Monica Lewinsky confided to a friend that she publicly groped Bill Clinton at his 50th birthday party in New York City, according to a recently-published memoir.
Linda Tripp, who died in April aged 70, had her book published posthumously, on December 22.
In A Basket of Deplorables: What I Saw Inside the Clinton White House, the former civil servant lifts the lid on Lewinsky’s actions and attitudes during their affair.
Lewinsky referred to Clinton as ‘the Big He’, and his wife as ‘the Ba Ba’, Tripp writes: Tripp also describes the former president as ‘a serial sexual predator who should have been a registered sex offender’.
In particular she tells, in an extract printed by The New York Post on Tuesday, about Lewinsky boasting about groping the president in public, believing she pulled the wool over the Secret Service’s eyes.
Monica Lewinsky, a 22-year old White House summer intern at the time, is seen with Clinton
Tripp secretly recorded conversations with Lewinsky that led to Clinton’s impeachment
Hillary Clinton organized a spectacular party for her husband in August 1996 in New York
An excited Lewinsky told Tripp in August 1996 that her mother paid $250 to buy her a ticket for Clinton’s 50th birthday party, held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
Tripp, who met Lewinsky in April 1996, when she was transferred from the White House to the Pentagon’s communications office, wrote that Hillary Clinton wanted the party to rival John F. Kennedy’s famous 1962 party at Madison Square Garden, celebrating his 45th birthday.
Marilyn Monroe memorably sang Happy Birthday at Kennedy’s party.
At Clinton’s party, Whoopi Goldberg served as emcee, with entertainment from Tony Bennett, Jon Bon Jovi, Aretha Franklin, Smokey Robinson, Carly Simon and Kenny Rogers.
Tripp writes: ‘Hillary was planning a somewhat different musical tribute to her husband’s life.
‘Of course, with the Clintons, the real purpose of the big bash was money. This was to be a major fundraiser.
Tripp had been working on her memoir up until her sudden death in April, writing with lawyer and author Dennis Carstens
‘Besides Monica Lewinsky, some 5,300 people would attend the show, and many more would participate via satellite. All of them paid through the nose, netting the Democratic National Committee more than $10 million in one evening.’
Tripp claimed that, on her return from New York, Lewinsky confided in her.
Tripp writes: ‘”I did it!” she boasted with immeasurable pride. “It was amazing. I’m so glad I sucked up the expense and went; it was so worth it!” The words tumbled out fast and furiously; her excitement was uncontainable.
‘She would gush that she had maneuvered into a position to grab his genitals with no one being the wiser, delighted to have given “the Big He” a little love massage.
‘”You absolutely won’t believe this, but I squeezed his balls right in the middle of throngs of people!” she told me in November, adding her trademark loud laugh, a guffaw that could be heard several offices away.’
Tripp writes that Lewinsky lived in a personal bubble in her self-absorbed world and ‘when she shared, she spared no detail and was clueless of the risks’.
Linda Tripp, pictured, died in April aged 70 after a short battle with pancreatic cancer
Monica Lewinsky, pictured in May 2019, is now a cyberbullying activist and campaigner
She describes Lewinsky as being in hot pursuit of Clinton from November 1995, right until May 1997.
She said that Lewinsky had been ‘floating around the Oval Office’ as a summer intern stalking Clinton for more sexual encounters.
Lewinsky has said that their affair was sparked by an incident on November 14, 1995, in the middle of the government shutdown when Lewinsky had been called in to help with the phones.
On that date there had been a surprise party for one of Clinton’s staffers, and at one point Lewinsky realized her thong was exposed while Clinton was near her in the room.
Lewinsky opted to keep her thong out as Clinton walked by, and a short while later when she walked by his office, Clinton smiled at her and motioned for her to come into the room.
Lewinsky was described as being ‘in hot pursuit of Clinton’ from November 1995
She soon admitted to Clinton that she had a ‘crush’ on him, and not long after the two were kissing in the dark room.
‘However wrong it was, however misguided, for who I was at that time, at 22 years old, it was how I felt,’ said Lewinsky, in a 2018 documentary.
Lewinsky went back to her desk after that first kiss and was then asked to return to the study later, when the two became more intimate.
It was the start of a relationship that would find the two meeting in secret once a week for almost two years.
Tripp, who recorded her conversations with Lewinsky, and whose evidence played a large part in his impeachment trial, said that Lewinsky was convinced that the Secret Service was unaware of her actions at his 50th birthday party.
She writes: ‘I was fairly certain the protection detail hadn’t missed any of it, but I didn’t mention that.
‘I believe to this day not only that the Secret Service agents witnessed the grope, but also that they were well aware of Monica from day one at the White House, and never lost sight of her right up until the end. These people rarely, if ever, miss anything.
‘They are uncommonly professional but also adaptive to reality, and after three long years with Bill Clinton, the business with Monica would have been business as usual for them.
‘And, as always, the charismatic president was able to cultivate some of them to facilitate his personal needs.’
Lewinsky is pictured meeting Clinton. The pair had an affair beginning November 1995
Clinton is pictured denying that he had ‘sexual relations with that woman’ – Lewinsky
Tripp’s evidence refocused prosecutor Kenneth Starr’s investigation on Lewinsky and any laws that might have been broken.
Clinton was charged with lying under oath and obstruction of justice.
He was impeached in December 1998 by the House but acquitted by the Senate.
Being a whistleblower subjected Tripp to harsh negativity for years, but at the time of writing this book, she did not regret it.
She maintained that her decision to expose Bill as a dangerous predator was ‘always about right and wrong, never left and right’.
Hillary claimed they were leaving the White House dead broke but Tripp claimed it was another mistruth.
Between 1993 and 1996, they had sold over 800 overnights in the Lincoln Bedroom; Bill was selling pardons; and on the way out the door, they looted silverware, tableware, furniture and sundry other things, Tripp alleges.
In addition, they had two book deals in hand valued at $20 million.