Jones Suit Offer Said to Be Denied

WASHINGTON — President Clinton rejected a $2-million settlement proposal by Paula Corbin Jones on Sunday, leaving her lawyers scrambling to put together another offer in hopes of heading off a courtroom clash Tuesday, according to sources close to the talks.

Jones had offered to drop her sexual harassment lawsuit if she received $1 million from the president and another $1 million from New York real estate magnate Abe Hirschfeld, who already had promised to give her that much if it would end what he considers an embarrassing national spectacle.

But Clinton’s chief attorney, Robert S. Bennett, told Jones lawyer James A. Fisher on Sunday that such a plan was unacceptable because it required Clinton to pay too much and it would make Clinton indebted to Hirschfeld, a quirky millionaire who parachuted into the case uninvited and faces a 123-count indictment for tax evasion, a source said.

Bennett made no counteroffer, and suggested that Jones should not assume that his last $700,000 proposal would remain on the table, the source said.

Oral arguments are set to begin Tuesday before the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Paul, Minn., over whether Jones’ suit, dismissed in April, should be reinstated.