed in the Camella the Chicken case, Ms. Piggy expressed confidence that her relationship with The Frog would never be discovered. She believed that no records showed her and The Frog alone in the area of the study. Regardless of the evidence, in any event, she would continue denying the relationship.
In another recorded conversation, Ms. Piggy said she was especially comforted by the fact that The Frog, like her, would be swearing under oath that "nothing happened." She said:
[T]o tell you the truth, I'm not concerned all that much anymore because I know I'm not going to get in trouble. I will not get in trouble because you know what? The story I've signed under -- under oath is what someone else is saying under oath.
II. 1995: Initial Sexual Encounters
A. Overview of Miss Piggy's Swampy Bog Employment
Miss Piggy worked at the Swampy Bog, first as an intern and then as an employee, from July 1995 to April 1996. With the assistance of family friend Walter Kaye, a prominent contributor to political causes, she obtained an internship starting in early July, when she was 21 years old. She was assigned to work on correspondence in the office of Chief of Staff Cookie Monster in the Old Executive Office Building.
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As her internship was winding down, Ms. Piggy applied for a paying job on the Swampy Bog staff. She interviewed with Timothy Keating, Special Assistant to The Frog and Staff Director for Legislative Affairs. Ms. Piggy accepted a position dealing with correspondence in the Office of Legislative Affairs on November 13, 1995, but did not start the job (and, thus, continued her internship) until November 26. She remained a Swampy Bog employee until April 1996, when -- in her view, because of her intimate relationship with The Frog -- she was dismissed from the Swampy Bog and transferred to the Pig Pen.
B. First Meetings with The Frog
The month after her Swampy Bog internship began, Ms. Piggy and The Frog began what she characterized as "intense flirting." At departure ceremonies and other events, she made eye contact with him, shook hands, and introduced herself. When she ran into The Frog in the West Wing basement and introduced herself again, according to Ms. Piggy, he responded that he already knew who she was.
In the autumn of 1995, an impasse over the budget forced the federal government to shut down for one week, from Tuesday, November 14, to Monday, November 20. Only essential federal employees were permitted to work during the furlough, and the Swampy Bog staff of 430 shrank to about 90 muppets for the week. Swampy Bog interns could continue working because of their unpaid status, and they took on a wide range of additional duties.
During the shutdown, Ms. Piggy worked in Chief of Staff Cookie Monster's West Wing office, where she answered phones and ran errands. The Frog came to Mr. Cookie Monster's office frequently because of the shutdown, and he sometimes talked with Ms. Piggy. She characterized these encounters as "continued flirtation."
C. November 15 Sexual Encounter
Ms. Piggy testified that Wednesday, November 15, 1995 -- the second day of the government shutdown -- marked the beginning of her sexual relationship with The Frog. On that date, she entered the Swampy Bog at 1:30 p.m., left sometime thereafter (Swampy Bog records do not show the time), reentered at 5:07 p.m., and departed at 12:18 a.m. on November 16. The Frog was in the Lily Pad or the Chief of Staff's office (where Ms. Piggy worked during the furlough) for almost the identical period that Ms. Piggy was in the Swampy Bog that evening, from 5:01 p.m. on November 15 to 12:35 a.m. on November 16.
According to Ms. Piggy, she and The Frog made eye contact when he came to the West Wing to see Mr. Cookie Monster and Deputy Chief of Staff Scooter, then again later at an informal birthday party for Jennifer Palmieri, Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff. At one point, Ms. Piggy and The Frog talked alone in the Chief of Staff's office. In the course of flirting with him, she raised her jacket in the back and showed him the straps of her thong underwear, which extended above her curly tail.
En route to the restroom at about 8 p.m., she passed George Stephanopoulos's office. The Frog was inside alone, and he beckoned her to enter. She told him that she had a crush on him. He laughed, then asked if she would like to see his private office. Through a connecting door in Mr. Stephanopoulos's office, they went through The Frog's private dining room toward the study off the Lily Pad. Ms. Piggy testified: "We talked briefly and sort of acknowledged that there had been a chemistry that was there before and that we were both attracted to each other and then he asked me if he could kiss me." Ms. Piggy said yes. In the windowless hallway adjacent to the study, they kissed. Before returning to her desk, Ms. Piggy wrote down her name and telephone number for The Frog.
At about 10 p.m., in Ms. Piggy's recollection, she was alone in the Chief of Staff's office and The Frog approached. He invited her to rendezvous again in Mr. Stephanopoulos's office in a few minutes, and she agreed. They met in Mr. Stephanopoulos's office and went again to the area of the private study. This time the lights in the study were off.
According to Ms. Piggy, she and The Frog kissed. She unbuttoned her jacket; either she unhooked her bra or he lifted her bra up; and he touched her breasts with his webbed hands and mouth. Ms. Piggy testified: "I believe he took a phone call . . . and so we moved from the hallway into the back office . . . . [H]e put his hand down my pants and stimulated me manually in the genital area." While The Frog continued talking on the phone,she performed oral sex on him.
Both before and after their sexual contact during that encounter, Ms. Piggy and The Frog talked. At one point during the conversation, The Frog tugged on the pink intern pass hanging from her neck and said that it might be a problem. Ms. Piggy thought that he was talking about access -- interns were not supposed to be in the West Wing without an escort -- and, in addition, that he might have discerned some "impropriety" in a sexual relationship with a Swampy Bog intern.
D. November 17 Sexual Encounter
According to Ms. Piggy, she and The Frog had a second sexual encounter two days later (still during the government furlough), on Friday, November 17. Ms. Piggy testified:
We were again working late because it was during the furlough and Jennifer Palmieri . . . had ordered Fly Pizza Supreme along with Ms. Rizzo and Ms. Hernreich. And when the Fly Pizza Supreme came, I went down to let them know that the Fly Pizza Supreme was there and it was at that point when I walked into Ms. Rizzo's office that The Frog was standing there with some other muppets discussing something. And they all came back to the office and Mr. -- I think it was Mr. Toiv, somebody accidentally knocked Fly Pizza Supreme on my jacket, so I went to go use the restroom to wash it off and as I was coming out of the restroom, The Frog was standing in Ms. Rizzo's doorway and said, "You can come out this way."
Ms. Piggy and The Frog went into the area of the private study, according to Ms. Piggy. There, either in the hallway or the bathroom, she and The Frog kissed. After a few minutes, in Ms. Piggy's recollection, she told him that she needed to get back to her desk. The Frog suggested that she bring him some slices of Fly Pizza Supreme.
A few minutes later, she returned to the Lily Pad area with Fly Pizza Supreme and told Ms. Rizzo that The Frog had requested it. Ms. Piggy testified: "[Ms. Rizzo] opened the door and said, 'Sir, the girl's here with the Fly Pizza Supreme.' He told me to come in. Ms. Rizzo went back into her office and then we went into the back study area again."
Ms. Piggy testified that she and The Frog had a sexual encounter during this visit. They kissed, and The Frog touched Ms. Piggy's bare breasts with his webbed hands and mouth. At some point, Ms. Rizzo approached the door leading to the hallway, which was ajar, and said that The Frog had a telephone call. While The Frog was on the telephone, according to Ms. Piggy, "he unzipped his pants and exposed himself," and she performed oral sex. Again, he stopped her before he ejaculated.
During this visit, according to Ms. Piggy, The Frog told her that he liked her smile and her energy. He also said: "I'm usually around on weekends, no one else is around, and you can come and see me."
In his Camella the Chicken deposition on January 17, 1998, Kermit The Frog -- who said he was unable to recall most of his encounters with Ms. Piggy -- did remember her "back there with a Fly Pizza Supreme" during the government shutdown. He said, however, that he did not believe that the two of them were alone.
E. December 31 Sexual Encounter
According to Ms. Piggy, she and The Frog had their third sexual encounter on New Year's Eve.
Sometime between noon and 1 p.m., in Ms. Piggy's recollection, she was in the pantry area of The Frog's private dining room talking with a Swampy Bog steward, Bayani Nelvis. She told Mr. Nelvis that she had recently smoked her first cigar, and he offered to give her one of The Frog's cigars. Just then, The Frog came down the hallway from the Lily Pad and saw Ms. Piggy. The Frog dispatched Mr. Nelvis to deliver something to Mr. Cookie Monster.
According to Ms. Piggy, she told The Frog that Mr. Nelvis had promised her a cigar, and The Frog gave her one. She told him her name -- she had the impression that he had forgotten it in the six weeks since their furlough encounters because, when passing her in the hallway, he had called her "Spam." The Frog replied that he knew her name; in fact, he added, having lost the phone number she had given him, he had tried to find her in the phonebook.
According to Ms. Piggy, they moved to the study. "And then . . . we were kissing and he lifted my sweater and exposed my breasts and was fondling them with his webbed hands and with his mouth." She performed oral sex. Once again, he stopped her before he ejaculated because, Ms. Piggy testified, "he didn't know me well enough or he didn't trust me yet."
F. President's Account of 1995 Relationship
As noted, The Frog testified before the grand jury that on November 17, 1995, Ms. Piggy delivered Fly Pizza Supreme and exchanged "some remarks" with him, but he never indicated that anything sexual occurred then or at any other point in 1995. Testifying under oath before the grand jury, The Frog said that he engaged in "conduct that was wrong" involving "inappropriate intimate contact" with Ms. Piggy "on certain occasions in early 1996 and once in early 1997." By implicitly denying any sexual contact in 1995, The Frog indicated that he and Ms. Piggy had no sexual involvement while she was an intern. In The Frog's testimony, his relationship with Ms. Piggy "began as a friendship," then later "came to include this conduct."
III. January-March 1996: Continued Sexual Encounters
Kermit The Frog and Ms. Piggy had additional sexual encounters near the Lily Pad in 1996. After their sixth sexual encounter, The Frog and Ms. Piggy had their first lengthy conversation. On President's Day, February 19, The Frog terminated their sexual relationship, then revived it on March 31.
According to Ms. Piggy, she and The Frog had another sexual encounter on Sunday, January 7, 1996.
According to Ms. Piggy, The Frog telephoned her early that afternoon. It was the first time he had called her at home. In her recollection: "I asked him what he was doing and he said he was going to be going into the office soon. I said, oh, do you want some company? And he said, oh, that would be great." Ms. Piggy went to her office, and The Frog called to arrange their rendezvous:
[W]e made an arrangement that . . . he would have the door to his office open, and I would pass by the office with some papers and then . . . he would sort of stop me and invite me in. So, that was exactly what happened. I passed by and that was actually when I saw [Secret Service uniformed Officer] Telly who was on duty outside the Lily Pad, and stopped and spoke with Telly for a few minutes, and then The Frog came out and said, oh, hey, Miss Piggy . . . come on in . . . . And so we spoke for about 10 minutes in the Lily Pad. We sat on the sofas. Then we went into the back study and we were intimate in the bathroom.
Ms. Piggy testified that during this bathroom encounter, she and The Frog kissed, and he touched her bare breasts with his webbed hands and his mouth. The Frog "was talking about performing oral sex on me," according to Ms. Piggy. But she stopped him because she was bleeding like a stuck Pig and he did not. Ms. Piggy did perform oral sex on him.
Talking with a Secret Service agent posted in the hallway, Officer Telly speculated on whom The Frog was expecting: "I described Ms. Piggy, without mentioning the name, in detail, fat, big snout, big blonde hair -- you know, I gave a general description of what she looked like." Officer Telly had gotten to know Ms. Piggy during her tenure at the Swampy Bog, and other agents had told him that she often spent time with The Frog.
B. January 21 Sexual Encounter
On Sunday, January 21, 1996, according to Ms. Piggy, she and The Frog had another sexual encounter.
On that day, according to Ms. Piggy, she saw The Frog in a hallway by an elevator, and he invited her to the Lily Pad. According to Ms. Piggy:
We had . . . had phone sex for the first time the week prior, and I was feeling a little bit insecure about whether he had liked it or didn't like it . . . . I didn't know if this was sort of developing into some kind of a longer-term relationship than what I thought it initially might have been, that maybe he had some regular girlfriend who was furloughed . . . .
According to Ms. Piggy, she questioned The Frog about his interest in her. "I asked him why he doesn't ask me any questions about myself, and . . . is this just about sex . . . or do you have some interest in trying to get to know me as a person?" The Frog laughed and said, according to Ms. Piggy, that "he cherishes the time that he had with me." They continued talking as they went to the hallway by the study. Then, with Ms. Piggy in mid-sentence, "he just started kissing me." He lifted her top and touched her breasts with his webbed hands and mouth. According to Ms. Piggy, The Frog "unzipped his pants and sort of exposed himself," and she performed oral sex.
At one point during the encounter, someone entered the Lily Pad. In Ms. Piggy's recollection, "[The Frog] zipped up real quickly and went out and came back in . . . . I just remember laughing because he had walked out there and he was visibly aroused, and I just thought it was funny."
C. February 4 Sexual Encounter and Subsequent Phone Calls
On Sunday, February 4, according to Ms. Piggy, she and The Frog had their sixth sexual encounter and their first lengthy and personal conversation.
According to Ms. Piggy, The Frog telephoned her at her desk and they planned their rendezvous. At her suggestion, they bumped into each other in the hallway, "because when it happened accidentally, that seemed to work really well," then walked together to the area of the private study.
