The Full List Of Bill Clinton Sexual Misconduct Allegations By 12 Different Women
Wow.
Getty Oh, Bill Clinton.
Something about the 42nd President of the United States of America is just incredibly hard not to be fond of.
I don't know if it's charisma or charm or some magical Southern "gentleman" aura, but from his infamous penchant for McDonald's to his uncontainable joy for balloons, good old Bubba has a smooth as glass way of keeping the people smiling ...
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And perhaps because he is just so gosh darn adorable, something about the man known as Slick Willie and Teflon Bill also keeps the people quiet — particularly about the way he has skated by horrific allegations of rape, sexual assault, and harassment for the past five decades.
Over the course of the past 50 years, Clinton has been repeatedly accused of serious criminal misconduct against women.
The death of Linda Tripp, 70, the whistleblower who secretly made tape recordings of Monica Lewinsky talking about her affair with then-President Clinton, brings these women's stories rushing back into our collective consciousness today.
And yet, as news story after news story about powerful men like Harvey Weinstein, whose similarly appalling behavior also went unchecked for far too long, have flooded Google and social media with #MeToo stories for more than two years now, barely a whisper has been breathed about Clinton's highly problematic past, including his alleged ties with now deceased financier and alleged serial pedophile and child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
In fact, when Clinton's troubling past has been raised by Conservatives, even Liberals as profoundly outspoken on behalf of assault survivors as Teen Vogue's Lauren Duca are somehow able to disassociate their beloved Bill's behavior from that of men like Mark Halperin, Harvey Weinstein, Bill O'Reilly, Roy Price, Bill Cosby and Leon Wieseltier.
As someone who vividly remembers the joyful sense of hope surrounding Clinton during both his first presidential campaign and both of his terms as President, I understand the impulse — to an extent.
Bill Clinton's public persona is one that evokes strong feelings of optimism, youthful energy, and, not insignificantly, fun.
The President plays the saxophone! Well! And on "The Arsenio Hall Show"!
The President tried pot! (Even if he didn't like it and didn't inhale ... I mean, me neither.)
The President jogs! In dolphin shorts! And eats at McDonald's!
JUST.LIKE.YOU.
That's one of the most complicated things about the issue of sexual violence against women.
We spend so much time reminding men that anyone could be raped or abused — your daughter, your sister, your mother, your wife, your innocent first love — yet fail to remind them (and ourselves) that on the flip side, anyone can be a predator — your son, your brother, your father, your best friend, your most trusted mentor ... It could even be you.
And so we ignore the fact at least a dozen women have reportedly accused Clinton of violent and predatory behavior that parallels that of Harvey Weinstein.
And we ignore the fact that, as has been confirmed by Snopes, "a page on Hillary Clinton's campaign website about campus sexual assault was edited to remove wording about a victim's 'right to be believed' in February 2016, following a Twitter debacle in which Hillary was called out by one of Bill's accusers, Juanita Broaddrick.
I have no personal vendetta again the Clintons and no interest in bolstering Trump's supporters, but I also believe strongly that attempts to cover up the truth only ever lead to harm, and certainly never to anything good.
If we want to see any kind of meaningful change in violence against women as a result of the recent outings of abusive men in power and the subsequent #MeToo movement, we can't choose to believe women only when they are accusing men we already don't like, or who we think "look like" bad guys.
Below is a list of twelve women who have accused President Bill Clinton of criminal, predatory sexual behavior of various types.
This list does not include women such as Regina Hopper Blakely, Robyn Dickey, Gennifer Flowers, Dolly Kyle Browning or Monica Lewinsky, with whom he reportedly to had consensual extramarital affairs (although, for the record, I will say that there may certainly have been a serious abuse of power involved, which I am not dismissing) because assault should not be conflated with anyone's moral opinions about what goes on within any particular marriage. Those relationships and their reflection on that marriage belong to Bill and Hillary alone.
This list also does not address information alleging that flight logs tie Bill Clinton to Jeffrey Epstein.
In 2015, now-defunct news site Gawker shared the stunning revelations that:
- Bill Clinton flew on Epstein's private Boeing 727 — known as the "Lolita Express" — 26 times.
