 Andy Bleiler speaks with reporters as he leaves his Portland, Ore., home. (AP) |
By William Claiborne
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 28, 1998; Page A22 Monica Lewinsky's former high school drama instructor said yesterday that he had a long-running affair with her that began in 1992 during her college years in Portland, Ore., and continued until last year, throughout much of the time she reportedly has alleged she had an intimate relationship with President Clinton.
In an account questioning Lewinsky's credibility, Andy J. Bleiler, 32, said through an attorney that Lewinsky had called him as often as four or five times a day after coming to Washington in 1995 as a White House intern, and that she talked obsessively about sex, including boasts that she was involved in a sexual relationship with a "high ranking White House official."
Standing beside Bleiler and his wife at a news conference outside their home in Portland, attorney Terry Giles said the Bleilers "would both describe Monica as having a pattern of twisting facts, especially to enhance her version of her own self-image."
"I couldn't in good conscience just sit on this and not tell the authorities what I know," Bleiler said in response to questions as to why he had come forward now. He said his relationship with Lewinsky had ended last spring, after his wife became aware of it. "It has been a very difficult time for my wife and I, the past year trying to mend this," he said.
William H. Ginsburg, Lewinsky's attorney, confirmed last night in Washington that his client had an affair with Bleiler, but called it irrelevant to her legal troubles, the Associated Press reported.
"I challenge all parents to reflect on their children's personal lives between the age of 19 and 24. I suspect they'll find boyfriends and sexual relations in their lives," Ginsburg said. "She is not concerned about this. This is a boyfriend."
About her alleged quotes regarding her time as a White House intern, Ginsburg added, "I have no comment about the relationship with the president if, indeed, one existed."
At the news conference and in a telephone interview last night, Giles said he would not allow the Bleilers to answer substantive questions until after they had met with an attorney from the office of independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr Wednesday. He said Lewinsky had sent the Bleilers some documents and photographs, which will be turned over to Starr's office.
In recounting Bleiler's story of a relationship with Lewinsky, Giles said the two had met when she attended Beverly Hills High School, where he was teaching. He said the affair began in the summer of 1992 and continued during the two years she attended Lewis and Clark College in Portland. Bleiler now works as a theater technician at a school in nearby Vancouver, Wash.
In their telephone conversations after Lewinsky moved to Washington, Giles said, Lewinsky told Bleiler she was having oral sex with a top White House official she referred to as "the creep," the same term Lewinsky used in referring to the president on secretly recorded tapes made by Linda Tripp. Tripp worked with Lewinsky at the Pentagon, where the former intern moved after leaving the White House.
The tapes, in which Lewinsky reportedly talked about an affair with Clinton and said he tried to persuade her to lie about it, are central to Starr's investigation of Clinton for possible perjury and obstruction of justice.
During one telephone conversation while Lewinsky worked at the Pentagon, Giles said, she claimed that she was pregnant and planned to have an abortion. She did not say by whom she had become pregnant, Giles said.
He said Lewinsky repeatedly told Bleiler that she was "frustrated that the creep would not have regular sex but only oral sex."
Giles said the Bleilers did not -- then or now -- believe Lewinsky's sexual boasts and were convinced she was recounting fantasies in her telephone conversations. The lawyer said that they -- and he -- still believe that Lewinsky was being untruthful about her claims.
"I didn't vote for Bill Clinton, and when I first heard these allegations about Monica Lewinsky I jumped to a couple of conclusions about a person in a position of power taking advantage of her. I must tell you that after talking with these two people [the Bleilers] I now have some doubt about the conclusions I jumped to," Giles said.
© Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company
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