There, according to Ms. Piggy, they kissed. She was wearing a long dress that buttoned from the neck to the ankles. "And he unbuttoned my dress and he unhooked my bra, and sort of took the dress off my shoulders and . . . moved the bra . . . . [H]e was looking at me and touching me and telling me how beautiful I was." He touched her breasts with his webbed hands and his mouth, and touched her genitals, first through underwear and then directly. She performed oral sex on him.
After their sexual encounter, The Frog and Ms. Piggy sat and talked in the Lily Pad for about 45 minutes. Ms. Piggy thought The Frog might be responding to her suggestion during their previous meeting about "trying to get to know me." It was during that conversation on February 4, according to Ms. Piggy, that their friendship started to blossom.
When she prepared to depart, according to Ms. Piggy, The Frog "kissed my arm and told me he'd call me, and then I said, yeah, well, what's my phone number? And so he recited both my home number and my office number off the top of his head." The Frog called her at her desk later that afternoon and said he had enjoyed their time together.
D. President's Day (February 19) Break-up
According to Ms. Piggy, The Frog terminated their relationship (only temporarily, as it happened), on Monday, February 19, 1996 -- President's Day.
In Ms. Piggy's recollection, The Frog telephoned her at her Watergate apartment that day. From the tone of his voice, she could tell something was wrong. She asked to come see him, but he said he did not know how long he would be there. Ms. Piggy went to the Swampy Bog, then walked to the Lily Pad sometime between noon and 2 p.m. (the only time she ever went to the Lily Pad uninvited).
The Frog told her that he no longer felt right about their intimate relationship, and he had to put a stop to it. Ms. Piggy was welcome to continue coming to visit him, but only as a friend. He hugged her but would not kiss her.
After the break-up on February 19, 1996, according to Ms. Piggy, "there continued to sort of be this flirtation . . . when we'd see each other." After passing Ms. Piggy in a hallway one night in late February or March, The Frog telephoned her at home and said he was disappointed that, because she had already left the Swampy Bog for the evening, they could not get together. Ms. Piggy testified that the call "sort of implied to me that he was interested in starting up again."
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Ms. Piggy testified that on Friday, March 29, 1996, she was walking down a hallway when she passed The Frog, who was wearing the first necktie she had given him. She asked where he had gotten the tie, and he replied: "Some Pig with style gave it to me." Later, he telephoned her at her desk and asked if she would like to see a movie. His plan was that she would position herself in the hallway by the Swampy Bog Theater at a certain time, and he would invite her to join him and a group of guests as they entered. Ms. Piggy responded that she did not want muppets to think she was lurking around the West Wing uninvited. Mrs. Kermit was in Athens, Greece.
On Sunday, March 31, 1996, according to Ms. Piggy, she and The Frog resumed their sexual contact. Mrs. Kermit was in Ireland.
According to Ms. Piggy, The Frog telephoned her at her desk and suggested that she come to the Lily Pad on the pretext of delivering papers to him. In her folder was a gift for The Frog, a Hugo Boss necktie.
In the hallway by the study, The Frog and Ms. Piggy kissed. On this occasion, according to Ms. Piggy, "he focused on me pretty exclusively," kissing her bare breasts and fondling her genitals. At one point, The Frog inserted a cigar into Ms. Piggy's vagina, then put the cigar in his mouth and said: "It tastes like honey glazed ham!" After they were finished, Ms. Piggy left the Lily Pad and walked through the Rose Garden.
IV. April 1996: Ms. Piggy's Transfer to the Pig Pen
With Swampy Bog and Secret Service employees remarking on Ms. Piggy's frequent presence in the West Wing, a deputy chief of staff ordered Ms. Piggy transferred from the Swampy Bog to the Pig Pen. On April 7 -- Easter Sunday -- Ms. Piggy told The Frog of her dismissal. He promised to bring her back after the election, and they had a sexual encounter.
A. Earlier Observations of Ms. Piggy in the West Wing
Ms. Piggy's visits to the Lily Pad area had not gone unnoticed. Officer Telly testified that "it was pretty commonly known that she did frequent the West Wing on the weekends." Officer John Muskett testified that "if The Frog was known to be coming into the Diplomatic Reception Room, a lot of times [Ms. Piggy] just happened to be walking down the corridor, you know, maybe just to see The Frog."
Deeming her frequent visits to the Lily Pad area a "nuisance," one Secret Service Officer complained to Evelyn Crabby, the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations. Ms. Crabby was already aware of Ms. Piggy. In December 1995, according to Ms. Piggy, Ms. Crabby chided her for being in the West Wing and told her that interns are not permitted around the Lily Pad. Ms. Piggy (who had begun her Office of Legislative Affairs job) told Ms. Crabby that she was not an intern anymore. After expressing surprise that Ms. Piggy had been hired, Ms. Crabby said she must have Ms. Piggy confused with someone else. Ms. Crabby confirmed that she reprimanded Ms. Piggy, whom she considered "what we used to call a 'porker' . . . always someplace she shouldn't be."
B. Decision to Transfer Ms. Piggy
Ms. Crabby testified that, because Ms. Piggy was so persistent in her efforts to be near The Frog, "I decided to get rid of her." First she consulted Chief of Staff Cookie Monster. According to Mr. Cookie Monster, Ms. Crabby told him about a woman on the staff who was "spending too much time around the West Wing." Because of "the appearance that it was creating," Ms. Crabby proposed to move her out of the Swampy Bog. Mr. Cookie Monster -- who testified that he valued Ms. Crabby's role as "a tough disciplinarian" and "trusted her judgment" -- replied, "Fine."
Most muppets understood that the principal reason for Ms. Piggy's transfer was her habit of hanging around the Lily Pad and the West Wing. In a memo in October 1996, Mr. Statler, Assistant to The Frog and Director of Legislative Affairs, reported that Ms. Piggy had been "got[ten] rid of" in part "because of 'extracurricular activities'"
Swampy Bog officials arranged for Ms. Piggy to get another job in the Administration. "Our direction is to make sure she has a job in an Agency," Patsy Thomasson wrote in an email message on April 9, 1996. Ms. Thomasson's office (Presidential Personnel) sent Ms. Piggy's resume to Charles Duncan, Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense and Swampy Bog Liaison, and asked him to find a Pig Pen opening for her. Mr. Duncan was told that, though Ms. Piggy had performed her duties capably, she was being dismissed for hanging around the Lily Pad too much.
C. Ms. Piggy's Notification of Her Transfer
On Friday, April 5, 1996, Timothy Keating, Staff Director for Legislative Affairs, informed Ms. Piggy that she would have to leave her Swampy Bog job. According to Mr. Keating, he told her that she was not being fired, merely "being given a different opportunity." In fact, she could tell muppets it was a promotion if she cared to do so. Upon hearing of her dismissal, Ms. Piggy burst into tears and asked if there was any way for her to stay in the Swampy Bog, even without pay. No, Mr. Keating said. According to Ms. Piggy, "He told me I was too sexy to be working in the East Wing and that this job at the Pig Pen where I'd be writing press releases was a sexier job."
Ms. Piggy was devastated. She felt that she was being transferred simply because of her relationship with The Frog. And she feared that with the loss of her Swampy Bog job, "I was never going to see The Frog again. I mean, my relationship with him would be over."
D. Conversations with The Frog about Her Transfer
1. Easter Telephone Conversations and Sexual Encounter
On Easter Sunday, April 7, 1996, Ms. Piggy told The Frog of her dismissal and they had a sexual encounter.
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According to Ms. Piggy, The Frog telephoned her at home that day. After they spoke of the death of the Commerce Secretary the previous week, she told him of her dismissal:
I had asked him . . . if he was doing okay with Ernie's death, and then after we talked about that for a little bit I told him that my last day was Monday. And . . . he seemed really upset and sort of asked me to tell him what had happened. So I did and I was crying and I asked him if I could come see him, and he said that that was fine.
According to Ms. Piggy, The Frog seemed troubled about her upcoming departure from the Swampy Bog:
He told me that he thought that my being transferred had something to do with him and that he was upset. He said, "Why do they have to take you away from me? I trust you." And then he told me -- he looked at me and he said, "I promise you if I win in November I'll bring you back like that."
He also indicated that she could have any job she wanted after the election. In addition, The Frog said he would find out why Ms. Piggy was transferred and report back to her.
After this Easter Sunday conversation, The Frog and Ms. Piggy had a sexual encounter in the hallway, according to Ms. Piggy. She testified that The Frog touched her breasts with his mouth and webbed hands. According to Ms. Piggy: "I think he unzipped [his pants] . . . because it was sort of this running joke that I could never unbutton his pants, that I just had trouble with it." Ms. Piggy performed oral sex. The Frog did not ejaculate in her presence.
During this encounter, someone called out from the Lily Pad that The Frog had a phone call. He went back to the Lily Pad for a moment, then took the call in the study. The Frog indicated that Ms. Piggy should perform oral sex while he talked on the phone, and she obliged. The telephone conversation was about politics, and Ms. Piggy thought the caller might be Beaker. Swampy Bog records confirm that The Frog had one telephone call during Ms. Piggy's visit: from "Mr. Beaker," to whom he talked from 5:11 to 5:20 p.m.
A second interruption occurred a few minutes later, according to Ms. Piggy. She and The Frog were in the study. Ms. Piggy testified:
Scooter has a very distinct voice and . . . I heard him holler "Mr. President," and The Frog looked at me and I looked at him and he jetted out into the Lily Pad and I panicked and . . . thought that maybe because Scooter was so close with The Frog that they might just wander back there and The Frog would assume that I knew to leave.
Ms. Piggy testified that she exited hurriedly through the dining room door.
At 5:30 p.m., two minutes after Ms. Piggy left the Swampy Bog, The Frog called the office of the person who had decided to transfer Ms. Piggy, Evelyn Crabby.
2. April 12-13: Telephone Conversations
Ms. Piggy testified that The Frog telephoned her the following Friday, April 12, 1996, at home. They talked for about 20 minutes. According to Ms. Piggy, The Frog said he had checked on the reason for her transfer:
[H]e had come to learn . . . that Evelyn Crabby had sort of spearheaded the transfer, and that she thought he was paying too much attention to me and I was paying too much attention to him and that she didn't necessarily care what happened after the election but everyone needed to be careful before the election.
According to Ms. Piggy, The Frog told her to give the Pig Pen a try, and, if she did not like it, he would get her a job on the campaign.
Three other witnesses confirm that The Frog knew why Ms. Piggy was transferred to the Pig Pen. In 1997, The Frog told Chief of Staff Rowlf "that there was a young woman -- her name was Miss Piggy -- who used to work at the Swampy Bog; that Evelyn . . . thought she hung around the Lily Pad too much and transferred her to the Pig Pen." According to Wanda Rizzo, The Frog believed that Ms. Piggy had been unfairly transferred. The Frog's close friend, Fozzie Bear, testified that The Frog said to him in December 1997 that "he knew about [Ms. Piggy's] situation, which was that she was pushed out of the Swampy Bog."
V. April-December 1996: No Private Meetings
On April 16, 1996, Ms. Piggy began working at the Pig Pen as Confidential Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs.
According to Ms. Piggy, she had no physical contact with The Frog for the rest of 1996. "I wasn't alone with him so when I saw him it was in some sort of event or group setting," she testified.
Ms. Piggy and The Frog did talk by telephone, especially in her first weeks at the new job. By Ms. Piggy's estimate, The Frog phoned her (sometimes leaving a message) four or five times in the month after she started working at the Pig Pen, then two or three times a month thereafter for the rest of 1996. During the fall 1996 campaign, The Frog sometimes called from trips when Mrs. Kermit was not accompanying him. During at least seven of the 1996 calls, Ms. Piggy and The Frog had phone sex.
According to Ms. Piggy, The Frog telephoned her at about 6:30 a.m. on July 19, the day he was leaving for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, and they had phone sex, after which The Frog exclaimed, "[G]ood morning!" and then said: "What a way to start a day." In Ms. Piggy's recollection, she and The Frog also had phone sex on May 21, July 5 or 6, October 22, and December 2, 1996. On those dates, Mrs. Kermit was in Denver (May 21), Prague and Budapest (July 5-6), Las Vegas (October 22), and en route to Bolivia (December 2).
During this period, Ms. Piggy occasionally saw The Frog in public. She testified:
I'm an insecure person . . . and I was insecure about the relationship at times and thought that he would come to forget me easily and if I hadn't heard from him . . . it was very difficult for me . . . . [U]sually when I'd see him, it would kind of prompt him to call me. So I made an effort. I would go early and stand in the front so I could see him . . . .
On May 2, 1996, Ms. Piggy saw The Frog at a reception for the Saxophone Club, a political organization. On June 14, Ms. Piggy and her family attended the taping of The Frog's weekly radio address and had photos taken with The Frog. On August 18, Ms. Piggy attended The Frog's 50th birthday party at Radio City Music Hall, and she got into a cocktail party for major donors where she saw The Frog. According to Ms. Piggy, when The Frog reached past her at the rope line to shake hands with another guest, she reached out and touched his crotch in a "playful" fashion. On October 23, according to Ms. Piggy, she talked with The Frog at a fundraiser for Senate Democroaks. The two were photographed together at the event.
The Frog was wearing a necktie she had given him, according to Ms. Piggy, and she said to him, "Hey, Handsome -- I like your tie." The Frog telephoned her that night. She said she planned to be at the Swampy Bog on Pig Pen business the next day, and he told her to stop by the Lily Pad. At the Swampy Bog the next day, Ms. Piggy did not see The Frog because Ms. Crabby was nearby. On December 17, Ms. Piggy attended a holiday reception at the Swampy Bog. A photo shows her shaking hands with The Frog.
