Papers Claim To Reveal Hillary Clinton's Thoughts On The Lewinsky Scandal
NEW YORK(CBSNewYork) -- Speculation has been mounting about the possibility of a presidential bid by Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Now, papers have claimed to reveal the former First Lady's very personal thoughts. The biggest insights shed light on how she viewed the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
Clinton confided in close friend and aide Diane Blair throughout her husband's presidency, CBS 2's Jessica Schneider reported.
She defended her husband to Blair on September 9, 1998, at the height of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. In her diaries Blair wrote that Hillary called the incident a lapse.
"It was a lapse," she said, "He tried to break it off, tried to pull away, tried to manage someone who was clearly a 'narcissistic looney toon.'"
The revelations came from nine boxes of documents that were given to the University of Arkansas after Blair's death in 2000.
The documents were revealed in 2010 but have gotten renewed attention as Clinton considers a run for president.
Republican Senator and potential rival Rand Paul has stepped up attacks and said that Clinton will have to answer questions about the affair.
Paul also called Democrats who ask Bill Clinton to help raise campaign cash "hypocrites".
"If they want to take a position on women's rights, by all means do," Paul said, "But, you can't do it and take it from a guy who was using his position of authority to take advantage of young women in the workplace."
Clinton's team has not responded to the rhetoric but in the papers Blair wrote that Hillary sought to downplay the affair.
"HRC insists, no matter what people say, it was gross inappropriate behavior but ti was consensual (was not a power relationship) and was not sex within any real meaning of the term," Blair wrote.
At one point Clinton even seemed to blame herself.
Blair wrote that Hillary thought that she wasn't smart enough or sensitive enough to appreciate the pressure that her husband was under during his time in the White House.
A new book about Hillary Clinton comes out on Tuesday.
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