Removal (28 page)

‘Checked…?’

‘For weapons.’

‘I see. And do you recall a woman by the name of Lucia Benoni coming to see the President in his suite one evening?’

‘Yes, I do.’

‘Did you know who this woman was?’

‘Only what I was told.’

‘And what were you told?’

Linda looked briefly at Sue Williams, the assistant White House Counsel assigned to represent her, who nodded.

‘That she was an old friend of the President from his home state.’

There was some laughter in the room, which the Chairman suppressed with two or three strokes of his gavel.

‘What was the purpose of this old friend visiting the President?’ Congresswoman de Vries continued.

‘I’m sure I have no idea,’ Linda replied.

A little more laughter, which died away quickly.

‘But, Agent Samuels, you were there to guard the President. Is it your testimony to this Committee that you made no inquiries about who she was, what she might want?’

‘With all due respect, Congresswoman, that wasn’t my job. I…’

‘Well, what was your job exactly?’

‘To check whether she was carrying any weapons, which I did. It was none of my business why she wanted to see the President, or why he wanted to see her.’

Helen de Vries paused momentarily to consult some notes.

‘So, having checked Miss Benoni out, you admitted her to the President’s suite?’

‘No. She knocked on the door, and the President admitted her.’

‘All right. And then what happened?’

‘After three or four hours, she left.’

‘Where were you during this period of three or four hours?’

Linda hesitated. ‘Outside the door of the suite, most of the time.’

‘Most of the time?’

‘I took a bathroom break once or twice, and another agent replaced me for a few minutes.’

‘All right. Did anyone else enter or leave the President’s suite while Miss Benoni was there?’

‘No…, oh, yes, I’m sorry, a waiter did come with some refreshments. That was not long after Miss Benoni arrived.’

‘The waiter was someone you knew?’

‘Yes. He had been cleared, and he was in charge of whatever the President might need from the kitchen.’

‘Do you remember the waiter’s name?’

‘No, Ma’am.’

‘What kind of refreshments did the waiter bring?’

‘Mr. Chairman, I can’t see how that has any relevance,’ Sue Williams interrupted.

Vernon Moberley shrugged.

‘Maybe it does, and maybe it doesn’t,’ he replied. ‘Let’s find out. Answer the question, please, Agent Samuels.’

‘The waiter brought a bottle of champagne.’

‘Really? Good champagne?’

‘I would hope so, Congresswoman. It’s not my drink.’

There was a short burst of sympathetic laughter, in which Helen de Vries joined.

‘
Touchée
, Agent Samuels. How many glasses did the waiter bring?’

Linda hesitated. ‘Two,’ she answered reluctantly.

‘All right. Now, at any time when the President was alone with Miss Benoni in his suite, did you hear any sounds or noises that might have indicated what was going on?’

Linda bit her lip and looked at Sue Williams. But Sue seemed preoccupied with her pen and gave her no response.

‘I’m not sure what you mean, Congresswoman. What kind of noises?’

‘I don’t know. That’s what I’m asking you. What did you hear?’

‘You can’t hear too much through the door. I heard their voices.’

‘Talking?’

‘Yes.’

‘Laughing?’

‘Yes, once or twice.’

‘Nothing else?’

Linda felt herself turning red. Her stomach was churning.

‘May I have a moment to confer with counsel?’

Helen de Vries raised her eyebrows and glanced at the Chairman.

‘By all means,’ Moberley said.

Linda turned to Sue, whispering.

‘Miss Williams, I can’t do this.’

‘Linda, we’ve been over this,’ Sue answered. ‘You have to answer.’

‘I can’t. It’s disloyal.’

‘No, it’s not, Linda. You have no choice.’

There was a silence.

‘Whenever you’re ready,’ Moberley said impatiently.

‘I’m sorry,’ Linda whispered to Sue. She turned back to face Helen de Vries. ‘Congresswoman, anything I might say would be no more than speculation. I did not go into the President’s suite that evening. I don’t know what was going on inside.’

‘That’s not what I’m asking,’ de Vries said smoothly. ‘I’m not asking you to speculate. I’m asking you to describe what you heard as best you can. I’m sure the Committee will be quite capable of drawing its own conclusions. I’m merely asking you to tell us what you heard.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Linda said. ‘I must decline to answer.’