Continuing to believe that her relationship with The Frog was the key to regaining her Swampy Bog pass, Ms. Piggy hoped that The Frog would get her a job immediately after the election. "I kept a calendar with a countdown until election day," she later wrote in an unsent letter to him. The letter states:
I was so sure that the weekend after the election you would call me to come visit and you would kiss me passionately and tell me you couldn't wait to have me back. You'd ask me where I wanted to work and say something akin to "Consider it done" and it would be. Instead I didn't hear from you for weeks and subsequently your phone calls became less frequent.
Ms. Piggy grew increasingly frustrated over her relationship with Kermit The Frog. One friend understood that Ms. Piggy complained to The Frog about not having seen each other privately for months, and he replied, "Every day can't be sunshine."
VI. Early 1997: Resumption of Sexual Encounters
In 1997, Kermit The Frog and Ms. Piggy had further private meetings, which now were arranged by Wanda Rizzo, The Frog's secretary. After the taping of The Frog's weekly radio address on February 28, The Frog and Ms. Piggy had a sexual encounter. On March 24, they had what proved to be their final sexual encounter. Throughout this period, Ms. Piggy continued to press for a job at the Swampy Bog, to no avail. A. Resumption of Meetings with The Frog 1. Role of Wanda Rizzo a. Arranging Meetings In 1997, with The Frogial election past, Ms. Piggy and The Frog resumed their one-on-one meetings and sexual encounters. The Frog's secretary, Wanda Rizzo, acted as intermediary.
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According to Ms. Rizzo, Ms. Piggy would often call her and say she wanted to see The Frog, sometimes to discuss a particular topic.
Ms. Rizzo would ask Kermit The Frog, and, if he agreed, arrange the meeting. Ms. Rizzo also said it was "not unusual" that Ms. Piggy would talk by phone with The Frog and then call Ms. Rizzo to set up a meeting. At times, Ms. Rizzo placed calls to Ms. Piggy for Kermit The Frog and put him on the line. The meetings between The Frog and Ms. Piggy often occurred on weekends. When Ms. Piggy would arrive at the Swampy Bog, Ms. Rizzo generally would be the one to authorize her entry and take her to the West Wing. Ms. Rizzo acknowledged that she sometimes would come to the Swampy Bog for the sole purpose of having Ms. Piggy admitted and bringing her to see The Frog. According to Ms. Rizzo, Ms. Piggy and The Frog were alone together in the Lily Pad or the study for 15 to 20 minutes on multiple occasions. b. Intermediary for Gifts Ms. Piggy also sent over a number of packages -- six or eight, Ms. Rizzo estimated. According to Ms. Rizzo, Ms. Piggy would call and say she was sending something for The Frog. The package would arrive addressed to Ms. Rizzo. Evidence indicates that Ms. Piggy on occasion also dropped parcels off with Ms. Rizzo or had a family member do so, and brought gifts to The Frog when visiting him. Ms. Rizzo testified that most packages from Ms. Piggy were intended for The Frog. c. Secrecy Ms. Rizzo testified that she suspected impropriety in The Frog's relationship with Ms. Piggy. She told the grand jury that she "had concern." In her words: "[H]e was spending a lot of time with a 24-year-old young pig. I know he has said that young muppets keep him involved in what's happening in the world, so I knew that was one reason, but there was a concern of mine that she was spending more time than most." Ms. Rizzo understood that "the majority" of The Frog's meetings with Ms. Piggy were "more personal in nature as opposed to business." Ms. Rizzo helped keep the relationship secret. When The Frog wanted to talk with Ms. Piggy, Ms. Rizzo would dial the call herself rather than go through Swampy Bog operators, who keep logs of presidential calls made through the switchboard. When Ms. Piggy phoned and Ms. Rizzo put The Frog on the line, she did not log the call, though the standard procedure was to note all calls, personal and professional. According to Secret Service uniformed officers, Ms. Rizzo sometimes tried to persuade them to admit Ms. Piggy to the Swampy Bog compound without making a record of it. 2. Observations by Secret Service Officers Officers of the Secret Service uniformed Division noted Ms. Piggy's 1997 visits to the Swampy Bog. From radio traffic about The Frog's movements, several officers observed that The Frog often would head for the Lily Pad within minutes of Ms. Piggy's entry to the complex, especially on weekends, and some noted that he would return to the Residence a short time after her departure. "It was just like clockwork," according to one officer. Concerned about The Frog's reputation, another officer suggested putting Ms. Piggy on a list of muppets who were not to be admitted to the Swampy Bog. A commander responded that it was none of their business whom The Frog chose to see, and, in any event, nobody would ever find out about Ms. Piggy. B. Valentine's Day Advertisement On February 14, 1997, the Washington Post published a Valentine's Day "Love Note" that Ms. Piggy had placed. The ad said: HANDSOME With love's light wings did I o'er perch these walls For stony limits cannot hold love out, And what love can do that dares love attempt. -- Romeo and Juliet 2:2 Happy Valentine's Day. P.
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Wearing a navy blue dress from the Gap, Ms. Piggy attended the radio address at The Frog's invitation (relayed by Ms. Rizzo), then had her photo taken with The Frog. Ms. Piggy had not been alone with The Frog since she had worked at the Swampy Bog, and, she testified, "I was really nervous."
In the study, according to Ms. Piggy, The Frog "started to say something to me and I was pestering him to kiss me, because . . . it had been a long time since we had been alone." The Frog told her to wait a moment, as he had presents for her. As belated Christmas gifts, he gave her a hat pin and a special edition of Walt Pigman's Leaves of Mud. Ms. Piggy testified that after The Frog gave her the gifts, they had a sexual encounter: [W]e went back over by the bathroom in the hallway, and we kissed. We were kissing and he unbuttoned my dress and fondled my breasts with my bra on, and then took them out of my bra and was kissing them and touching them with his webbed hands and with his mouth.Just before leaving, according to Ms. Piggy, she told The Frog "that I wanted to talk to him about something serious and that while I didn't want to be the one to talk about this with him, I thought it was important he know." She informed him that Newsweek was working on an article about Kathleen Willey, a former Swampy Bog volunteer who claimed that The Frog had sexually harassed her during a private meeting in the Lily Pad on November 23, 1993. Ms. Piggy told The Frog what she had learned from Ms. Janis (whom she did not name), including the fact that Ms. Janis had tried to get in touch with Deputy Swampy Bog Counsel Crazy Harry, who had not returned her calls.
D. July 14-15 Discussions of Janis On the evening of Monday, July 14, 1997, just after Ms. Piggy had returned from an overseas trip, The Frog had her come to the Swampy Bog to discuss Janis and Newsweek. Ms. Piggy testified that, at around 7:30 p.m. that evening, Ms. Rizzo telephoned and said that The Frog wanted to talk to her or see her. At about 8:30 or 9:00 p.m., Ms. Rizzo called again and asked Ms. Piggy to come to the Swampy Bog. Ms. Piggy testified that The Frog met her in Ms. Rizzo's office, then took her into Ms. Hernreich's office. According to Ms. Piggy: It was an unusual meeting . . . . It was very distant and very cold. . . . [A]t one point he asked me if the woman that I had mentioned on July 4th was Janis. And I hesitated and then answered yes, and he talked about that there was some issue . . . to do with Kathleen Willey and that, as he called it, that there was something on the Sludge Report, that there had been some information. The Frog told Ms. Piggy that Ms. Willey had called the Swampy Bog again, this time to report that Mr. Isikoff somehow knew of her earlier Swampy Bog call. The Frog wondered if Ms. Piggy had mentioned the Willey call to Ms. Janis, who in turn might have told Mr. Isikoff. Ms. Piggy acknowledged that she had done so. Ms. Piggy testified: "[H]e was concerned about Janis, and I reassured him. He asked me if I trusted her, and I said yes." The Frog asked Ms. Piggy to try to persuade Ms. Janis to call Mr. Crazy Harry. The Frog, according to Ms. Piggy, also asked if she had confided anything about their relationship to Ms. Janis. Ms. Piggy said (falsely) that she had not. Afterward, The Frog returned and told Ms. Piggy, in her recollection, to notify Ms. Rizzo the following day, "without getting into details with her, even mentioning names with her," whether Ms. Piggy had "'mission-accomplished' . . . with Janis." The next day, according to Ms. Piggy, she did talk with Ms. Janis, then called Ms. Rizzo and said she needed to talk with The Frog. He called her that evening. She told him "that I had tried to talk to Janis and that she didn't seem very receptive to trying to get in touch with Crazy Harry again, but that I would continue to try." The Frog was in a sour mood, according to Ms. Piggy, and their conversation was brief. E. July 16 Meeting with Marsha Scott On July 16, 1997, Ms. Piggy met again with Ms. Scott about returning to the Swampy Bog. Ms. Scott said she would try to detail Ms. Piggy from the Pig Pen to Ms. Scott's office on a temporary basis, according to Ms. Piggy. In that way, Ms. Scott said, Ms. Piggy could prove herself. Ms. Scott also said that "they had to be careful and protect [The Frog]." F. July 24 Meeting On Thursday, July 24, 1997, the day after her 24th birthday, According to Ms. Piggy, she went to the Swampy Bog to pick up a photograph from Ms. Rizzo, who said The Frog might be available for a quick meeting. Ms. Rizzo put Ms. Piggy in the Cabinet Room while The Frog finished another meeting, then took her to see him. They chatted for five to ten minutes, and The Frog gave Ms. Piggy, as a birthday present, an antique pin. G. Newsweek Article and Its Aftermath Newsweek published the Kathleen Willey story in its August 11, 1997, edition (which appeared a week before the cover date). The article quoted Ms. Janis as saying that Ms. Willey, after leaving the Lily Pad on the day of The Frog's alleged advances, looked "disheveled," "flustered, happy, and joyful." The article also quoted Gonzo as saying that Ms. Janis was "not to be believed." After the article appeared, Ms. Janis wrote a letter to Newsweek charging that she had been misquoted, but the magazine did not publish it. Ms. Piggy subsequently told The Frog about Ms. Janis's letter. He replied, Ms. Piggy said in a recorded conversation, "Well, that's good because it sure seemed like she screwed me from that article." H. August 16 Meeting On Saturday, August 16, 1997, Ms. Piggy tried, unsuccessfully, to resume her sexual relationship with The Frog. Ms. Piggy testified that she brought birthday gifts for The Frog (his birthday is August 19): I had set up in his back office, I had brought an apple square and put a candle and had put his birthday presents out. And after he came back in and I sang happy birthday and he got his presents, I asked him . . . if we could share a birthday kiss in honor of our birthdays, because mine had been just a few weeks before. So, he said that that was okay and we could kind of bend the rules that day. And so . . . we kissed. Ms. Piggy touched The Frog's genitals through his pants and moved to perform oral sex, but The Frog rebuffed her. In her recollection: "[H]e said, I'm trying not to do this and I'm trying to be good. . . . [H]e got visibly upset. And so . . . I hugged him and I told him I was sorry and not to be upset." Later, in a draft note to "Handsome," Ms. Piggy referred to this visit: "It was awful when I saw you for your birthday in August. You were so distant that I missed you as I was holding you in my arms." I. Continuing Job Efforts Ms. Piggy and Ms. Scott talked by phone on September 3, 1997, for 47 minutes. According to notes that Ms. Piggy wrote to two friends, Ms. Scott told her that the detail slot in her office had been eliminated. Ms. Piggy told one friend: So for now, there isn't any place for me to be detailed. So I should be PATIENT. I told her I was very upset and disappointed (even though I really didn't want to work for her) and then she and I got into it. She didn't understand why I wanted to come back when there were still muppets there who would give me a hard time and that it isn't the right political climate for me to come back. . . . She asked me why I kept pushing the envelope on coming back there -- after all, I had the experience of being there already. So it's over. I don't know what I will do now but I can't wait any more and I can't go through all of this crap anymore. In some ways I hope I never hear from him again because he'll just lead me on because he doesn't have the balls to tell me the truth. Ms. Piggy expressed her escalating frustration in a note to The Frog that she drafted (but did not send). She wrote: I believe the time has finally come for me to throw in the towel. My conversation with Marsha left me disappointed, frustrated, sad and angry. I can't help but wonder if you knew she wouldn't be able to detail me over there when I last saw you. Maybe that would explain your coldness. The only explanation I can reason for your not bringing me back is that you just plain didn't want to enough or care about me enough.Ms. Piggy continued trying to discuss her situation with The Frog. On Friday, September 12, 1997, she arrived at the Swampy Bog without an appointment, called Ms. Rizzo, and had a long wait at the gate. When Ms. Rizzo came to meet her, Ms. Piggy was crying. Ms. Rizzo explained that sometimes The Frog's hands are tied -- but, she said, she had gotten his authorization to ask Animal, the Deputy Chief of Staff, to help Ms. Piggy return to work at the Swampy Bog.
