Linda Tripp, a key figure in President Bill Clinton’s impeachment, has died, the Washington Post reports. The cause of death has not yet been confirmed, although her family members have said she did not have the coronavirus. Tripp was 70.
Tripp remains known for covertly recording conversations she had with Monica Lewinsky, the former White House intern who transferred to the Pentagon — where Tripp worked — in 1996. Lewinsky, then in her early 20s, regularly confided in Tripp about her sexual relationship with then-President Clinton, and Tripp began taping their phone calls. In 1998, she handed the tapes to special investigator Kenneth Starr, which eventually contributed to Clinton’s impeachment.
Lewinsky, now an anti-bullying advocate, wound up publicly smeared. Addressing Tripp’s illness on Twitter earlier today, however, she wrote: “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.”
On Wednesday, the New York Post reported that Tripp’s daughter, Allison Tripp Foley, had posted about her mother’s dire condition on Facebook.
“My mommy is leaving this earth,” Tripp Foley reportedly wrote on Tuesday night. “I don’t know myself if I can survive this heartache. Please pray for a painless process for the strongest woman I will ever know in my entire lifetime.”
Tripp’s son-in-law, Thomas Foley, declined to provide more details, telling the Post that, “right now, it’s a family situation.”