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.