The noise which broke out after the initial shocked silence took Chairman Moberley over a minute to suppress. Everyone was talking at once. The reporters were in top gear, pencils flying hurriedly over pages. Several left to alert the media that a major story might be about to break. When order had at last been restored, Helen de Vries deferred to the Chair to deal with the situation.

‘Agent Samuels,’ he said slowly, ‘You are represented by counsel, and I’m sure you have been advised that there is no privilege attached to your testimony here today. Would you like to confer with your counsel again?’

‘No, Sir,’ Linda replied evenly. ‘I understand the position.’

‘In that case, would you care to explain to the Committee the basis on which you decline to answer?’

‘Loyalty,’ Linda replied simply. ‘I will not put the President in the position of being condemned because of what I might or might not have heard. As I’ve already said, I wasn’t in his suite, and I don’t know what was going on or not going on inside.’

To complete silence, the Chairman weighed the position, and turned briefly to confer with an aide. Sue Williams tried to get Linda’s attention, but was dismissed with a curt shake of the head. At the back of the room, Kelly and Jeff exchanged horrified looks. John Mason looked surreptitiously across at Selvey, who seemed amused by the proceedings.

‘Well, Agent Samuels,’ Moberley said at last, ‘loyalty is an admirable virtue, but I think a little misplaced in this situation. I’m going to have to ask you again to answer my colleague’s question. If you wish, you may confer with counsel again. But if you refuse to answer, I will have to call for a vote of the Committee as to whether you should be held in contempt. Do you understand?’

‘Yes, Sir.’

‘Good. Are you prepared to answer the question?’

‘No, Sir,’ Linda said, swallowing hard.

Sue grabbed her arm. ‘Linda, for Christ’s sake,’ she only half whispered.

Linda threw off Sue’s grip on her arm.

At the back of the room, Kelly put her hands up to her face.

‘Linda, don’t do this,’ she breathed.

Vernon Moberley pulled himself up in his chair.

‘I call for a vote on the question of whether the witness should be held in contempt,’ he said.

The vote was taken, and by a vote split on party lines, Linda Samuels was held to be in contempt of the House Intelligence Committee.

‘Before taking any further action,’ the Chairman said, ‘I will give you one last chance. Will you answer the question?’

Linda had turned white, but seemed outwardly calm.

‘No, Sir. I will not,’ she said.

Moberley nodded.

‘Very well,’ he said. ‘The House Officer will take the witness into custody until such time as she is prepared to comply with the Committee’s orders.’

Pandemonium broke loose in the hearing room, which the Chairman’s gavel was powerless to control. Sue Williams leapt to her feet, her protests lost, however, in the general din, as Linda was led from the room. Kelly put her head on Jeff’s shoulder and sighed. The Chairman was trying to declare that the proceedings were recessed pending the restoration of order, but no one was taking much notice of him. The Committee members remained where they were.

John Mason sprang to his feet and walked quickly across the room to Selvey. ‘Is our friend ready?’ he asked.

‘Are you sure you want to do this?’ Selvey countered.

‘You brought him into this. You tell me.’

‘Mr. Jeffers is standing by, ready to go,’ Selvey said brusquely.

‘OK, I’ll give the Committee’s counsel the nod.’

Mason turned away, and then suddenly back to Selvey again.

‘But he has been prepared, hasn’t he, Selvey? I mean, he knows what answers are expected to certain questions?’

Selvey smiled. ‘Don’t worry about it, Mr. Mason. Our Harold will be as good as gold.’

‘I certainly hope so,’ Mason said grimly to himself, as he made his way towards the front of the room.

After a short conversation with Mason, the Committee’s counsel approached the dais and whispered briefly to the Chairman. The noise was dying down by now, and the Chairman was eventually able to restore order.

‘It was my intention to recess the proceedings,’ Moberley said, ‘but it has been brought to my attention that another witness is available. We will take testimony from this witness, after which the Committee will be in recess for the weekend, and will resume proceedings on Monday morning. We will now hear from Harold Jeffers.’

Angela Moran, the leader of the President’s party’s minority on the Committee, searched her papers in vain, and exchanged whispered remarks with her colleagues, who were none the wiser.

