244 Barack H. Obama: The Unauthorized Biographyfiling in connection with child custody proceedings.... The performer alleged that she refused
Ryan’s requests for public sex during the excursions, which included a trip to a New York club
“with cages, whips and other apparatus hanging from the ceiling.” While Ryan, a former
Goldman Sachs executive, confirmed the trips with the actress, he described them simply as
“romantic getaways,” denying her claims that he sought public sex. The politician has
repeatedly claimed that his divorce file – portions of which were sealed in 2000 and 2001 –
contained no embarrassing information that would harm his chances against Democratic
nominee Barack Obama. The Ryans were married in 1991 and, in November 1998, Jeri Ryan
filed for divorce citing “irreconcilable differences.” Another unsealed document reveals that
Jeri Ryan, as part of the divorce settlement, received about $20 million in Goldman Sachs stock,
while Jack Ryan retained a $40 million stake in the investment giant.^103RYAN FREQUENTED “A BIZARRE CLUB WITH CAGES,
WHIPS, AND OTHER APPARATUS”
Here are some excerpts from the unusually prurient statements of Jeri Ryan about her former
husband’s penchant for dragging her into sex clubs:
“They were long weekends, supposed ‘romantic’ getaways,” Jeri Ryan said in the filing. “The
clubs in New York and Paris were explicit sex clubs. Respondent had done research.
Respondent took me to two clubs in New York during the day. One club I refused to go in. It
had mattresses in cubicles. The other club he insisted I go to.” In her 2000 filing, Jeri Ryan
alleged that after she and Jack Ryan left the first sex club they entered in New York, he asked
her to go to another. She said he told her that he had gone out to dinner with her that night even
though he didn’t want to and “the least I could do in return was go to the club he wanted me to
go.” She described the second place as “a bizarre club with cages, whips and other apparatus
hanging from the ceiling.” “Respondent wanted me to have sex with him there with another
couple watching. I refused,” Jeri Ryan continued. “Respondent asked me to perform a sexual
activity upon him and he specifically asked other people to watch. I was very upset. “We left
the club and respondent apologized, said that I was right and he would never insist that I go to a
club again. He promised it was out of his system.” “Then during a trip to Paris, he took me to a
sex club in Paris, without telling me where we were going. I told him I thought it was out of his
system. I told him he had promised me would never go. People were having sex everywhere. I
cried, I was physically ill. Respondent became very upset with me, and said it was not a ‘turn
on’ for me to cry.” (AP, June 22, 2004)^104 Ryan could only counter weakly that “We did go to
one avant garde nightclub in Paris which was more than either one of us felt comfortable with.”
With the tabloids full of these sensational accounts, Jack Ryan’s Republican allies began to run
away from him about as fast as they ran away from Mark Foley two years later.
After the records were made public, Congressman Ray LaHood of the 18th District immediately
called on Ryan to drop out of the race. By June 25, Dennis Hastert, another prominent Illinois
Republican (and the House Speaker) had “made some calls,” according to anonymous sources
reported in the Daily Southtown, and the consensus was for Ryan to step aside. The Southtown
newspaper also reported that Ryan was expected to step aside. Some commentators pointed out
that the information contained in the files involved private matters between a husband and wife
and should not have been grounds for the destruction of Ryan’s campaign. Others pointed out
that the allegations were never proven, and in fact, Ryan was awarded additional custody rights
at the end of the hearing, suggesting the allegations were not deemed reliable by the judge.