Monday, February 2, 1998
Lewinsky told student of alleged affair
WASHINGTON Lytton informed of ex-intern’s relations with
Clinton
By Marie Blanchard
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
A UCLA student has revealed that while working with Monica
Lewinsky last summer at the Pentagon, she told him that she had sex
with President Clinton.
Dennis Lytton, a fourth-year political science student, told the
Daily Bruin that during a date with Lewinsky last July, she told
him that she and the president had a special relationship.
"I asked her ‘what do you mean by a special relationship?’ "
Lytton said.
"And then she said, ‘We’re fuck buddies.’ I just kind of looked
at her and I was almost going to say something but I couldn’t think
of what to say. She just kind of smiled and said, ‘You could say
that I earned my presidential kneepads.’ "
"It was kind of shocking," he said. "I didn’t want to go into it
further."
Lewinsky, now 24, is a former Pentagon employee, who reportedly
had a sexual affair with the president.
Lewinsky’s attorney William H. Ginsburg could not be reached for
comment on the story, despite repeated efforts by The Bruin to
reach him in person, by phone, fax and e-mail.
Lytton and Lewinsky met when he spent the summer interning in
the Pentagon, where she worked.
According to Lytton, who is also 24, the two met after a
Pentagon press briefing on July 10. Lewinsky and Lytton were among
the last people left in the room. "I approached her and we started
to talk," Lytton said.
"She asked me where I was from and I told her I was an intern,"
Lytton, said "She told me she used to be an intern a few years
ago."
In the weeks that followed the two met frequently for lunch at
the Pentagon cafeteria. Lewinsky was working for the assistant
secretary of defense for public affairs, in the same office as
Lytton.
A week after they first met, Lytton asked Lewinsky out on a
date.
It was during the lunches at the Pentagon, and after their first
date July 18, that Lewinsky began talking about President Clinton
and what she described as her close relationship with him.
"She talked about (Clinton) all the time like she was kind of
obsessed with him," Lytton said. "She talked about how she was
really important at the White House and how she went back there all
the time even though she didn’t work there anymore. She was really
partisan in an office of civil servants and military officers."
More than a week later, Lytton and Lewinsky went out again, this
time to an Ethiopian restaurant Lewinsky had picked. After dinner,
they went to "Phantom of the Opera" and danced at a D.C.
nightclub.
At the end of the night, Lytton went to Lewinsky’s Watergate
apartment where she lived alone. It was then that Lytton said she
told him she was having a sexual relationship with the
president.
At first Lytton tried to laugh off the comment. Then he decided
he didn’t want to get into it further and they never spoke about
the situation again.
Although Lytton did spend the night at her apartment, he says
the two did not have sex.
After the second date, Lytton and Lewinsky never went out again.
"She had a real boisterous, charming personality but I didn’t feel
like I wanted to spend a lot of time with her in that way."
Around the Pentagon office, however, Lewinsky managed to put off
a few people with her personality, he said.
"She has a real bold personality. … more than just bold, it
could be offensive. She would send e-mails to everyone in the
office that were kind of risque. It wasn’t just because she was
being open, it was more than that … She seemed very highly
sexualized."
According to Lytton, Lewinsky said she was having a relationship
with another high ranking person in her office within the Pentagon,
an allegation that other newspapers also have reported.
When Lytton returned to Los Angeles in early September, he
believed Lewinsky was part of his past and didn’t think too much
about what she had told him.
Lytton said he told nobody about the incident. He thought it
might be a little dangerous and he didn’t want to get involved.
Moreover, he had been dating another UCLA student since May.
Lytton decided to break his silence last week after reports that
Lewinsky was negotiating immunity with special prosecutor Kenneth
Starr.
If Lewinsky cuts a deal with prosecutors and mentions his name,
Lytton worries he will have to testify in front of a grand
jury.
"I’ve never had any contact with her since I left Washington and
I’m afraid that she would be willing to make a deal," Lytton
said.
"I’m afraid she might tell Starr that she told me more than she
really did.
"(Then) she would have the immunity and I could potentially go
to prison for perjury. Having my story documented now in a
newspaper still is (better than) what’s in my head when I walk into
the courtroom."
Lytton is described by his friends and employers as "reliable"
and trustworthy.
Although Lytton didn’t take Lewinsky back to his apartment, his
Washington roommate, UC Irvine student Zach Zwald, remembers that
"he went out on dates" over the summer with "maybe two or three
different girls."
His former Dykstra Hall roommate and recent UCLA alumnus Mario
Moore was "really surprised" when Lytton told him last week about
his relationship with Lewinsky.
"At first I thought he was joking," Moore said. "After a while
though, it seemed more and more believable. I know he worked with
her. I definitely believe him – there’s no reason not to."
However, two weeks ago while watching television in his Westwood
apartment, he saw her again.
"I thought, ‘Oh, wow!’ I was really shocked."
In the television news coverage, Lytton was disconcerted to hear
former drama technician Andy Bleiler, who claimed to have slept
with Lewinsky after she left high school, say that she had told
him, "She would earn her presidential kneecaps" when she moved to
Washington.
Yet Lytton waited another week before telling anyone about their
relationship. And even then, he only told his father part of the
story.
When he heard the details, Al Lytton could only say in
disbelief, "He said he met Monica but he never implied to me that
there was anything of a larger nature."
However, he said, it would be extremely uncharacteristic of his
son to make up a story of this magnitude.
Lytton, who has aspirations for a political career, received the
University of California President’s Scholarship last summer.
Raised in Orange County, Lytton grew up in Fountain Valley and
attended Golden West College in Huntington Beach from 1993 until he
transferred to UCLA in September 1995.
While at Golden West, Lytton was the secretary and an Inter Club
Council Representative of the Honor Society. Lytton also worked as
an intern for Sen. Dianne Feinstein in 1996.
In a letter of recommendation written last week, Joseph
McMillan, the acting assistant secretary of defense for Russia,
Ukraine and Eurasia, said he "highly recommended Mr. Lytton … His
diligence and enthusiasm for professional challenges would serve
any organization well."
Despite the crisis and everything he has now seen reported on
television, Lytton still holds Lewinsky in high regards and feels
bad about the situation.
"She worked hard and stayed late. She has admirable qualities.
She wanted to work in government and public affairs and now it
seems like it may be out of reach for her. She was very intelligent
and I think these problems with the president tore all that
down."
But Lytton believes what Lewinsky told him late that night last
July. "I believed her in the apartment. The build-up to it. Her
access to the president. The reputation he had. It made it seem
quite plausible."
He paused.
"I still believe her now. I still believe what she told me
then."
With reports from Mason Stockstill and Stefanie Wong, Daily
Bruin Senior Staff.
CHARLES KUO/Daily Bruin
Fourth-year political science student Dennis Lytton was
interning at the Department of Defense when he met former White
House intern Monica Lewinsky.
Source Documentation