A former state employee was expected to file a sexual harassment lawsuit against President Clinton Thursday, alleging that he made an unwanted advance toward her in 1991 while he was governor.
Paula Corbin Jones' attorney, Daniel M. Traylor, said earlier this week that Jones' lawsuit would claim "severe emotional distress" and that Clinton violated her civil rights. He said Jones would seek an apology and "some type of damages."The White House denies the incident took place but took the threat of litigation seriously enough to hire Washington lawyer Robert Bennett to defend the president.
Bennett has said Jones sought a job from Clinton, but Clinton rejected the idea before she held a Washington news conference to publicize her allegations Feb. 11 at a meeting of the Conservative Political Action Committee.
Traylor did not return calls for comment.
Jones has said she went public with the charges because a conservative magazine, The American Spectator, had mischaracterized the encounter.
Clinton defenders portrayed Jones as a tool of conservative groups.
The Post reported Wednesday that two relatives and two friends said Jones had told them about an encounter with Clinton on May 8, 1991, the day it allegedly occurred.
At her news conference, the former Arkansas Industrial Development Commission employee said that while she was working at a convention at the Excelsior Hotel in Little Rock, Clinton sent word through a state trooper that he wished to see her alone. She said she went to a room where she fended off an improper advance and left within 15 minutes.