The damage is done, Bill's career is over, but does anyone really know the details of his alleged sexual harassment? Does anyone--Bill's supporters and enemies alike--fully understand the depths of his alleged depravity.
For years, it seems, Bill targeted his employees and even interns. The disparity in power couldn't have been starker. Bill was the most important man in his field while his victims were at the lowest possible rung.
Paula was one of them. And she idolized Bill. So much so that she was thrilled when one of Bill's bodyguards, Danny Ferguson, told her that Bill wanted to see her in his hotel room.
"Ferguson approached me and handed me a little slip of paper," Paula recalls. "And he told me that--he used the word 'Bill'--would like to meet with you up in his hotel room. And my response was, 'Why does he want to see me?' Mr. Ferguson said, 'It's okay, we do this all the time."
So starstruck was she that her initial apprehension faded and she grew excited.
"I was. Who wouldn't be? And when me and my friend talked about it we thought we might get a job. That's the only reason why I would think that he would want me up there. I did not know him or his past before that day."
ill's past would become Paula's nightmare. But on the elevator up to the eleventh floor with his bodyguard, she still thought Bill wanted to talk with her about a job. She reached the eleventh floor and Ferguson pointed her to a room whose door was open just slightly. When she knocked, Bill let her in.
After some small talk, it happened.
"He was leaning up against the back of a wingback chair and I was standing a little ways off from him," Paula says. "We were talking and he leaned up, well, he tried to pull me over and he put his hand up my leg. I mean, he jumped...you know, it was real quick and he tried to kiss on my neck and he told me he like how my curves were and liked the way my hair went down to the middle of my back. Then, I asked him, you know, 'Don't do this.' I rejected it."
Then, Bill exposed himself to her and told her to perform a sex act on him.
"I was just shocked and I jumped up and said, 'I'm not this kind of girl.' And he said, 'I don't want to make you do something you don't want to do.'"
Paula turned to leave the room, and as she did...
"The last thing he said to me was, 'You're a smart girl, let's keep this between ourselves.' And I left out the door."
Paula was sick to her stomach, but she didn't know what she could do. Bill was a powerful man, and she was one of his low-level employees. Who would believe her over him?
For years, she was paralyzed with fear of speaking out or of trying to pursue any legal action against someone as well-known, influential, and downright intimidating as Bill. But finally she mustered her courage and sued Bill for sexual harassment, asking for $750,000 in damages.
The case dragged on through the legal system for years, but in the middle of an appeal, Bill suddenly settled for $850,000. Bill refused to apologize or admit any wrongdoing; he merely settled with Paula to get her to drop her case.
Of course, the legal problems didn't end for Bill, as other women came forward with remarkably similar claims of sexual harassment and even assault. But strangely, Bill was never removed from his job and is still beloved by millions. He has written bestselling books and gotten rich from speaking engagements.
How can this be? How can an apparent serial sexual predator who paid huge amounts of hush money to his accusers have escaped any real consequences of his actions?
Perhaps because Bill's accuser wasn't a FOX News employee, she was a State of Arkansas employee named Paula Jones. And perhaps because this Bill isn't Bill O'Reilly, it's Bill Clinton.