- On some of these flights, Clinton was accompanied by "a woman whom federal prosecutors suspect of procuring underage sex victims for Mr. Epstein."
- On at least five of these flights, Clinton declined to have Secret Service protection.
While it bears repeating that he has never been convicted, here is a complete listing of the 12 women reported to have accused Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct.
1. Eileen Wellstone (1969)
Allegation: Sexual assault
An article published on Capitol Hill Blue in 1999 asserted that "Eileen Wellstone, 19-year-old English woman, said Clinton sexually assaulted her after she met him at a pub near the Oxford where the future President was a student in 1969. A retired State Department employee, who asked not to be identified, confirmed that he spoke with the family of the girl and filed a report with his superiors. Clinton admitted having sex with the girl, but claimed it was consensual. The victim’s family declined to pursue the case."
While these allegations have never been proven and no woman has come forward to claim the story as her own, no sources have been able to reliably go so far as to claim the story is false. Snopes notes it only as "unproven."
2. Anonymous female student at Yale University (1972)
Allegation: Sexual assault
The same article on Capitol Hill Blue further alleges that "a 22-year-old woman told campus police at Yale University that she was sexually assaulted by Clinton, a law student at the college. No charges were filed, but retired campus policemen contacted by Capitol Hill Blue confirmed the incident. The woman, tracked down by Capitol Hill Blue ... confirmed the incident, but declined to discuss it further and would not give permission to use her name."
3. Anonymous female student at the University of Arkansas (1974)
Allegation: Sexual assault
Again from Capitol Hill Blue: "A female student at the University of Arkansas complained that then-law school instructor Bill Clinton tried to prevent her from leaving his office during a conference. She said he groped her and forced his hand inside her blouse. She complained to her faculty advisor who confronted Clinton, but Clinton claimed the student ''came on'' to him. The student left the school shortly after the incident. Reached at her home in Texas, the former student confirmed the incident, but declined to go on the record with her account. Several former students at the University have confirmed the incident in confidential interviews and said there were other reports of Clinton attempting to force himself on female students."
4. Anonymous female lawyer (1977)
Allegation: Sexual assault
According to Roger Morris in his book "Partners in Power." "A young woman lawyer in Little Rock claimed that she was accosted by Clinton while he was attorney general and that when she recoiled he forced himself on her, biting and bruising her. Deeply affected by the assault, the woman decided to keep it all quiet for the sake of her own hard-won career and that of her husband. When the husband later saw Clinton at the 1980 Democratic Convention, he delivered a warning. 'If you ever approach her,' he told the governor, 'I’ll kill you.'Not even seeing fit to deny the incident, Bill Clinton sheepishly apologized and duly promised never to bother her again."
5. Juanita Broaddrick (1978)
Allegation: Rape
Since-deleted reports stated Broaddrick had "claimed that Bill raped her when she was a volunteer on his campaign for governor while she was at a nursing student conference in Little Rock. She claimed that he forced himself on her while she screamed 'please stop,'and he bit her lip. Norma Rodgers, a friend who was sharing a hotel room with Broaddrick during the conference, confirmed her claims that she had been sexually assaulted. Broaddrick did not come forward with the claims for two decades, claiming she was intimidated and ashamed."
6. Carolyn Moffet (1979)
Allegation: Sexual assault
Moffet has stated for the record that "she met Gov. Clinton at a political fundraiser and was invited to his hotel room. 'When I went in, he was sitting on a couch, wearing only an undershirt. He pointed at his penis and told me to suck it. I told him I didn’t even do that for my boyfriend and he got mad, grabbed my head and shoved it into his lap. I pulled away from him and ran out of the room.'”
7. Elizabeth Ward (1983)
Allegation: Unclear
Former Miss America Ward initially accused Clinton of forcible rape, but recanted in 1998 with an apology to Hillary for what she said was a consensual relationship.
8. Sally Perdue (1983)
Allegation: Unclear
Former Miss Arkansas Perdue has told the press that while her sexual relationship with Clinton was consensual, "in 1992 she was visited by a Democratic Party staffer [who made it clear to her that they] 'knew that I went jogging by myself and he couldn’t guarantee what would happen to my pretty little legs.'"
