Monica Lewinsky mistreated by prosecutors in Clinton investigation

Authorities who confronted the former White House intern on Jan. 16, 1998, are said to have 'exercised poor judgment and made mistakes' in approaching Lewinsky to persuade her to cooperate in the investigation, according to a report that was believed to have been concealed from the public.

Monica Lewinsky may have been mistreated by authorities over the course of an investigation of former President Bill Clinton, according to a report long believed to have been concealed from the public.

A prosecutor working for the Office of Independent Counsel who confronted Lewinsky was ruled to have "exercised poor judgment and made mistakes" in the analysis, planning and execution of their approach of the former White House intern on Jan. 16, 1998, says a report obtained by The Washington Post and released Thursday.

Monica Lewinsky may have been mistreated by authorities over the course of an investigation of former President Bill Clinton, according to a report long believed to have been concealed from the public.

The report, dated Dec. 6, 2000, and more than 100 pages long, was done to determine whether the Office of Independent Counsel lawyers and FBI agents working for Kenneth W. Starr erred in how they confronted Lewinsky without her attorney, Frank Carter, present.

Lewinsky reportedly told the FBI agent who first approached her at a mall food court to "go f--- yourself" before telling him to speak to her attorney, the report said. She had been expecting to have lunch with Linda Tripp.

Lewinsky was then led into a hotel room, having agreed to go after she was told she would receive more information about the situation without her lawyer present. However, she ended up spending hours in the hotel room, attempting to consult with her lawyer while also being warned that her cooperation would become less valuable if she spoke with anyone.

In her first public speech on the subject in a decade, Lewinsky, now 41, described the ordeal as being "just like you see in the movies."

"Immediately following, in a nearby hotel room, I was threatened with up to 27 years in jail for denying the affair in an affidavit and other alleged crimes. Twenty-seven years. When you're only 24 yourself, that's a long time," Lewinsky said in Monday’s speech.

The prosecutors offered her immunity from charges of lying on a sworn affidavit in a lawsuit, where she claimed she didn’t have an affair with Clinton, in exchange for assisting them in an investigation against the President.

The report, which the Post says was first mentioned in the 2010 book "The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr," has not been widely available, with author Ken Gormley citing officials responsible for the document as indicating it was sealed from the public by a three-judge panel.

The report was obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request filed to the National Archives.

Gormley told the Post the report is one of the few key documents that have not been made public, describing it as a "piece of history" that "vindicates that (Lewinsky’s) version of events checks out."

He said Lewinsky told him that she has wanted to read the report, believing that it was indeed sealed off. However, an archivist at the National Archives told the Post that three copies of the report are in the files of the independent counsel, and none are sealed.

"This is one piece of the whole Clinton-Starr battle that had remained a mystery," Gormley said. (New York Daily News)