Linda Tripp, a pivotal figure in the Monica Lewinsky scandal, said that Bill Clinton’s interview this week with NBC News demonstrates the former president fails to understand that he “abused an emotionally fragile child-woman, and literally damaged the trajectory of her life.”
Speaking to Breitbart News, Tripp said that the televised exchange with Clinton shows he thinks that “he alone paid a price.”
“Poor guy,” she continued. “The rest of his victims were handily dismissed with more denials and blame the victim tactics. His stunningly self-consumed arrogance was completely familiar to me but had to be revealing to those who only knew the public faces of the Clintons, masks firmly in place.”
Tripp continued:
I remain saddened that while prominent and highly influential serial abusers are finally being publicly held to account — and that’s a very good thing — Bill Clinton remains untouchable. His victims suffered not only his abuse and assault but also the disdain and indifference of the media and thus most of the country. I’m betting none of these women expect a lavish Stormy Daniels Day as occurred recently in the People’s Republic of California. But they should be allowed to hope for the dignity of being heard. Maybe even believed. That would be real progress.
In this week’s interview, NBC News’ Craig Melvin grilled Clinton about whether he would have dealt with the Monica Lewinsky extramarital liaison differently in light of the #MeToo movement. Entirely unmentioned during the interview were the numerous sexual assault and harassment allegations against Clinton, including those from Juanita Broaddrick, who accused Clinton of rape, as well as sexual assault accuser Kathleen Willey and sexual harassment accusers Paula Jones and former reporter Leslie Millwee.
Clinton utilized the interview to suggest that his critics are “omitting facts” to group him together with other men accused during the #MeToo campaign.
“A lot of the facts have been omitted to make the story work,” he claimed. “I think partly because they’re frustrated that they got all these serious allegations against the current occupant of the Oval Office and his voters don’t seem to care.”
Clinton said that he doesn’t owe Lewinsky a personal apology, explaining that he apologized publicly. “No,” he said when asked if he apologized to Lewinsky personally. “I do not — I have never talked to her. But I did say publicly on more than one occasion that I was sorry.”
“I apologized to everybody in the world,” Clinton added.
For Tripp, the interview actually exposed Clinton’s true colors.
“May I present to you, Ladies and Gentlemen, the real Bill Clinton,” Tripp stated. “He’s the one who bumbled through his Today Show interview revealing a curious mixture of sheer insensitivity and an acute sense of entitlement. With a straight face, he even hopped on the #MeToo bandwagon. Who knew? As the world’s most prominent and notorious lifelong abuser of women, that was one for the books. The utter irony appeared lost on him.”
“The mask has slipped,” she said. “That’s a big deal. And more than anything else, indicates the Clinton gig is really, blessedly and finally up.”
Tripp contended that “the polished politician and ace communicator showed his true colors publicly for the very first time in his adult life.”
“In fact, it reminded me of the one and only time I saw the real Hillary publicly — the irredeemable and basket of deplorables day,” she added. “I knew she meant it. Her mask was simply askew.”
Tripp documented evidence of Lewinsky’s phone calls about her relationship with Bill Clinton and submitted the evidence to independent counsel Kenneth Starr, leading to the public disclosure of the Lewinsky matter. In a previous interview with this reporter, she explained she did so because she believed her own life and Lewinsky’s were in danger, saying that Lewinsky was threatening Clinton with outing the relationship.
Tripp had unique access to the Clintons because her office was directly adjacent to Hillary’s second floor West Wing office for the entire time she served in the Clinton White House from 1993 to the summer of 1994 with the exception of the first three months of the Clinton administration, when she sat just outside the Oval Office.
In our previous interview, Tripp explained the Lewinsky case followed “years of alarm at what I had seen in the Clinton White House, particularly Hillary and the different scandals, whether it was Filegate, Travelgate, Whitewater, Vince Foster.”
“All of the scandals that had come before and were so completely obliterated in the mind’s eye of the American people because of the way all of them were essentially discounted. So I watched a lying President and a lying First Lady present falsehoods to the American people.
“So my dismay predated the January 1998 period when the Monica Lewinsky scandal surfaced. To me it was very important that the American people see what I was seeing. My years with the Clintons were so disturbing on so many levels.”
Aaron Klein is Breitbart’s Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio.” Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook.
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