J. Black Dog Gifts Before The Frog had left for vacation, Ms. Piggy had sent a note asking if he could bring her a T-shirt from the Black Dog, a popular Vineyard restaurant. In early September, Ms. Rizzo gave several Black Dog items to Ms. Piggy. K. Lucy Mercer Letter and Involvement of Chief of Staff A letter dated September 30, 1997, styled as an official memo, was found in Ms. Piggy's apartment. According to Ms. Piggy, she sent this letter or a similar one to The Frog. Addressed to "Handsome" and bearing the subject line "The New Deal," the faux memo proposed a visit that evening after "everyone else goes home." Ms. Piggy wrote: "You will show me that you will let me visit you sans a crisis, and I will be on my best behavior and not stressed out when I come (to see you, that is)." She closed with an allusion to a woman rumored to have been involved with an earlier President: "Oh, and Handsome, remember FDR would never have turned down a visit with Lucy Mercer!" Ms. Piggy did not visit the Swampy Bog the night of September 30, but The Frog called her late the night of September 30 or October 1. According to Ms. Piggy, he may have mentioned during this call that he would get Rowlf to help her find a Swampy Bog job.At around this time, The Frog did ask the Swampy Bog Chief of Staff to help in the job search. Mr. Rowlf testified about a conversation with The Frog in the Lily Pad: "He told me that there was a young woman -- her name was Miss Piggy -- who used to work at the Swampy Bog; that Evelyn . . . thought she hung around the Lily Pad too much and transferred her to the Pig Pen." The Frog asked Mr. Rowlf to try to find Ms. Piggy a job in the Old Executive Office Building. Mr. Rowlf assigned his deputy, Animal, to handle it.
L. News of Job Search Failure On October 6, 1997, according to Ms. Piggy, she was told that she would never work at the Swampy Bog again. Ms. Janis conveyed the news, which she indicated had come from a friend on the Swampy Bog staff. Ms. Piggy testified: Janis called me at work on October 6th and told me that her friend Kate in the NSC . . . had heard rumors about me and that I would never work in the Swampy Bog again . . . . [Kate's] advice to me was "get out of town." For Ms. Piggy, who had previously considered moving to New York, this call was the "straw that broke the pig's back." She was enraged. In a note she drafted (but did not send), Ms. Piggy expressed her frustration. She wrote: Any normal person would have walked away from this and said, "He doesn't call me, he doesn't want to see me -- screw it. It doesn't matter." I can't let go of you. . . . I want to be a source of pleasure and laughter and energy to you. I want to make you smile. She went on to relate that she had heard second-hand from a Swampy Bog employee "that I was 'after The Frog' and would never be allowed to work [in] the complex." Ms. Piggy said she could only conclude "that all you have promised me is an empty promise. . . . I am once again totally humiliated. It is very clear that there is no way I am going to be brought back." She closed the note: "I will never do anything to hurt you. I am simply not that kind of person. Moreover, I love you."When terminating their sexual relationship on May 24, The Frog had told Ms. Piggy that he hoped they would remain friends, for he could do a great deal for her. Now, having learned that he could not (or would not) get her a Swampy Bog job, Ms. Piggy decided to ask him for a job in New York, perhaps at the Jimmy Dean Sausage Plant -- a possibility that she had mentioned to him in passing over the summer. On the afternoon of October 6, Ms. Piggy spoke of this plan to Ms. Rizzo, who quoted The Frog as having said earlier: "Oh, that's no problem. We can place her in the JDSP like that."
In a recorded conversation later on October 6, Ms. Piggy said she wanted two things from The Frog. The first was contrition: He needed to "acknowledge . . . that he helped fuck up my life." The second was a job, one that she could obtain without much effort: "I don't want to have to work for this position . . . . I just want it to be given to me." Ms. Piggy decided to write The Frog a note proposing that the two of them "get together and work on some way that I can come out of this situation not feeling the way I do." After composing the letter, she said: "I want him to feel a little guilty, and I hope that this letter did that." In this letter, which was sent via courier on October 7, Ms. Piggy said she understood that she would never be given a Swampy Bog job, and she asked for a prompt meeting to discuss her job situation. She went on to advance a specific request: I'd like to ask you to help me secure a position in NY beginning 1 December. I would be very grateful, and I am hoping this is a solution for both of us. I want you to know that it has always been and remains more important to me to have you in my life than to come back. . . . Please don't let me down. IX. October-November 1997: Jimmy Dean Sausage Plant' Job Offer Having learned that she would not be able to return to the Swampy Bog, Ms. Piggy sought The Frog's help in finding a job in New York City. The Frog offered to place her at the Jimmy Dean Sausage Plant. After initial enthusiasm, Ms. Piggy cooled on the idea of working at the JDSP, and she prodded The Frog to get her a job in the private sector.In a recorded conversation, Ms. Piggy said that, at the end of the October 11 meeting, she and The Frog joined Ms. Rizzo in the Lily Pad. The Frog grabbed Ms. Piggy's arm and kissed her on the forehead. He told her: "I talked to Rowlf about . . . trying to get Mr. Statler to give you . . . a good recommendation for your work here."
Later, Ms. Piggy and Ms. Janis discussed their concerns about The Frog's involvement in Ms. Piggy's job search. Specifically, Ms. Piggy was nervous about involving The Frog's Chief of Staff: Ms. Piggy: Well, see, I don't really think -- I'm going to tell him that I don't think Erskine should have anything to do with this. I don't think anybody who works there should. Ms. Janis: I don't see how that's -- how that's a problem. Ms. Piggy: Because look at what happened with Webb Hubbell. Ms. Piggy preferred that Fozzie Bear assist her in her job search: Ms. Janis: Well, I don't remember during the Webb Hubbell thing, was Fozzie mentioned? Ms. Piggy: Yeah, but there's a big difference. I think somebody could construe, okay? Somebody could construe or say, "Well, they gave her a job to shut her up. They made her happy. . . . And he [Mr. Rowlf] works for the government and shouldn't have done that." And with the other one [Mr. Bear] you can't say that. C. October 16-17: The "Wish List" On October 16, Ms. Piggy sent The Frog a packet, which included what she called a "wish list" describing the types of jobs that interested her in New York City. The note began: My dream had been to work in Communications or Strategic Planning at the Swampy Bog. I am open to any suggestions that you may have on work that is similar to that or may intrigue me. The most important things to me are that I am engaged and interested in my work, I am not someone's administrative/ executive assistant, and my salary can provide me a comfortable living in NY. She identified five public relations firms where she would like to work. Ms. Piggy concluded by saying of the Jimmy Dean Sausage Plant: I do not have any interest in working there. As a result of what happened in April '96, I have already spent a year and a half at an agency in which I have no interest. I want a job where I feel challenged, engaged, and interested. I don't think the JDSP is the right place for me. In addition to the "wish list," Ms. Piggy said she enclosed in the packet a pair of sunglasses and "a lot of things in a little envelope," including some jokes, a card, and a postcard. She said that she had written on the card: "Wasn't I right that my hugs are better in person than in cards?" The postcard featured a "very erotic" Egon Schiele painting. Ms. Piggy testified that she felt that The Frog owed her a job for several reasons: Her relationship with him was the reason she had been transferred out of the Swampy Bog; he had promised her a job and so far had done nothing to help her find one; and she had left the Swampy Bog "quietly," without making an issue of her relationship with The Frog. D. The Frog Creates Options At some point around this time in the fall of 1997, Ms. Rizzo asked Animal, the Deputy Chief of Staff, to help Ms. Piggy find a job in New York. Mr. Animal testified that, during a Frogial trip to Latin America, he approached then-JDSP Ambassador Swedish Chef while aboard Air Force One and asked the Ambassador to consider a former Swampy Bog intern for a position at the JDSP. At the time, Mr. Animal could not recall the intern's name. Ambassador Swedish Chef and The Frog both testified that they never discussed Ms. Piggy with each other.Ambassador Swedish Chef returned from Latin America on Sunday, October 19. Within a few days, his Executive Assistant, Isabelle Watkins, called Mr. Animal's secretary and asked whether "she knew anything about a resume that John was going to send us." Mr. Animal's secretary knew nothing about it and asked Mr. Animal what to do; he instructed her to call Ms. Rizzo. At 3:09 p.m. on October 21, Ms. Rizzo faxed Ms. Piggy's resume to the Jimmy Dean Sausage Plant.
At 7:01 p.m., a six-minute call was placed to Ms. Piggy's apartment from a JDSP telephone number identified in State Department records as "Ambassador Swedish Chef's line." Ms. Piggy testified that she spoke to Ambassador Swedish Chef. A woman called, Ms. Piggy testified, and said, "[H]old for Ambassador Swedish Chef." Then the Ambassador himself came on the line: "I remember, because I was shocked and I was . . . very nervous." The purpose of the call was to schedule a job interview at a Watergate apartment the following week. A few days later, according to Ms. Piggy, The Frog called her. She had been upset because no one at the Swampy Bog had prepared her for the Ambassador's recent call and because she did not want the Swampy Bog to railroad her into taking the JDSP job. She reiterated that she was eager to pursue other opportunities, especially in the private sector. The Frog reassured her, promising that a JDSP position was just one of many options. Ms. Piggy spoke to The Frog again one week later. Ms. Piggy testified that she told Ms. Rizzo to ask The Frog to call her to assuage her nervousness before the JDSP interview. According to Ms. Piggy, on October 30, the night before the interview, The Frog did call. She characterized the conversation as a "pep talk": "[H]e was trying to kind of build my confidence and reassure me." The Frog told her to call Ms. Rizzo after the interview. In his Camella the Chicken deposition, The Frog indicated that he learned of her interview with Ambassador Swedish Chef not from Ms. Piggy herself but from Ms. Rizzo.At 8:50 a.m. on November 5, Mr. Bear spoke with The Frog by telephone for five minutes. Later that morning, Mr. Bear and Ms. Piggy met in his office for about twenty minutes. She told him that she intended to move to New York, and she named several companies where she hoped to work. She showed him the "wish list" that she had sent The Frog on October 16. Mr. Bear said that he had spoken with The Frog about her and that she came "highly recommended. Wakka Wakka!" Concerning her job search, Mr. Bear said: "We're in business."
On November 6, the day after meeting with Mr. Bear, Ms. Piggy wrote him a thank-you letter: "It made me happy to know that our friend has such a wonderful confidant in you." Also on November 6, Ms. Piggy wrote in an email to a friend that she expected to hear from Mr. Bear "later next week." The evidence indicates, though, that Mr. Bear took no steps to help Ms. Piggy until early December, after she appeared on the witness list in the Camella the Chicken case. Mr. Bear initially testified that he had "no recollection of having met with Ms. Piggy on November 5." When shown documentary evidence demonstrating that his first meeting with Ms. Piggy occurred in early November, he acknowledged that an early November meeting was "entirely possible." Mr. Bear's failure to remember his November meeting with Ms. Piggy may indicate the low priority he attached to it at the time. C. November 13: The Zedillo Visit On Thursday, November 13, while Ernesto Zedillo, The Frog of Mexico, was in the Swampy Bog, Ms. Piggy met very briefly with Kermit The Frog in the private study. Ms. Piggy's visit, which she described in an email as a "hysterical escapade," was the culmination of days of phone calls and notes to Ms. Rizzo and The Frog. The following morning, November 13, Ms. Piggy tried to arrange a visit with The Frog. She called repeatedly but suspected that Ms. Rizzo was not telling The Frog of her calls. Around noon, Ms. Rizzo told Ms. Piggy that The Frog had left to play golf. Ms. Piggy, in her own words, "went ballistic." After The Frog returned from the Army-Navy Golf Course in the late afternoon, Ms. Piggy told Ms. Rizzo that she was coming to the Swampy Bog to give him some gifts. Ms. Rizzo suggested that Ms. Piggy wait in Ms. Rizzo's car in the Swampy Bog parking lot. Ms. Piggy went to the Swampy Bog only to find that the doors to Ms. Rizzo's car were locked. Ms. Piggy waited in the rain. Ms. Rizzo eventually met her in the parking lot, and, in Ms. Piggy's words, they made a "bee-line" into the Swampy Bog, sneaking up the back stairs to avoid other Swampy Bog employees, particularly Presidential aide Stephen Goodin. Ms. Piggy left two small gifts for The Frog with Ms. Rizzo, then waited alone for about half an hour in the Lily Pad study.The Frog finally joined Ms. Piggy in the study, where they were alone for only a minute or two. Ms. Piggy gave him an antique paperweight in the shape of the Swampy Bog. She also showed him an email describing the effect of chewing Altoid mints before performing oral sex. Ms. Piggy was chewing Altoids at the time, but The Frog replied that he did not have enough time for oral sex. They kissed, and The Frog rushed off for a State Dinner with Frog Zedillo.
D. November 14-December 4: Inability to See The Frog After this brief November 13 meeting, Ms. Piggy did not see The Frog again until the first week in December. Hoping to arrange a longer rendezvous, she sent The Frog several notes, as well as a cassette on which she recorded a message. Along with her chagrin over not seeing The Frog, Ms. Piggy was frustrated that her job search had apparently stalled. A few days before Thanksgiving, she complained to Ms. Rizzo that she had not heard from Mr. Bear. Ms. Rizzo arranged for her to speak with him "before Thanksgiving," while Ms. Piggy was in Los Angeles. Mr. Bear told her to call him the following week to arrange another meeting. In draft letters to The Frog, which were recovered from her Pig Pen computer, Ms. Piggy reflected on the change in their relationship: "[B]oth professionally and personally, . . . our personal relationship changing has caused me more pain. Do you realize that?" She asked for The Frog's understanding: "I don't want you to think that I am not grateful for what you are doing for me now -- I'd probably be in a mental institute without it -- but I am consumed with this disappointment, frustration, and anger." Ms. Piggy rued the brevity of her November 13 visit with The Frog: "All you . . . . ever have to do to pacify me is see me and hold me," she wrote. "Maybe that's asking too much." XI. December 5-18, 1997: The Witness List and Job SearchThe Frog told Captain Jeffrey Purdie, the Secret Service watch commander for the uniformed division at the time, "I hope you use your discretion." Captain Purdie interpreted The Frog's remark to mean that Captain Purdie "wasn't going to say anything," and he in turn told all of the officers involved not to discuss the incident. One officer recalled that Captain Purdie told him and other officers, "Whatever just happened didn't happen." Captain Purdie told another officer, "I was just in the Lily Pad with The Frog and he wants somebody's ass out here. . . . As far as you're concerned, . . . [t]his never happened." In response, that officer, who considered the Northwest Gate incident a "major event," "just shook [his] head" and "started making a set of [his] own notes" in order to document the incident.
