>http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/03/19/records-show-hillary-clinton-was-home-in.../
>
>Hillary Clinton Was in White House During Bill's Trysts With Lewinsky
>Wednesday, March 19, 2008
>
>WASHINGTON - Hillary Rodham Clinton was home in the White House the day her
>husband had an infamous sexual encounter just outside the Oval Office with
>intern Monica Lewinsky, according to Sen. Clinton's schedule, released
>Wednesday among 11,000 pages of papers from her years as first lady.
>
>The words of the schedules are dry, but they take on emotional weight when
>coupled with revelations about the sex scandal that eventually came to
>light. A year later, the first lady's schedules show her pressing ahead with
>public events and showing her face as the scandal upended her life and
>threatened Bill Clinton's presidency.
>
>The papers also shed light on her struggle for health care reform early in
>the Clinton administration, her scaling back when that effort failed, her
>travels abroad and the legal woes that dogged the Clintons in the White
>House.
>
>It's unlikely she would be surprised at this late date to learn that the
>president was cheating on her while she was at home in the White House. But
>the release of the documents reminds voters anew about Bill Clinton's affair
>and the impeachment proceedings that brought Washington to a halt for a
>year.
>
>The private crisis came at the most public of times for the the first lady.
>
>She had speeches scheduled, at home and abroad. She appeared by President
>Clinton's side at an education event where he angrily dismissed the reports
>of having sex with Lewinsky.
>
>Her schedule has her choosing flowers for a black-tie dinner, congratulating
>"Guns Aren't Cool" award winners and reading to kids in the week in January
>1998 when allegations of the scandal begin coming out. She denounced a "vast
>right-wing conspiracy" in a TV interview.
>
>Almost a year earlier, the schedules show, she was home on Feb. 28, 1997,
>the day when the Kenneth Starr report says Bill Clinton had a sexual
>encounter with Lewinsky in an Oval Office bathroom in the early evening,
>staining her blue dress.
>
>Mrs. Clinton had "drop by" events or meetings in the Map Room and Diplomatic
>Reception Room between 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. that day, according to her
>schedule. It also lists plays that night at Washington's Arena Stage and
>National Theater, and a National Symphony Orchestra pops concert with singer
>Sarah Brightman at the Kennedy Center.
>
>It is not clear whether Mrs. Clinton attended any of those.
>
>The National Archives in Washington and former President Clinton's
>presidential library in Arkansas jointly released the first lady's schedules
>after months of pressure from critics who say the Clintons were delaying the
>disclosure. The issue has dogged her in her bid for the White House.
>
>In all, 11,046 pages have been made available. Nearly 4,800 pages have parts
>blacked out. Archivists said that's to protect the privacy of third parties.
>Schedules for more than 30 days of activities were not included in this
>release.
>
>Clinton, now New York senator, said in her memoirs that she had little
>choice but to carry on with her appearances when the Lewinsky revelations
>came out. It was on Jan. 21, 1998, when her husband woke her up, sat on the
>edge of the bed and said, "There's something in today's papers you should
>know about." He told her of the reports of his relationship with the former
>intern, and she said she believed his denials.
>
>But on Saturday, Aug. 15, 1998, with the investigation closing in on the
>real story, he woke her up again and owned up to his misbehavior. She said
>in her book that she was grateful there were no public events that weekend.
>
>Before the Lewinsky ordeal, Mrs. Clinton faced her own legal troubles in
>1996 during the criminal investigation of the Clintons' Whitewater real
>estate dealings in Arkansas.
>
>In the Whitewater probe, one of the pivotal events occurred on Jan. 4, 1996,
>a day in which Mrs. Clinton's personal calendar for late that afternoon is
>marked "Private Meeting" with her chief of staff, Margaret Williams.
>
>Several hours earlier, an aide had discovered inside the White House family
>residence long-sought billing records of Mrs. Clinton's legal work on
>Whitewater-related real estate transactions that turned out to be
>fraudulent.
>
>Furious prosecutors, who had subpoenaed the records 18 months earlier,
>ordered Mrs. Clinton to testify before a federal grand jury about the
>records. She appeared on Jan. 26, 1996.
>
>Her calendar for Jan. 26 says "No Public Schedule," although the first lady
>stood before a bank of microphones in front of the federal courthouse in
>Washington, and declared: "I am happy to answer the grand jury's questions."
>Several hours of testimony she gave that day made her the first first lady
>to ever be hauled in for such questioning.
>
>Neither the federal probe by Independent Counsel Starr nor Republican-led
>investigations on Capitol Hill were ever able to sort out why the records of
>Mrs. Clinton's work had never been turned over to investigators. Mrs.
>Clinton said she had no idea where the billing records had been.
>
>Prosecutors concluded they did not have enough to prove that she was a
>knowing participant in criminal conduct by others including Whitewater
>business partner Jim McDougal.
>
>Her Democratic presidential campaign released a statement Wednesday saying
>the schedules spanning her two terms as first lady "illustrate the array of
>substantive issues she worked on" and her travel to more than 80 countries
>"in pursuit of the administration's domestic and foreign policy goals."
>
>Clinton says her years as first lady equip her to handle foreign policy and
>national security as president.
>
>But the schedules show trips packed with plainly traditional activities for
>a first lady, along with some substance.
>
>For example, in her January 1994 visit to Russia with her husband, her
>schedule is focused on events with other wives. She sat in on a birthing
>class at a hospital, toured a cathedral and joined prominent women in a
>lunch of blinis with caviar and salmon.
>
>The Clinton campaign said the schedules are merely a guide and don't reflect
>all of her activities.
>
>The papers show her tackling health care reform out of the gate in 1993,
>with a meeting three days after her husband's inauguration and many more as
>the year went on, before her effort ultimately failed.
>
>She was also involved in helping her husband win congressional approval of
>the North American Free Trade Agreement, a deal she now criticizes and says
>she would try to change.
>
>Her White House policy role diminished markedly after the collapse of the
>health care initiative.
>
>However, she maintained a highly visible place in the administration.
>
>For example, at the same time she was facing the Whitewater criminal
>investigation, she was raising her profile with the publication of her book,
>"It Takes A Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us."
>
>Her 10-city book tour started a national dialogue that eventually became
>fodder for political critics on the needs of children.
>
>In addition, the first lady was part of the public face of presidential bill
>signings. In the stage directions for the signing of the Health Insurance
>Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, the calendar for Aug. 21, 1996,
>states: "HRC will not have a role but will be seated in the front row."
>