New transcripts detail Bill Clinton's conversations with Tony Blair
When Bill Clinton was president, he spoke to then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair about everything from Vladimir Putin, to the death of Princess Diana and the 2000 U.S. elections.
Clinton's presidential library on Friday released 532 pages of transcripts that document either phone calls or in-person meetings between the two leaders. They were released in response to a request from the BBC.
The transcripts, which were partially redacted, span May 1, 1997 to Dec. 13, 2000, during which time Clinton was in the heat of the Lewinsky scandal. According to The New York Times' review of the transcripts, Monica Lewinsky, the White House intern with whom Clinton had an affair, wasn't mentioned at all.
During his vacation in Aug. 1998 on Martha's Vineyard, Clinton told Blair he had just taken a break to deliver a speech in Massachusetts. While Clinton didn't mention the purpose of the speech during their phone conversation, the Times pointed out that it was part of an effort to apologize to Americans for his affair. He seemed heartened by the "cheering crowd" and told Blair that "thousands" were there.
"This is my best state," Clinton said about Massachusetts during their phone call. "You know, if I'd been in Wyoming, they probably would have been shooting at me."
Clinton often spoke about foreign affairs with Blair such as potential peace in Ireland and the situations in Iraq and Russia. The president was also very carefree with his language during their conversations.
Speaking about negotiating with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Clinton told Blair, "If I weren't constrained by the press, I would pick up the phone and call the son of a b*tch," he said. "But that is such a heavy-laden decision in America. I can't do that and I don't think you can."
Clinton also described Putin as someone with "enormous potential" who is "very smart and thoughtful."
"I think we can do a lot of good with him," he told Blair.
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On Martha's Vineyard in 1997, Clinton spoke to Blair the day after Princess Diana died in a fatal car accident in Paris.
"It's awful, it's really awful." We're up here on Martha's Vineyard vacationing, and we're with a lot of people who knew her," Clinton told Blair.
Blair responded, "We saw her again just weeks ago when we hosted her for lunch with Prince William, he's a great kid."
The president also talked expansively about presidential politics and the state of the campaign to succeed him in 2000. Then-Vice President Al Gore was locked in a tight race against George W. Bush.
"Bush is really smart," Clinton told Blair during one phone call before the election. "I think Al had not the best couple of months, but now he is in good form and doing well." He also called Bush "a skilled politician," adding, "but he is not ready to be president, maybe not ever, certainly not now."
After his wife Hillary Clinton was elected to the Senate in Nov. 2000, Clinton spoke to Blair a few days later and Clinton said he was "really proud of her," and called her "the little engine that could."
The two friends also sometimes veered away from politics and current events.
In Aug. 1998, for example, Clinton told Blair he had just spent a weekend on Long Island with Steven Spielberg.
"We talked about you," Clinton told Blair. "He and Tom Hanks came here last month and showed me their movie "Saving Private Ryan" about Normandy, before it was in the theater. It's an enormous film, really good."