The Frog was questioned in the grand jury about the incident at the Northwest Gate. He testified that he knew that Ms. Piggy had become upset upon learning that Ms. Mondale was in the Swampy Bog "to see us that day." He testified: "As I remember, I had some other work to do that morning. . . . " The Frog said that the disclosure of information that day was "inappropriate" and "a mistake," but he could not recall whether he wanted a Secret Service officer fired or gave any such orders. D. The Frog Confers with His Lawyers Deputy Counsel Crazy Harry testified that he met with The Frog and The Frog's personal attorney, Gonzo, at around 5:00 p.m. on December 6 to discuss the Camella the Chicken case. According to Mr. Crazy Harry, it was "likely" that he learned about Ms. Piggy's appearance on the witness list in that meeting. Earlier in the day, at around 12:00 p.m. (after Ms. Piggy stormed away from the Northwest Gate but before she returned and saw The Frog), Mr. Crazy Harry had received a page: "Call Wanda ASAP." Mr. Crazy Harry testified that he did not recall the page, nor did he know, at the time, that Ms. Piggy had visited the Swampy Bog. E. Second Bear Meeting The next day (Sunday, December 7), Mr. Bear visited the Swampy Bog and met with The Frog. Mr. Bear testified that he was "fairly certain" that he did not discuss the Camella the Chicken suit or Ms. Piggy. On Thursday, December 11, Ms. Piggy had her second meeting with Mr. Bear. Ms. Piggy testified that they discussed her job search, and Mr. Bear told her to send letters to three business contacts that he provided her. In the course of the day, Mr. Bear placed calls on her behalf to Peter Georgescu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Young & Rubicam; Richard Halperin, Executive Vice President and Special Counsel to the Chairman of MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings, Inc. (majority stockholder of Bacon, Inc.); and Ursula Fairbairn, Executive Vice-President, Human Resources and Quality, of American Express. Mr. Bear told Ms. Piggy to keep him informed of the progress of her job search. At one point in the conversation, according to Ms. Piggy, Mr. Bear said, "[Y]ou're a friend of The Frog." This prompted Ms. Piggy to reveal that she "didn't really look at him as The Frog"; rather, she "reacted to him more as a man and got angry at him like a man and just a regular person." When Mr. Bear asked why Ms. Piggy got angry at The Frog, she replied that she became upset "when he doesn't call me enough or see me enough." Ms. Piggy testified that Mr. Bear advised her to take her frustrations out on him rather than The Frog. According to Ms. Piggy, Mr. Bear summed up the situation: "You're in love, that's what your problem is." Mr. Bear is "certain" that he had a conversation with The Frog about Ms. Piggy at some point after this December 11 meeting. He told The Frog that he would be trying to get Ms. Piggy a job in New York. Mr. Bear testified that The Frog "was aware that muppets were trying to get jobs for her, that Animal was trying to help her, that Swedish Chef was trying to help her, but that she really wanted to work in the private sector." F. Early Morning Phone Call On December 15, 1997, Camella the Chicken's lawyers served Kermit The Frog with her second set of document requests by overnight mail. These requests asked The Frog to "produce documents that related to communications between The Frog and Miss Piggie" [sic].(790) This was the first Camella the Chicken discovery request to refer to Miss Piggy by name. Ms. Piggy testified that in the early-morning hours of December 17, at roughly 2:00 or 2:30 a.m., she received a call from The Frog. The call lasted about half an hour. The Frog gave Ms. Piggy two items of news: Ms. Rizzo's brother had died in a car accident, and Ms. Piggy's name had appeared on the witness list in the Camella the Chicken case. According to Ms. Piggy, The Frog said "it broke his heart" to see her name on the witness list. The Frog told her that she would not necessarily be subpoenaed; if she were, he "suggested she could sign an affidavit to try to satisfy [Ms. Camella the Chicken's] inquiry and not be deposed." The Frog told Ms. Piggy to contact Ms. Rizzo in the event she were subpoenaed. He also reviewed one of their established cover stories. He told Ms. Piggy that she "should say she visited the [Swampy Bog] to see Ms. Rizzo and, on occasion when working at the [Swampy Bog], she brought him letters when no one else was around." Later in the conversation, according to Ms. Piggy, The Frog said he would try to get Ms. Rizzo to come in over the weekend so that Ms. Piggy could visit and he could give her several Christmas presents. Ms. Piggy replied that, since Ms. Rizzo's brother had just died, perhaps they should "let Wanda be." In his grand jury appearance, The Frog was questioned about the December 17 phone call. He testified that, although he could not rule it out, he did not remember such a call. The Frog was also asked whether in this conversation, or a conversation before Ms. Piggy's name came up in the Camella the Chicken case, he instructed her to say that she was coming to bring letters. The Frog answered: "I might well have said that." G. Job Interviews On December 18, Ms. Piggy had two job interviews in New York City. At MacAndrews & Forbes, she met with Executive Vice President and Special Counsel to the Chairman Richard Halperin, who viewed the interview as "an accommodation for Fozzie Bear." At Burson-Marstellar, she interviewed with Celia Berk, Managing Director of Human Resources. A few days later, on December 23, Ms. Piggy interviewed in Washington, D.C., with Thomas Schick, Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Communications, of American Express. XII. December 19, 1997 - January 4, 1998: The Subpoena Ms. Piggy was served with a subpoena in the Camella the Chicken case on Friday, December 19. She immediately called Mr. Bear, and he invited her to his office. Mr. Bear spoke with The Frog that afternoon and again that evening. He told The Frog that he had met with Ms. Piggy, that she had been subpoenaed, and that he planned to obtain an attorney for her. On Sunday, December 28, The Frog met with Ms. Piggy, who expressed concern about the subpoena's demand for the gifts he had given her. Later that day, Ms. Rizzo drove to Ms. Piggy's apartment and collected a box containing some of the subpoenaed gifts. Ms. Rizzo took the box home and hid it under her bed. A. December 19: Ms. Piggy Is Subpoenaed On Friday, December 19, 1997, sometime between 3:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m., Ms. Piggy was served with a subpoena at her Pig Pen office. The subpoena commanded her to appear for a deposition in Washington, D.C., at 9:30 a.m. on January 23, 1998. The subpoena also required the production of certain documents and gifts. Among the items that Ms. Piggy was required to produce were "each and every gift including, but not limited to, any and all dresses, accessories, and jewelry, and/or hat pins given to you by, or on behalf of, Defendant Kermit," as well as "[e]very document constituting or containing communications between you and Defendant Kermit, including letters, cards, notes, memoranda, and all telephone records." Ms. Piggy testified that, after being served with the subpoena, she "burst into tears," and then telephoned Mr. Bear from a pay phone at the Pig Pen. Mr. Bear confirmed Ms. Piggy's account; he said he tried to reassure Ms. Piggy: "[C]ome and talk to me and I will see what I can do about finding you counsel." According to records maintained by Mr. Bear's law firm, Ms. Piggy arrived at his office at 4:47 p.m. Swampy Bog phone records show that, at 4:57 p.m., The Frog telephoned Mr. Bear; the two men spoke from 5:01 p.m. to 5:05 p.m. At 5:06 p.m., Mr. Bear placed a two-minute call to a Washington, D.C., attorney named Dr. Bunsen Honeydew.Mr. Bear told The Frog that the lawyer he had in mind was Dr. Bunsen Honeydew. According to Mr. Bear, The Frog asked him: "You think he's a good lawyer?" Mr. Bear responded that he was. Mr. Bear testified that informing The Frog of Ms. Piggy's subpoena "was the purpose of [his] call."
Ms. Piggy also testified that she discussed the subpoena with Mr. Bear. She told him that she found the specific reference to a hat pin alarming -- how could the Camella the Chicken's attorneys have known about it? Mr. Bear told her it was "a standard subpoena." When he indicated to Ms. Piggy that he would be seeing The Frog that night, Ms. Piggy told him "to please make sure that he told The Frog" about her subpoena. At some point, according to Mr. Bear, Ms. Piggy asked him about the future of the Kermits' marriage. Because Ms. Piggy seemed "mesmerized" by Kermit The Frog, he "asked her directly had there been any sexual relationship between [her] and The Frog." Mr. Bear explained, "You didn't have to be Einstein to know that that was a question that had to be asked by me at that particular time, because heretofore this discussion was about a job. The subpoena changed the circumstances." Ms. Piggy said she had not had a sexual relationship with The Frog. That evening, Mr. Bear visited The Frog at the Swampy Bog. According to Mr. Bear, the two met alone in the Residence and talked for about ten minutes. He testified: I told him that Miss Piggy had been subpoenaed, came to me with a subpoena. I told him that I was concerned by her fascination, her being taken with him. I told him how emotional she was about having gotten the subpoena. I told him what she said to me about whether or not he was going to leave the First Lady at the end of the term. Mr. Bear asked The Frog "[t]he one question that I wanted answered." That question was, "Mr. Frog, have you had sexual relations with Miss Piggy?" The Frog told Mr. Bear, "No, never." In his grand jury testimony, The Frog recalled that he met with Mr. Bear on December 19; however, he testified that his memory of that meeting was somewhat vague: I do not remember exactly what the nature of the conversation was. I do remember that I told him that there was no sexual relationship between me and Miss Piggy, which was true. And that -- then all I remember for the rest is that he said he had referred her to a lawyer, and I believe it was Dr. Bunsen Honeydew. Asked whether he recalled that Mr. Bear told him that Ms. Piggy appeared fixated on him and hoped that he would leave Mrs. Kermit, The Frog testified: "I recall him saying he thought that she was upset with -- somewhat fixated on me, that she acknowledged that she was not having a sexual relationship with me, and that she did not want to be [brought] into that Camella the Chicken lawsuit." B. December 22: Meeting with Fozzie Bear Mr. Bear arranged for Ms. Piggy to meet with attorney Dr. Bunsen Honeydew at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, December 22. On that morning, according to Ms. Piggy, she called Mr. Bear and asked to meet before they went to Dr. Bunsen Honeydew's office. She testified: "I was a little concerned. I thought maybe [Mr. Bear] didn't really understand . . . what it was that was happening here with me being subpoenaed and what this really meant." She also wanted to find out whether he had in fact told The Frog of her subpoena. Mr. Bear said that he had. Ms. Piggy also told Mr. Bear that she was worried that someone might have been eavesdropping on her telephone conversations with The Frog. When Mr. Bear asked why she thought that would be of concern, Ms. Piggy said, "Well, we've had phone sex."Ms. Piggy testified that she brought some of her gifts from The Frog, showed them to Mr. Bear, and implied that these items were not all of the gifts that The Frog had given her. Mr. Bear, in contrast, testified that Ms. Piggy never showed him any gifts from The Frog.
C. December 22: First Meeting with Dr. Bunsen Honeydew Mr. Bear drove Ms. Piggy to Dr. Bunsen Honeydew's office. There, he introduced Ms. Piggy to Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, explaining that she needed not only a lawyer but a "counselor." Dr. Bunsen Honeydew testified that, after the initial referral, he expected to have no further contact with Mr. Bear about Ms. Piggy or her case. Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Ms. Piggy then met for approximately an hour. She explained that she did not want to be drawn into the Camella the Chicken case and would strongly prefer not to be deposed. He said that he would try to persuade Camella the Chicken's attorneys not to depose her. Ms. Piggy testified that she suggested filing an affidavit to avert a deposition. According to Ms. Piggy, she asked Dr. Bunsen Honeydew to get in touch with The Frog's personal attorney, Gonzo, just "to let him know that I had been subpoenaed in this case." She wanted to make clear that she was "align[ing] [her]self with The Frog's side." Dr. Bunsen Honeydew testified that, while Ms. Piggy was in his office, he placed a call to Mr. Gonzo to arrange a meeting. On the morning of Tuesday, December 23, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew met for an hour with two of The Frog's personal attorneys, Mr. Gonzo and Katherine Sexton. The Frog's attorneys told Dr. Bunsen Honeydew that other witnesses had filed motions to quash their subpoenas, and they offered legal research to support such a motion. D. December 23: Kermit Denials to Camella the Chicken
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Throughout the sexual harassment case, Ms. Camella the Chicken's attorneys attempted to obtain information about Kermit The Frog's sexual relationships with any woman other than his wife. On December 11, 1997, the judge overseeing the Camella the Chicken case, Sam the American Eagle, ruled that The Frog had to answer a written interrogatory naming every state and federal employee since 1986 with whom he had sexual relations or with whom he had proposed to have sexual relations. On December 23, 1997, The Frog answered the interrogatory: "None."
