Linda Tripp later claimed that her firing from the Pentagon at the end of the Clinton administration was vindictive, but the administration called it standard procedure for a political appointee.
23 Facts About Linda Tripp
2.
Tripp was born Linda Rose Carotenuto in Jersey City, New Jersey.
3.
Linda Tripp was the daughter of Albert Carotenuto, a high school math and science teacher, and his wife, Inge, a German woman whom he had met while he was an American soldier stationed in Germany.
4.
Linda Tripp later worked as a secretary in Army Intelligence at Fort Meade, Maryland.
5.
Later, she was moved to a position in the White House Counsel's office under Bernard Nussbaum and his deputy Vince Foster During the summer of 1994, senior White House aides wanted Linda Tripp removed from the White House and transferred her to the public affairs office in the Pentagon, which raised her salary by $20,000.
6.
Linda Tripp became a close confidante of Monica Lewinsky, another former White House employee, while both were working in the Pentagon's public affairs office.
7.
In January 1998, Linda Tripp gave the tapes to Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr in exchange for immunity from prosecution.
8.
Linda Tripp informed Starr of the existence of a navy blue dress that Lewinsky owned that was soiled with Clinton's semen.
9.
Linda Tripp was a resident of Hickory Ridge, Columbia, Maryland, while she made her surreptitious recordings of the conversations with Lewinsky, and 49 Democrats in the Maryland Legislature signed a letter to the state prosecutor to demand for Linda Tripp to be prosecuted under Maryland's wiretap law.
10.
At a pre-trial hearing, the prosecution called Lewinsky as a witness to try to establish if her testimony against Linda Tripp was untainted by the independent counsel's investigation.
11.
In March 1998, shortly before Linda Tripp was scheduled to appear before the grand jury in the Lewinsky investigation, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Kenneth Bacon and his deputy, Clifford Bernath, leaked how Linda Tripp had answered that question to Jane Mayer of The New Yorker.
12.
On January 19,2001, the last full day of the Clinton administration, Linda Tripp was fired from her job in the Pentagon.
13.
Linda Tripp claimed that the firing was vindictive, but the Clinton administration said that all political appointees such as Tripp are normally asked to submit their resignation when a new administration takes over.
14.
Linda Tripp sued the US Department of Defense and the US Department of Justice for releasing information from her security file and employment file to the news media in violation of the Privacy Act of 1974.
15.
On November 3,2003, Linda Tripp reached a settlement with the federal government.
16.
Linda Tripp received a pension and was cleared to work for the federal government again.
17.
Linda Tripp said her violations of Lewinsky's privacy and the Clinton administration's violations of her privacy were not equivalent, as the Clinton administration's leaking of her employment history was illegal.
18.
Linda Tripp noted that although her wiretapping was illegal, she was able to avoid prosecution for such by accepting immunity in exchange for her testimony.
19.
In 2018, Linda Tripp said that "she was the victim of 'a real high-tech lynching'".
20.
Linda Tripp died after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer at the age of 70 on April 8,2020.
21.
Linda Tripp was portrayed by John Goodman in recurring Saturday Night Live sketches.
22.
Linda Tripp had mixed feelings about the impression, saying she enjoyed most of the sketches, but mentioning that at least one had hurt her feelings.
23.
Linda Tripp was portrayed by Sarah Paulson in the television series Impeachment: American Crime Story, which premiered on September 7,2021, on FX.