The 90s brought forth some of the biggest scandals in American history, such as the OJ trials. However, there was one scandal that seems to tower over the rest, and that was the Clinton scandal. In 1998, some of us weren’t even born yet, but it came to light that the sitting president at the time, Bill Clinton, was having an affair with a white house intern. That intern’s name was Monica Lewinsky and she was 25 when the affair was revealed but had been involved with the President since 1995, making her only 22 years old. The affair went on in complete secret for years until Lewinsky decided to confide in someone. That someone was Linda Tripp, a pentagon employee. Tripp played a crucial role in the scandal as she secretly recorded conversations between her and Lewinsky, while also advising the young employee to keep gifts given by the President, as well as the infamous semen-stained blue dress. Tripp told Lewinsky to keep these as an insurance policy in case the scandal came to light and investigators were to call her a liar. Eventually, Tripp revealed the relationship to someone who was investigating Clinton for other matters, providing the secretly recorded tapes. After initially denying any sort of relationship with Lewinsky, Clinton was then charged with perjury once DNA evidence was brought forth. This, of course, led to his impeachment by the House of Representatives, but his acquittal by the senate saved his presidency.
Linda Tripp was publicly smeared as many blasted her for taking on President Clinton. She was also facing pressure from inside the government as she was pressured to lie about the affair altogether. Many wondered why she would put her career on the line to reveal such a scandal that could have possibly made enemies. Tripp credited her ethics in her reasoning, as she felt that the President was abusing his power as President and as an older man to have the affair with Lewinsky. This abuse of power claim was later confirmed by Lewinsky when she claims she herself didn’t realize what was going on till she was much older.
On Wednesday, it was revealed that Tripp was near death as her battle with pancreatic cancer was coming to end. Lewinsky took to Twitter after hearing the news writing: “no matter the past, upon hearing that Linda Tripp is very seriously ill, I hope for her recovery. I can’t imagine how difficult this is for her family.” This comes after Lewinsky claimed after the trials that she “hated” her former friend at the pentagon. Linda Tripp died later Wednesday. Her death comes before the FX take on the scandal on American Crime Story in Sept. of this year. Linda Tripp is planned to be played by actress Sarah Paulson, who participated in the first season of the limited series as the prosecutor in the OJ trials. It was confirmed early on that the person in the center of the scandal, Monica Lewinsky, was to be involved with the production of the series.
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