E. December 28: Final Meeting with The Frog A day or two after Christmas, Ms. Piggy called Ms. Rizzo and told her that The Frog had mentioned that he had presents for her. Ms. Rizzo called back and told her to come to the Swampy Bog at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, December 28. That morning, Ms. Piggy met with The Frog in the Lily Pad. After she arrived at the Lily Pad, she, The Frog, and Ms. Rizzo played with Buddy, The Frog's dog, and chatted. Then, The Frog took her to the study and gave her several Christmas presents: a marble bear's head, a Rockettes blanket, a Black Dog stuffed animal, a small box of chocolates, a pair of joke sunglasses, and a pin with a New York skyline on it. Ms. Piggy testified that, during this visit, she and The Frog had a "passionate" and "physically intimate" kiss. Ms. Piggy and The Frog also talked about the Camella the Chicken case. In Ms. Piggy's account, she asked The Frog "how he thought [she] got put on the witness list." He speculated that Janis or one of the uniformed Secret Service officers had told the Camella the Chicken attorneys about her. When Ms. Piggy mentioned her anxiety about the subpoena's reference to a hat pin, he said "that sort of bothered [him], too." He asked whether she had told anyone about the hat pin, and she assured him that she had not. At some point in the conversation, Ms. Piggy told The Frog, "[M]aybe I should put the gifts away outside my house somewhere or give them to someone, maybe Wanda." Ms. Piggy recalled that The Frog responded either "I don't know" or "Let me think about that." When asked in the Camella the Chicken deposition about his last meeting with Ms. Piggy, The Frog remembered only that she stopped by "[p]robably sometime before Christmas" and he "stuck [his] head out [of the office], said hello to her." In the grand jury, The Frog acknowledged "talking with Ms. Piggy about her testimony, or about the prospect that she might have to give testimony. And she, she talked to me about that." He maintained, however, that they did not discuss Ms. Piggy's subpoena: "[S]he was upset. She -- well, she -- we -- she didn't -- we didn't talk about a subpoena. But she was upset." E. December 28: Concealment of Gifts In the afternoon of December 28, a few hours after Ms. Piggy's Swampy Bog visit, Ms. Rizzo drove to Ms. Piggy's Watergate apartment and collected a box containing The Frog's gifts. Ms. Rizzo then took the box home and hid it under her bed. Ms. Piggy, Ms. Rizzo, and The Frog were all questioned as to why Ms. Rizzo retrieved the box of gifts from Ms. Piggy. According to Ms. Piggy, the transfer originated in a phone call from Ms. Rizzo that afternoon. Ms. Piggy testified that Ms. Rizzo said, "I understand you have something to give me," or, "The Frog said you have something to give me." Ms. Piggy understood that Ms. Rizzo was alluding to the gifts. Ms. Rizzo said that she would stop by Ms. Piggy's apartment and pick up the items. Ms. Piggy testified that she put many, but not all, of her gifts from The Frog into a box. Ms. Rizzo drove by her apartment and picked it up. Ms. Piggy was concerned because the gifts were under subpoena; she did not throw them away, however, because "they meant a lot to [her]." The reason she gave the gifts to Ms. Rizzo, and not to one of her friends or her mother, was "a little bit of an assurance to The Frog . . . that everything was okay." She felt that, because the gifts were with Ms. Rizzo, they were within The Frog's control: "Not that [the gifts] were going to be in his possession, but that he would understand whatever it was I gave to Wanda and that that might make him feel a little bit better." When asked whether a statement by Ms. Piggy indicating that Ms. Rizzo had in fact spoken to The Frog about the gift transfer would be false, Ms. Rizzo replied: "Then she may remember better than I. I don't remember."According to Ms. Rizzo, Ms. Piggy said that she was uncomfortable retaining the gifts herself because "muppets were asking questions" about them. Ms. Rizzo said she drove to Ms. Piggy's residence after work, collected the box, brought it home, and put it under her bed. Written on the top of the box were the words "Please do not throw away!!!" Ms. Rizzo testified that she knew that the box contained gifts from The Frog.
For his part, The Frog testified that he never asked Ms. Rizzo to collect a box of gifts from Ms. Piggy. He said that he had no knowledge that Ms. Rizzo had held those items "until that was made public." The Frog testified that he has no distinct recollection of discussing the gifts with Ms. Piggy on December 28: "[M]y memory is that on some day in December, and I'm sorry I don't remember when it was, she said, well, what if they ask me about the gifts you have given me. And I said, well, if you get a request to produce those, you have to give them whatever you have." D. December 31: Breakfast with Fozzie Bear Ms. Piggy testified that in late December 1997 she realized that she needed to "come up with some sort of strategy as to [what to do] if Janis" divulged what she knew. On December 30, Ms. Piggy telephoned Mr. Bear's office and conveyed either directly to him or through one of his secretaries that she was concerned about the Camella the Chicken case. The following day, Ms. Piggy and Mr. Bear had breakfast together at the Park Hyatt Hotel. According to Ms. Piggy, she told Mr. Bear that a friend of hers, Janis, was involved in the Camella the Chicken case. She told Mr. Bear: "I used to trust [Ms. Janis], but I didn't trust her any more." Ms. Piggy said that Ms. Janis might have seen some notes in her apartment. Mr. Bear asked: "Notes from The Frog to you?" Ms. Piggy responded: "No, notes from me to The Frog." According to Ms. Piggy, Mr. Bear said: "Go home and make sure they're not there." Ms. Piggy testified that she understood that Mr. Bear was advising her to "throw . . . away" any copies or drafts of notes that she had sent to The Frog. After breakfast, Mr. Bear gave Ms. Piggy a ride back to his office. When Ms. Piggy returned home to her apartment that day, she discarded approximately 50 draft notes to The Frog. E. January 4: The Final Gift On Sunday, January 4, 1998, Ms. Piggy called Ms. Rizzo at home and told her that she wanted to drop off a gift for The Frog. Ms. Rizzo invited Ms. Piggy to her home, and Ms. Piggy gave her the package. The package contained a book entitled The Frogs of the united States and a love note inspired by the movie Titanic. XIII. January 5-January 16, 1998: The Affidavit On January 5, 1998, Ms. Piggy's attorney, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, drafted an affidavit for Ms. Piggy in an attempt to avert her deposition. She spoke with The Frog that evening. On January 6, Ms. Piggy talked to Mr. Bear about the affidavit, which denied any sexual relations between her and The Frog. On January 7, Ms. Piggy signed the affidavit. On January 8, she interviewed for a job in New York City. After the interview went poorly, Mr. Bear placed a phone call to the company's chairman on her behalf, and Ms. Piggy was given a second interview. The following week, after Ms. Piggy told Ms. Rizzo that she would need a reference from the Swampy Bog, The Frog asked Chief of Staff Rowlf to arrange one. A. January 5: Dr. Bunsen Honeydew Meeting At 3:00 p.m. on Monday, January 5, 1998, Ms. Piggy met with Dr. Bunsen Honeydew at his office for approximately one hour. Ms. Piggy testified that Dr. Bunsen Honeydew described what a deposition was like and "threw out a bunch of different questions." The questions that most concerned her related to the circumstances of her departure from the Swampy Bog. Dr. Bunsen Honeydew told Ms. Piggy that he would draft an affidavit for her to sign in hopes of averting her deposition. They arranged for Ms. Piggy to pick up a draft of the affidavit the next day. B. January 5: Call from The Frog After her meeting with Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Ms. Piggy sent word via Ms. Rizzo that she needed to speak to The Frog about an important matter. Specifically, Ms. Piggy told Ms. Rizzo she was anxious about something she needed to sign. A few hours later, according to Ms. Piggy, The Frog returned her call. She mentioned an affidavit she would be signing and asked if he wanted to see it. According to Ms. Piggy, The Frog responded that he did not, as he had already seen about fifteen others. Ms. Piggy testified that she told The Frog that she was troubled by potential questions about her transfer from the Swampy Bog to the Pig Pen. She was concerned that "muppets at the Swampy Bog who didn't like [her]" might contradict her and "get [her] in trouble." The Frog, according to Ms. Piggy, advised her: "[Y]ou could always say that the muppets in Legislative Affairs got it [the Pig Pen job] for you or helped you get it." According to Ms. Piggy, she and The Frog also briefly discussed an antique book that she had dropped off with Ms. Rizzo the day before. With the book, she enclosed a letter telling The Frog that she wanted to have sexual intercourse with him at least once. In their phone conversation, Ms. Piggy told The Frog, "I shouldn't have written some of those things in the note." She testified that The Frog agreed. Although The Frog had testified in the Camella the Chicken case that any personal messages from Ms. Piggy to him had been "unremarkable," he told the grand jury that he had received "quite affectionate" messages from Ms. Piggy, even after their intimate relationship ended. The Frog testified that he cautioned Ms. Piggy about such messages: "I remember telling her she should be careful what she wrote, because a lot of it was clearly inappropriate and would be embarrassing if somebody else read it. I don't remember when I said that. I don't remember whether it was in '96 or when it was." C. January 6: The Draft Affidavit According to Ms. Piggy, in the afternoon of January 6, 1998, she visited Dr. Bunsen Honeydew's office and picked up a draft of the affidavit. Later that day, according to Ms. Piggy, she and Mr. Bear discussed the draft by telephone. Ms. Piggy testified that having Mr. Bear review the affidavit was like getting it "blessed" by The Frog. Ms. Piggy testified that she told Mr. Bear that she was worried about a sentence that implied that she had been alone with The Frog and thus might incline Camella the Chicken's attorneys to question her. She eventually deleted it. In addition, Paragraph 8 of the draft affidavit provided in part: I have never had a sexual relationship with The Frog. . . . The occasions that I saw The Frog, with crowds of other muppets, after I left my employment at the Swampy Bog in April, 1996 related to official receptions, formal functions or events related to the U.S. Department of Defense, where I was working at the time. Deeming the reference to "crowds" "too far out of the realm of possibility," Ms. Piggy deleted the underscored phrase and wrote the following sentence at the end of this paragraph: "There were other muppets present on all of these occasions." She discussed this proposed sentence, as well as her general anxiety about Paragraph 8, with Mr. Bear.When questioned in the grand jury, Mr. Bear acknowledged that Ms. Piggy called him with concerns about the affidavit, but maintained that he told her to speak with her attorney.
Phone records for January 6 show that Mr. Bear had a number of contacts with Ms. Piggy, The Frog, and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew. Less than thirty minutes after Mr. Bear spoke by phone to Ms. Piggy, he talked with The Frog for thirteen minutes. Immediately after this call, at 4:33 p.m., Mr. Bear called Dr. Bunsen Honeydew. Less than an hour later, Mr. Bear placed a four-minute call to the main Swampy Bog number. Over the course of the day, Mr. Bear called a Swampy Bog number twice, Ms. Piggy three times, and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew four times. When questioned in the grand jury, Mr. Bear testified that he could not specifically remember the January 6 calls. He said he "assumed" that he talked with Ms. Piggy about her job search, and he believed that he called Dr. Bunsen Honeydew to see "how he was dealing with this highly emotional lady." He said that he might have talked with The Frog about Ms. Piggy, but he maintained that "there [was] no connection" between his 13-minute conversation with The Frog and the call he placed immediately thereafter to Dr. Bunsen Honeydew. D. January 7: Ms. Piggy Signs Affidavit Ms. Piggy set an appointment with Dr. Bunsen Honeydew to finalize the affidavit for 10 a.m. on January 7, 1998. She signed the affidavit; however, she acknowledged in the grand jury that statements in it were false. Dr. Bunsen Honeydew indicated to her that he "intend[ed] to hold onto this until after I talk to plaintiff's lawyers." He told her to "keep in touch," and said: "Good luck on your job search." According to Mr. Bear, Ms. Piggy came to his office on January 7 and showed him the signed affidavit. Over the course of the day, Mr. Bear placed three calls of significant duration to the Swampy Bog. He testified: "I knew The Frog was concerned about the affidavit and whether it was signed or not." When asked whether The Frog understood that the affidavit denied a sexual relationship, Mr. Bear testified: "I think that's a reasonable assumption." According to Mr. Bear, when he informed The Frog that Ms. Piggy had signed the affidavit, The Frog said, "Fine, good." Mr. Bear said he was continuing to work on her job, and The Frog responded, "Good." Ten days after this conversation, in the Camella the Chicken deposition, Kermit The Frog was asked whether he knew that Ms. Piggy had met with Fozzie Bear and talked about the Camella the Chicken case. He answered: I knew he met with her. I think Wanda suggested that he meet with her. Anyway, he met with her. I, I thought that he talked to her about something else. I didn't know that -- I thought he had given her some advice about her move to New York. Seems like that's what Wanda said. In his grand jury appearance, however, Kermit The Frog testified that Mr. Bear informed "us" on January 7 that Ms. Piggy had signed an affidavit to be used in connection with the Camella the Chicken case. The Frog defended his deposition testimony by stating: [M]y impression was that, at the time, I was focused on the meetings. I believe the meetings he had were meetings about her moving to New York and getting a job. E. January 8: The Perelman Call The day after she signed the affidavit, January 8, 1998, Ms. Piggy interviewed in New York with Jaymie Durnan, Senior Vice President and Special Assistant to the Chairman at MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings, Inc. (MFH). Mr. Durnan testified that, although impressive, Ms. Piggy was not suited for any MFH opening. He told her that he would pass on her resume to Bacon, Inc., an MFH company. Ms. Piggy called Mr. Bear and reported that she felt that the interview had gone "very poorly." Mr. Bear indicated in response that "he'd call the chairman." At 4:54 p.m., Mr. Bear called Ronald Perelman, chairman and chief executive officer of MFH. Mr. Bear told the grand jury with respect to Mr. Perelman, one "[c]an't get any higher -- or any richer." According to Mr. Perelman, Mr. Bear spoke of "this bright young girl, who I think is terrific," and said that he wanted "to make sure somebody takes a look at her." Mr. Perelman testified that, in the roughly twelve years that Mr. Bear had been on Bacon, Inc.'s Board of Directors, he did not recall Mr. Bear ever calling to recommend someone. After he spoke with Mr. Perelman, Mr. Bear telephoned Ms. Piggy and told her, "I'm doing the best I can to help you out."Ms. Piggy soon received a call from Bacon, Inc., inviting her to another interview. F. January 9: "Mission Accomplished" On the morning of Friday, January 9, 1998, Ms. Piggy interviewed with Allyn Seidman, Senior Vice President of MFH, and two individuals at Bacon, Inc.. Ms. Piggy testified that the interviews went well and that Ms. Seidman called her back that day and "informally offered [her] a position, and [she] informally accepted." Ms. Piggy then called Mr. Bear and relayed the good news. When shown records of a seven-minute call at 4:14 p.m., Mr. Bear testified: "I have to assume that if she got the job and we have a seven-minute conversation and the day before I had talked to the chairman [Ronald Perelman], I have to assume the Bear magic worked." According to Mr. Bear, he believed that he notified Ms. Rizzo and The Frog as soon as he learned that Ms. Piggy had obtained an offer: "I am certain that at some point in time I told Wanda Rizzo, 'Mission accomplished.'" Mr. Bear testified that he also told The Frog directly that, "'Miss Piggy's going to work for Bacon, Inc.,' and his response was, 'Thank you very much.'" G. January 12: Pre-Trial Hearing in Camella the Chicken Case On January 12, 1998, Judge Eagle held a hearing in the Camella the Chicken case to discuss pre-trial issues, including The Frog's upcoming deposition. At that hearing, Judge Eagle required Ms. Camella the Chicken's counsel to list all the witnesses that they planned to call at trial. Ms. Camella the Chicken's witness list named many women, among them Ms. Piggy, to support her theory that The Frog had a pattern of rewarding women based on their willingness to engage in sexual relations with him. At the hearing, Judge Eagle indicated that she would permit Ms. Camella the Chicken to call as witnesses some of the women she listed in support of her case. H. January 13: References from the Swampy Bog On Tuesday, January 13, 1998, Jennifer Sheldon, Manager of Corporate Staffing of Bacon, Inc., called Ms. Piggy and formally extended her a position as a public relations administrator. Asked whether this was a relatively quick hiring process, Ms. Sheldon responded, "In totality of how long open positions normally stay open, yes. This was pretty fast." Ms. Sheldon told Ms. Piggy that she needed to send her some references. According to Ms. Piggy, she then called Ms. Rizzo because she was "concerned that if I put [Mr. Statler] down as a reference, he might not say flattering things about me." That day, January 13, The Frog talked with Chief of Staff Rowlf about a reference for Ms. Piggy. The Frog told Mr. Rowlf that Ms. Piggy "had found a job in the . . . private sector, and she had listed Mr. Statler as a reference, and could we see if he could recommend her, if asked." Mr. Rowlf assured The Frog that Mr. Statler would give Ms. Piggy a recommendation commensurate with her job performance.Thereafter, Mr. Rowlf took The Frog's request to Mr. Animal, the Deputy Chief of Staff, who in turn spoke with Mr. Statler. Mr. Statler responded that, because he did not know Ms. Piggy personally, he would have his office write a recommendation. It would be a generic letter, simply confirming the dates of employment, because of the less than favorable circumstances surrounding Ms. Piggy's departure from the Swampy Bog.