9. Paula Jones (1991)
Allegation: Sexual harassment
Paula Corbin Jones was an Arkansas state employee when she claims then-Governor Clinton had her summoned by a State Trooper to meet with him in a hotel room. She filed a sexual harassment suit against Clinton in 1994 after an article in The American Spectator alleged that she had once offered to be Clinton's mistress.
While offering her testimony under penalty of perjury on November 12, 1997, Jones shared details highly reminiscent of the pattern mentioned by other accusers, including this following excerpt:
"He came over by the wingback chair close to where I was at. Then it's like he wasn't even paying attention to what I was saying to him. Then he goes, 'Oh, I love the way your hair flows down your back. And I was watching you,' and stuff like that. Downstairs. And then he did it again. Then he started — he pulled me over to him while he was leaning up against the wingback chair and he took his hands and was running them up my culottes. And they were long. They were down to my knees. They were long, dressy culottes. And he had his hand up, going up to my middle pelvic area, and he was kissing me on the neck, you know, and trying to kiss me on the lips and I wouldn't let him. And then I backed back. I said, 'Stop it. You know, I'm not this kind of girl.' I mean. And it still — and then I ran right over to where the couch was. I thought what am I going to do? I was trying to collect my thoughts. I did not know what to do. I was trying to collect my thoughts. I did not know what to do. After the second time — after the first time, I had rebuffed him. And then when I got over there and I kind of sat right there by the end of the couch on the — seemed like on the armchair part. And the next thing you know it, I turn around because he was kind of back over here, and he come over there, pulled his pants down, sat down and asked me to perform oral sex… He asked me would I kiss it. He goes — you know, I can see the look on his face right now. He asked me, 'Would you kiss it for me?' I mean, it was disgusting."
When asked during a 1994 interview with Sam Donaldson if she would be willing to take a lie detector test, Jones responded, "Yes, I have taken one."
Not only did Jones take a polygraph test, she'd passed. And she felt Clinton should be asked to do the same. "Why wouldn't he if he's telling the truth? He should be more than willing to if he's telling the truth."
Donaldson's shameful reply?
"But wouldn't that turn it into a circus? ... What do you want from Bill Clinton?"
"A public apology," Jones replied.
While Clinton settled with Jones out of court, he was also sanctioned after being found in contempt of court for giving intentionally false testimony, and in 2001, "he opted to resign from the Supreme Court Bar, surrendering his license, rather than facing penalties related to disbarment."
10. Sandra Allen James (1991)
Allegation: Sexual assault
Back to Capitol Hill Blue, political fundraiser James alleged that Clinton "pinned [her] against a wall and stuck his hands up her dress. She screamed so loud that the Arkansas State Police knocked on the hotel door and asked if everything was okay. When she told her Democratic fundraising boss about the incident, he told her to 'keep your mouth shut.'"
11. Christy Zercher (1992)
Allegation: Sexual assault
In Lt. Col. Robert “Buzz” Patterson's book, "Dereliction of Duty", he states that Zercher, then a female stewardess on Air Force One, "complained that Clinton 'sexually molested' and 'cornered' her on [a] flight. Per Patterson, the woman only “wanted an apology.'"
12. Kathleen Willey (1993)
Allegation: Sexual assault
Willey claims that when she was working as a volunteer in the White House social office, Clinton "fondled her breast and placed her hand on his clothed, erect penis in the Oval Office while she was asking him for a White House job."
An article titled "The Trashing Of Clinton's Women" published in The Village Voice in 1999 closed with this:
"The president’s acolytes — such as Alan Dershowitz — continually bray, 'Sex lies! It’s all sex lies!' They insist that these thrown-away women are making all this up, including the threats and intimidation. But is every one of these women lying?"
That is an excellent question. Indeed.
Deputy Editor Arianna Jeret has been featured in Cosmopolitan, The Huffington Post, Yahoo Style, Fox News, Bustle, Follow her on Twitter and on Instagram for more.