Linda Tripp, Whose Tapes Were Pivotal In Bill Clinton's Impeachment Scandal, Dies At The Age Of 70
(CNN) -- Linda Tripp, who secretly recorded her conversations with Monica Lewinsky about the then-intern's relationship with President Bill Clinton in the White House, has died, according to her mother, Inge Carotenuto, and her former attorney, Joseph Murtha.
Tripp had previously been treated for breast cancer.
Tripp, a friend of Lewinsky's at the time, turned the 20 hours of tapes over to special prosecutor Kenneth Starr. The scandal ultimately led to Clinton's impeachment for perjury and obstruction of justice, though he was ultimately acquitted in the Senate.
Lewinsky, despite their prior experiences, expressed well wishes to Tripp as reports indicated Wednesday that her health was failing.
"(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," Lewinsky tweeted.
Lewinsky began to tell Tripp, a coworker of hers at the Pentagon, of her relationship with Clinton in the summer of 1996. Tripp began taping their conversations in the fall of 1997.
After contacting Starr about the tapes in January 1998, she met with Lewinsky again while wearing a wire, at which point Lewinsky coached Tripp on what to tell lawyers about Kathleen Willey, another former White House staffer who had testified about alleged unsolicited sexual advances made by Clinton in 1993.
When asked on Larry King Live in 2003 whether she regretted it, Tripp replied, "No, I would do it again."
"I told (Lewinsky) I would not fix a court case. I would not help fix a court case," Tripp said. "Yet I knew the President of the United States and Monica were intending to do that."
Tripp was once a resident of Columbia, Maryland.
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