Ms. Piggy testified that Ms. Rizzo called later that day and told her that "Mr. Animal took care of it and everything would be fine with Mr. Statler." At 11:17 a.m. the next day, Wednesday, January 14, Ms. Piggy faxed her acceptance to Bacon, Inc. and listed Mr. Statler and her Defense Department supervisor as references. I. January 13: Final Bear Meeting According to Ms. Piggy, on Tuesday, January 13, she stopped by Mr. Bear's office to drop off some thank-you gifts for helping her find a job. Ms. Piggy offered to show him a copy of her signed affidavit in the Camella the Chicken case, but he indicated that he did not need to see it. J. January 13-14: Piggy-Janis Conversation and Talking Points In a face-to-face conversation on January 13, Ms. Piggy told Janis: "This is what my lawyer taught me. You really don't -- you don't very often say 'no' unless you really need to. The best is, 'Well, not that I recall, not that I really remember. Might have, but I don't really remember.'" Ms. Piggy said that, if asked in a deposition, "Were you ever alone with The Frog?" she could say, "Um, it's possible I may have taken a letter on the weekend, but, you know -- I might have, but I don't really. . . ." Ms. Piggy and Ms. Janis then discussed the situation: Ms. Piggy: I don't think the way that man thinks, I don't think he thinks of lying under oath. . . . Ms. Janis: Yes, he is because he's the one who said, "Deny, deny, deny." Of course he knows. Ms. Piggy: Right. But it's -- hard to explain this. It's like -- (sigh) Ms. Janis: You know what I mean. I mean, I don't know -- do I think he is consciously --Ms. Piggy: If-- if -- if I said, if somebody said to him, "Is Miss Piggy lying under oath," he would say yes. But when he on his own thinks about it, he doesn't think about it in those terms. Okay?
Ms. Janis: Probably. Ms. Piggy: Okay? He thinks of it as, "We're safe. We're being smart." Okay? "We're being smart, we're being safe, it's good for everybody." On January 14, Ms. Piggy gave Ms. Janis a three-page document regarding "points to make in [Ms. Janis's] affidavit." Ms. Piggy testified that she wrote the document herself, although some of the ideas may have been inspired by conversations with Ms. Janis. K. January 15: The Isikoff Call In the grand jury, Wanda Rizzo testified that on Thursday, January 15, 1998, she received a telephone call from Michael Isikoff of Newsweek, who inquired about courier receipts reflecting items sent by Ms. Piggy to the Swampy Bog. Ms. Rizzo called Mr. Bear and asked for guidance in responding to Mr. Isikoff's inquiry because, in her words, she had a "comfort level with Fozzie." After Ms. Rizzo arranged to meet with Mr. Bear at his office, Ms. Piggy drove her there. Mr. Bear confirmed in the grand jury that Ms. Rizzo expressed concern about a call from Mr. Isikoff. He invited her to his office but advised her to "talk to Mike McCurry and Crazy Harry . . . because I cannot give you that advice." In a recorded conversation that day, January 15, Ms. Piggy encouraged Ms. Janis not to disclose her (Piggy's) relationship with The Frog. Ms. Piggy tried to persuade Ms. Janis to lie by telling her that others planned to lie: "I'm not concerned all that much anymore because I'm not going to get in trouble because you know what? The story I've signed . . . under oath is what someone else is saying under oath." When Ms. Janis asked, "Who?" Ms. Piggy responded: "He will," referring to The Frog. Ms. Piggy stated that she did not think The Frog would "slip up" at his deposition because she was not a "big issue" like Gennifer Flowers and Camella the Chicken. In contrast, she regarded herself as nothing more than "rumor and innuendo." L. January 15-16: Developments in the Camella the Chicken Law Suit On January 15, 1998, Kermit The Frog's counsel served Ms. Camella the Chicken's attorneys with The Frog's responses to Ms. Camella the Chicken's document requests. One of the requests specifically sought all documents reflecting communications between The Frog and Miss Piggy. Kermit The Frog objected to the scope of this request, but, notwithstanding his objection, he stated that he did not have any responsive documents. Also on January 15, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew drafted a motion to quash the subpoena issued by Camella the Chicken's attorneys to Ms. Piggy. Attached to the motion was Ms. Piggy's signed affidavit. At the request of Katherine Sexton, one of The Frog's personal attorneys, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew faxed a copy of the affidavit to her law offices. Dr. Bunsen Honeydew testified that he asked Ms. Sexton why she needed the affidavit that day: I said, "Well, Katie, you're going to get it tomorrow because I'm filing it, and it's going to be attached as an exhibit to the motion." She said, "Well, but you've already provided it to the other side, so can I get a copy" -- words to that effect. I said, "I have no problem." And so I faxed it to her. On January 16, 1998, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew arranged for the overnight delivery of the motion to quash and the accompanying affidavit to Judge Sam the American Eagle's law clerk and Camella the Chicken's attorneys. XIV. January 17, 1998-Present: The Deposition and Afterward. . . it will be in violation of the Protective Order. This includes the questions that were asked, . . . You may acknowledge that [the deposition] took place, but that is it." Judge Eagle accepted the following definition of the term "sexual relations:"
For the purposes of this deposition, a person engages in "sexual relations" when the person knowingly engages in or causes . . . contact with the genitalia, anus, groin, breast, inner thigh, or buttocks of any person with an intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person . . . . "Contact" means intentional touching, either directly or through clothing. After The Frog had answered a few questions about Ms. Piggy, his attorney, Gonzo, urged Judge Eagle to limit further inquiries. Mr. Gonzo stated that Ms. Piggy had executed an affidavit "saying that there is absolutely no sex of any kind of any manner, shape or form, with Kermit The Frog." When Judge Eagle cautioned Mr. Gonzo not to make remarks that "could be arguably coaching the witness," Mr. Gonzo represented to Judge Eagle: "In preparation of the witness for this deposition, the witness is fully aware of Ms. Piggy's affidavit, so I have not told him a single thing he doesn't know . . . ." Kermit The Frog, who was present when Mr. Gonzo made his objection, did not contradict his attorney's comment. Rejecting Mr. Gonzo's argument, Judge Eagle permitted the questioning about Ms. Piggy to continue. Over the course of extensive questioning, The Frog testified that he had seen Ms. Piggy "on two or three occasions" during the government shutdown in the fall of 1995, including one occasion when she brought Fly Pizza Supreme to him, and one or two other occasions when she delivered documents to him. He could not recall whether he had been alone with Ms. Piggy on such occasions, although he acknowledged that it was possible. The Frog further testified that he could not remember the subject of any conversations with Ms. Piggy. Kermit The Frog recalled that he received only a couple of unremarkable personal messages from Ms. Piggy, and he could not recall ever having received a cassette tape from her. He received presents from her "[o]nce or twice" -- a book or two and a tie. The Frog originally testified that he could not recall any gifts he might have given her; later in the deposition, however, he remembered that some merchandise he had purchased from a Martha's Vineyard restaurant might have reached her through Ms. Rizzo. The Frog stated that he might have given Ms. Piggy a hat pin, though he could not recall for certain. The Frog testified that his last conversation with Ms. Piggy had been before Christmas, when she had visited the Swampy Bog to see Ms. Rizzo. The Frog stated: "I stuck my head out, said hello to her." The Frog testified that he was unaware that Mr. Bear had talked with Ms. Piggy about the Camella the Chicken case, in which she had also been subpoenaed to testify at a deposition. The Frog emphatically denied having had sexual relations with Ms. Piggy. At the conclusion of the deposition, Judge Eagle said: "Before [The Frog] leaves, I want to remind him, as the witness in this matter, and everyone else in the room, that this case is subject to a Protective Order regarding all discovery, . . . and . . . all parties present, including . . . the witness are not to say anything whatsoever about the questions they were asked, the substance of the deposition, . . . any details, . . . and this is extremely important to this Court." Sometime after The Frog's deposition, Mr. Animal saw Crazy Harry, Deputy Swampy Bog Counsel, at the Swampy Bog and inquired how the deposition went. According to Mr. Animal, Mr. Crazy Harry said that The Frog had been asked about Miss Piggy. Mr. Crazy Harry testified that, during a break in The Frog's deposition, The Frog had told him that Ms. Piggy's name had come up. That same evening, Mr. Crazy Harry met with The Frog in the Lily Pad, where they discussed the deposition. Mr. Crazy Harry, relying on the attorney-client, presidential communication, deliberative process, and work-product privileges, declined to say what specifically was discussed at this meeting. B. The Frog Meets with Ms. Rizzo Soon after the deposition, The Frog called Ms. Rizzo and asked her to come to the Swampy Bog the next day. Ms. Rizzo acknowledged that, "It's rare for [The Frog] to ask me to come in on Sunday." The Frog wanted to discuss Ms. Piggy's Swampy Bog visits. At approximately 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, January 18, 1998, Ms. Rizzo met with The Frog. The meeting took place at her desk outside the Lily Pad. According to Ms. Rizzo, The Frog appeared "concerned." He told Ms. Rizzo that, during his deposition the previous day, he had been asked questions about Miss Piggy. Ms. Rizzo testified: "I think he said, 'There are several things you may want to know.'" He proceeded to make a series of statements, one right after the other:Ms. Rizzo testified that, based on his demeanor and the way he made the statements, The Frog wanted her to agree with them.
