‘HEARTACHE’

Linda Tripp, Who Turned Over Recordings in Clinton Sex Scandal, Dies at Age 70

“She fought on as hard as she could,” her son-in-law told the New York Post.

Linda Tripp—whose conversations with ex-White House intern Monica Lewinsky led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton in 1998—died at age 70, the New York Post reports. Tripp’s son-in-law, Thomas Foley, told the newspaper that she had “passed on.” “She fought on as hard as she could. We just have to let all the grandkids know as it was so sudden,” he said. Tripp’s daughter wrote in a Tuesday Facebook post that her 70-year-old mother was “leaving this earth.” “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,” Allison Tripp Foley wrote. In a tweet, Lewinsky said she had hoped for Tripp’s recovery “no matter the past.” “I can’t imagine how difficult this is for her family,” she wrote.

After Lewinsky revealed to Tripp that she had a physical relationship with Clinton while she was an intern, Tripp started recording their conversations. She turned over the recordings to independent counsel Kenneth Starr, who was investigating Clinton. Clinton had denied the affair, and the recordings were the foundation for perjury charges against the then-president—who was impeached by the House in 1998.