‘On a point of order, Mr. Chairman,’ she said. ‘I don’t find this witness among those listed in the documents supplied to me by your office. I thought we had an understanding that we would be notified in advance of the witnesses to be called, so that we might have an opportunity to prepare. This is rather irregular, to say the least.’

‘I share the Honorable Lady’s surprise,’ the Chairman said suavely. ‘Counsel for the Committee has just notified me of the availability of this witness, and has confirmed that the witness has some information which may be relevant. I see no reason not to proceed. Of course, I will allow the minority the weekend to prepare any questions they may wish to ask, having heard his testimony.’

The minority leader looked questioningly at her colleagues, wondering whether to call for a vote on the point of order. Seeing no advantage in losing a further vote on party lines, they shook their heads, and Angela Moran accepted their judgment.

The Chair had delegated the primary examination of Harold Jeffers to Helen de Vries. It was a wise move. De Vries had many years of experience in dealing with witnesses like Jeffers, and would not be put off by his nervousness or his tendency to ramble. Jeffers certainly looked the part. Selvey had seen to that personally. He was smartly dressed in a gray suit, white shirt and red tie, his black shoes shined. De Vries began with details of his name, family, and occupation, using her most polished professional style to paint a sympathetic portrait of a devoted long-time employee. The press was eating up every word. Before turning to the main subject of her examination, Helen de Vries signposted it with a lengthy pause.

‘Mr. Jeffers, you have described in general terms your duties at the hotel during the President’s visit. But now, I want to ask you about a particular occasion. Did there come a time when the President requested you to bring something up to his suite?’

‘Yes, Ma’am.’

‘What time was this?’

‘During the evening. About eight, eight-thirty.’

‘And what did the President request?’

‘A bottle of champagne and two glasses.’

‘Did you take those items to the President’s suite?’

‘I did.’

‘How did you gain admittance to the suite?’

‘I checked in with the Secret Service Agent on duty, and…’

‘Before you get to that, do you know that agent’s name?’

‘Yes. It was Agent Linda Samuels.’

‘Thank you. Continue.’

‘I knocked on the door of the suite. There was no reply, so I decided to enter. I probably should have waited, but there seemed no need.’

‘I’m sure you didn’t want to keep the President waiting?’

‘No, Ma’am.’

‘So you went in. What did you see?’

The moment had arrived. Jeffers was feeling hot under the lights, and his shirt collar was sticking to his neck. Selvey had warned him that his appearance before the Committee would not be a comfortable experience, but it was worse than he expected. He was beginning to sweat profusely. Forcing himself to concentrate, he summoned up Selvey’s instructions. Remain serious, be strictly factual, and avoid obscene euphemisms. He hoped he would remember the correct vocabulary for what he had to describe.

‘I saw the President and Miss Benoni lying together on the couch in the living room.’

There were audible gasps from the audience. Vernon Moberley was so fascinated by the story which was unfolding that it took him some seconds before he rapped his gavel for order.

‘What was their state of dress?’ Helen de Vries asked calmly.

‘Ma’am, they had both taken off their shoes. The President’s shirt was partly undone, as was Miss Benoni’s blouse.’

‘I see. And were you able to observe anything they might have been doing?’

‘Yes, Ma’am. I was able to observe that the President had his hand on the general area of Miss Benoni’s left breast, and that she had her hand in the general area of the President’s genitals.’

The audience snickered. Vernon Moberley ignored it, and waited for the noise to subside, before gesturing to Helen de Vries to continue.

‘And then what happened?’ Helen asked, with undisguised contempt.

‘I was very embarrassed. I put the champagne and the glasses on the table as quickly as I could and started to leave.’

‘And as you were leaving, did anything else happen?’

‘Yes, Ma’am.’

‘Please tell the Committee what it was.’

‘Ma’am, as I was leaving, Miss Benoni got up, ran after me and gave me some money.’

‘How much money?’

‘Three hundred dollars.’

‘Three hundred dollars in cash?’

‘Yes.’

‘How did that compare with the kind of tip you would normally expect to receive from guests at your hotel?’

‘It was very generous.’

There was a gale of laughter. Helen de Vries joined in, playing to the gallery and the cameras.