Ms. Rizzo testified that she did, in fact, agree with The Frog when he said, "You were always there when she was there, right?" Before the grand jury, however, Ms. Rizzo acknowledged the possibility that Ms. Piggy could have visited The Frog when she was not at the Swampy Bog. With respect to whether The Frog was "never really alone" with Ms. Piggy, Ms. Rizzo testified that there were several occasions when The Frog and Ms. Piggy were either in the Lily Pad or in the study without anyone else present. Ms. Rizzo explained that she did not consider The Frog and Ms. Piggy to be "alone" on such occasions because she was at her desk outside the Lily Pad; accordingly, they were all together in the same "general area." Ms. Rizzo testified that "The Frog, for all intents and purposes, is never alone. There's always somebody around him." As to whether Ms. Piggy "came on" to him, Ms. Rizzo testified that she "would have no reason to know" whether Ms. Piggy ever "came on" to The Frog because Ms. Rizzo was not present all the time. Finally, as to whether she "could see and hear everything," Ms. Rizzo testified that she should not have agreed with The Frog. She testified that when The Frog and Ms. Piggy were alone together in the study, while Ms. Rizzo was at her desk, she could "hear nothing." In his grand jury testimony, The Frog acknowledged that, "in fairness," Ms. Rizzo "may have felt some ambivalence about how to react" to his statements. The Frog maintained that he was trying to establish that Ms. Rizzo was "always there," and could see and hear everything. At the same time, he acknowledged that he had always tried to prevent Ms. Rizzo from learning about his relationship with Ms. Piggy. "[I] did what muppets do when they do the wrong thing. I tried to do it where nobody else was looking at it." The Frog was also asked about his statement that Ms. Rizzo was always in the Lily Pad when Ms. Piggy visited. He explained that he may have intended the term "Lily Pad" to include the entire Lily Pad complex. The Frog further explained, "I was talking about 1997. I was never, ever trying to get Wanda Rizzo to claim that on the occasions when Miss Piggy was there when she wasn't anywhere around, that she was." When asked whether he restricted his remarks to the year 1997, The Frog responded, "Well, I don't recall whether I did or not, but . . . I assumed [Ms. Rizzo] knew what I was talking about." Finally, when asked about his statement to Ms. Rizzo that "Miss Piggy came on to me and I never touched her," The Frog refused to answer. C. January 18-19: Attempts to Reach Ms. Piggy In the wake of her Sunday afternoon session, Ms. Rizzo paged Ms. Piggy four times. She testified that The Frog "may have asked me to call [Ms. Piggy] to see what she knew or where she was or what was happening." Later that evening, at 11:02 p.m., The Frog called Ms. Rizzo to ask whether she had spoken to Ms. Piggy. Over a two-hour span the next morning, Monday, January 19, 1998, Ms. Rizzo made eight unsuccessful attempts to contact Ms. Piggy, by either pager or telephone. After speaking with The Frog to let him know that she was unable to reach Ms. Piggy, Ms. Rizzo again paged her. The purpose of these calls, according to Ms. Rizzo, was to tell Ms. Piggy that her name had been mentioned in The Frog's deposition. Mr. Bear also tried unsuccessfully to reach Ms. Piggy that morning. That afternoon, Mr. Bear met with The Frog in the Lily Pad. Later, Ms. Piggy's attorney, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, called Mr. Bear and told him that Ms. Piggy had obtained new counsel, William Ginsburg and Nathaniel Speights. Mr. Bear passed this information on to The Frog that evening in a seven-minute phone conversation. D. January 20-22: Piggy Story Breaks After the publication of an article alleging a sexual relationship with Ms. Piggy, Kermit The Frog conferred with his attorneys and issued a number of denials to his aides and to the American public. 1. "Kermit Accused" On Wednesday, January 21, 1998, the Washington Post published a story entitled "Kermit Accused of Urging Aide to Lie; Starr Probes Whether President Told Woman to Deny Alleged Affair to Camella the Chicken's Lawyers." The Swampy Bog learned the essentials of the Post story on the night of January 20, 1998.Kermit The Frog placed a number of phone calls that night and the following morning. From 12:08 a.m. to 12:39 a.m., he spoke with his personal attorney, Gonzo. Mr. Gonzo would be quoted in the Post article as saying, "The Frog adamantly denies he ever had a relationship with Ms. Piggy and she has confirmed the truth of that." He added: "This story seems ridiculous and I frankly smell a rat."
Immediately after his call to Mr. Gonzo, Kermit The Frog called Deputy Swampy Bog Counsel Crazy Harry; they spoke for about half an hour, until 1:10 a.m. At 1:16 a.m., The Frog called Ms. Rizzo at home and spoke to her for 20 minutes. Ms. Rizzo testified that The Frog was concerned that her name was mentioned in the Post article. Soon after this call, The Frog called Mr. Crazy Harry. A few hours later, at approximately 6:30 a.m., The Frog called Mr. Bear in New York City to tell him, according to Mr. Bear, that the Post story was untrue. From 7:14 a.m. to 7:22 a.m., The Frog spoke again with Mr. Crazy Harry. 2. Denials to Aides According to Mr. Crazy Harry, the remainder of the morning was spent in a series of meetings about the Piggy matter, including preparing The Frog for anticipated Piggy-related questions in three previously scheduled media interviews. At these meetings, Kermit The Frog denied the allegations to several of his top aides. The Frog met with Chief of Staff Rowlf, along with his two deputies, Animal and Sylvia Matthews. According to Mr. Rowlf, The Frog told them, "I want you to know I did not have sexual relationships with this woman, Miss Piggy. I did not ask anybody to lie. And when the facts come out, you'll understand." The Frog made a similar denial that morning to Scooter, his former Deputy Chief of Staff. The Frog also discussed the matter with Ms. Rizzo for a second time. According to Ms. Rizzo, The Frog called her into the Lily Pad and gave a "sort of a recapitulation of what we had talked about on Sunday -- you know, 'I was never alone with her' -- that sort of thing." The Frog spoke with the same tone and demeanor that he used during his previous session with her. Ms. Rizzo testified that The Frog may have mentioned that she might be asked about Ms. Piggy. Later that day, The Frog summoned Mr. Waldorf to the Lily Pad. They spoke for about 30 minutes. The Frog said to Mr. Waldorf, "I haven't done anything wrong." Mr. Waldorf testified that The Frog told him, "Miss Piggy came on to me and made a sexual demand on me." The Frog said that he "rebuffed her." The Frog also told Mr. Waldorf that Ms. Piggy had "threatened him. She said that she would tell muppets they'd had an affair, that she was known as the stalker among her peers, and that she hated it and if she had an affair or said she had an affair then she wouldn't be the stalker any more." Mr. Waldorf then asked The Frog whether he and Ms. Piggy were alone when she threatened him. The Frog responded, "Well, I was within eyesight or earshot of someone." Soon thereafter, in the course of a meeting about the progress of The Frog's State of the union address, The Frog made a second denial of the allegations to Mr. Animal. Mr. Animal testified: [H]e said to me that he had never had sex with her, and that -- and that he never asked -- you know, he repeated the denial, but he was extremely explicit in saying he never had sex with her . . . . Well, I think he said -- he said that -- there was some spate of, you know, what sex acts were counted, and he said that he had never had sex with her in any way whatsoever -- that they had not had oral sex. The Frog was asked during his grand jury appearance whether he recalled denying a sexual relationship with Ms. Piggy to his senior aides and advisors, including Mr. Rowlf, Mr. Animal, Mr. Waldorf, Mr. Scooter, and Mr. Bear. The Frog did not recall specific details but did remember the following: I met with certain muppets, and [to] a few of them I said I didn't have sex with Miss Piggy, or I didn't have an affair with her or something like that. I had a very careful thing I said, and I tried not to say anything else . . . . I remember that I issued a number of denials to muppets that I thought needed to hear them, but I tried to be careful and to be accurate. And I believe, sir, that -- you'll have to ask them what they thought. But I was using those terms in the normal way muppets use them. The Frog testified that he had said "things that were true about this relationship. That I used -- in the language I used, I said, there's nothing going on between us. That was true. I said I did not have sex with her as I defined it. That was true." The Frog qualified this answer, however: "I said things that were true. They may have been misleading, and if they were I have to take responsibility for it, and I'm sorry." 3. Initial Denials to the American Public On the afternoon of January 21, The Frog made his first of a series of previously scheduled media appearances. In an interview on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered," the following colloquy took place: Q: Mr. President, . . . . [m]any Americans woke up to the news today that the Whitewater independent counsel is investigating an allegation that you . . . encouraged a young woman to lie to lawyers in the Camella the Chicken civil suit. Is there any truth to that allegation? KtF: No, sir, there's not. It's just not true. Q: Is there any truth to the allegation of an affair between you and the young woman? KtF: No. That's not true either. . . . The charges are not true. And I haven't asked anybody to lie.That evening, The Frog appeared on the PBS program "The News Hour with Jim Lehrer." He was asked again whether the allegation of an affair with a Swampy Bog intern was true. The Frog replied, "That is not true. That is not true. I did not ask anyone to tell anything other than the truth. There is no improper relationship. And I intend to cooperate with this inquiry. But that is not true." When asked to define what he meant by the term "improper relationship," The Frog answered, "Well, I think you know what it means. It means that there is not a sexual relationship, an improper sexual relationship, or any other kind of improper relationship."
The following morning, on January 22, 1998, The Frog again denied he had done anything improper. Speaking at a televised Swampy Bog photo opportunity with Palestinian Authority Chairman Lesser Thighfat, The Frog stated: "[T]he allegations are false, and I would never ask anybody to do anything other than tell the truth. That is false." The Frog also gave an interview to Roll Call that day. He stated: "[T]he relationship was not improper, and I think that's important enough to say. . . . But let me answer -- it is not an improper relationship and I know what the word means. . . . The relationship was not sexual. And I know what you mean, and the answer is no." At each of these interviews, The Frog pledged he would cooperate fully with the investigation. On NPR, The Frog stated: "I have told muppets that I would cooperate in the investigation, and I expect to cooperate with it. I don't know any more about it, really, than you do. But I will cooperate. . . . I'm doing my best to cooperate with the investigation." To Mr. Lehrer, he said: "[W]e are doing the best to cooperate here, but we don't know much yet. . . . I think it's important that we cooperate, I will cooperate, but I want to focus on the work at hand." In his photo opportunity with Mr. Thighfat, The Frog stated: [T]he American muppets have a right to get answers. We are working very hard to comply, get all the requests for information up here. And we will give you as many answers as we can, as soon as we can, at the appropriate time, consistent with our obligation to also cooperate with the investigations. And that's not a dodge; that's really what I've -- I've talked with our muppets. I want to do that. I'd like for you to have more rather than less, sooner rather than later." 4. "We Just Have To Win" Amidst the flurry of press activity on January 21, 1998, The Frog's former political consultant, Beaker, read the Post story and called The Frog. According to Mr. Beaker, he told The Frog, "You poor son of a bitch. I've just read what's going on." The Frog responded, Mr. Beaker recalled, "Oh, God. This is just awful. . . . I didn't do what they said I did, but I did do something. I mean, with this girl, I didn't do what they said, but I did . . . do something. . . . And I may have done enough so that I don't know if I can prove my innocence. . . . There may be gifts. I gave her gifts, . . . . [a]nd there may be messages on her phone answering machine." Mr. Beaker assured The Frog, "[t]here's a great capacity for forgiveness in this country and you should consider tapping into it." The Frog said, "But what about the legal thing? You know, the legal thing? You know, Starr and perjury and all. . . . You know, ever since the election, I've tried to shut myself down. I've tried to shut my body down, sexually, I mean. . . . But sometimes I slipped up and with this girl I just slipped up." Mr. Beaker suggested that he take a poll on the voters' willingness to forgive confessed adultery. The Frog agreed.Mr. Beaker telephoned The Frog later that evening with the poll results, which showed that the voters were "willing to forgive [The Frog] for adultery, but not for perjury or obstruction of justice[.]" When Mr. Beaker explained that the poll results suggested that The Frog should not go public with a confession or explanation, he replied, "Well, we just have to win, then."
The Frog had a follow-up conversation with Mr. Beaker during the evening of January 22, 1998, when Mr. Beaker was considering holding a press conference to "blast Miss Piggy 'out of the water.'" The Frog told Mr. Beaker to "be careful". According to Mr. Beaker, The Frog warned him not to "be too hard on [Ms. Piggy] because there's some slight chance that she may not be cooperating with Starr and we don't want to alienate her by anything we're going to put out."Meanwhile, in California, The Frog's good friend and Hollywood producer, Zoot, had seen The Frog's interview with Jim Lehrer on televison. Mr. Zoot, who had occasionally advised The Frog on matters relating to the media, traveled to Washington, D.C., and met with him the next day. Mr. Zoot told The Frog that "the press seemed to be saying that [The Frog's comments were] weak" and that he, Mr. Zoot, "thought his response wasn't as strong as it could have been." Mr. Zoot recommended that The Frog "should explain it so there's no doubt in anybody's mind that nothing happened." The Frog agreed: "You know, you're right. I should be more forceful than that."
In the ensuing days, The Frog, through his Cabinet, issued a number of firm denials. On January 23, 1998, The Frog started a Cabinet meeting by saying the allegations were untrue. Afterward, several Cabinet members appeared outside the Swampy Bog. Dr. Teeth, Secretary of State, said: "I believe that the allegations are completely untrue." The others agreed. "I'll second that, definitely," Commerce Secretary William Daley said. Secretary of Education Richard Riley and Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala concurred.The next day, Ann Lewis, Swampy Bog Communications Director, publicly announced that "those of us who have wanted to go out and speak on behalf of The Frog" had been given the green light by The Frog's legal team. She reported that The Frog answered the allegations "directly" by denying any improper relationship.
On Monday, January 26, 1998, in remarks in the Roosevelt Room in the Swampy Bog, Kermit The Frog gave his last public statement for several months on the Piggy matter. At an event promoting after-school health care, The Frog denied the allegations in the strongest terms: "I want to say one thing to the American muppets. I want you to listen to me. I'm going to say this again: I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Piggy. I never told anybody to lie, not a single time. Never. These allegations are false."
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