The Unseen Hand: Lucianne Goldberg's Role in Uncovering the Clinton-Lewinsky Scandal

Lucianne Goldberg, a 61-year-old New York literary agent, played a pivotal role in uncovering the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Goldberg's involvement with Linda Tripp, a key witness in the scandal, led to the secret taping of Lewinsky's conversations, which ultimately provided evidence of President Clinton's illicit relationship with Lewinsky. Goldberg's influence extended beyond advising Tripp; she also managed Tripp's access to Lewinsky, often exploiting Tripp's unique position to gather sensitive information.

Key Takeaways:

Lucianne Goldberg, a New York literary agent, encouraged Linda Tripp to secretly tape conversations with Monica Lewinsky, without Lewinsky's knowledge or consent.
Goldberg advised Tripp to prepare to go public and to secretly record conversations to prove allegations of Lewinsky's affair with President Clinton.
Goldberg had previously dabbled in espionage, working as a Nixon campaign spy in the press entourage of the McGovern campaign in 1973.
Goldberg's firm pushed Tripp to tell all she knew about illicit sex in the Clinton White House, but eventually, the book proposal fell through.
Goldberg's involvement with the scandal began in 1973 as a Nixon campaign spy, followed by her work with the McGovern campaign, and ultimately leading to her role in the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal.
Goldberg had a previous experience with illicit tapes, secretly advising David Marriott, a Massachusetts man, who had secretly taped socialite Claus von Bulow and his lawyer, Alan Dershowitz.
Goldberg found Tripp a new lawyer, James Moody, who advised her to tell Starr everything, but Tripp's first two tapes of Lewinsky were missing, and Goldberg had them.
Goldberg recognized the importance of the semen-stained blue dress as evidence and helped to preserve it as a key piece of information.

Statistics:

$88,000: The annual salary of Linda Tripp's job at the Pentagon.
2.5 hours: The amount of time Goldberg spent recording Tripp's phone conversation with her in September 1997.
1985: The year Goldberg advised David Marriott, who had secretly taped socialite Claus von Bulow and his lawyer, Alan Dershowitz.
1973: The year Goldberg was exposed by the Washington Star-News as a Nixon campaign spy.
1994: The year Tripp first met Goldberg, who was working on a book proposal.

Sources:

Washington _ Linda Tripp's secret tapes of Monica Lewinsky's lovelorn ramblings about President Clinton, transcripts of which are slated for public release Friday...
Goldberg said she and Tripp didn't talk for a year after the book project fell through.
A Washington native who'd dabbled in journalism, Goldberg, 61, first won national notice in 1973 when she was exposed by the Washington Star-News as a Nixon campaign spy in the press entourage of the McGovern campaign.
In the summer of 1996 Tripp proposed a book to Goldberg. She wanted to contrast her experience as a White House staffer in the Bush administration, which she'd revered, to her experiences with Clinton White House staff whom she considered vulgar, disrespectful, deceptive and raunchy.
Maggie Gallagher, a conservative columnist Goldberg found to help Tripp draft her book proposal, said in a telephone interview this week that Goldberg also pressed Tripp to tell all she knew about illicit sex in the Clinton White House.
Tripp's first two tapes of Lewinsky, made Oct. 3 and 4, were missing. Who had them? Goldberg.
Goldberg delivered the original tapes to Starr after making duplicates with the consent of Deputy Independent Counsel Robert Bittman.
Elizabeth Ray, a spokeswoman for Starr, explained that when we subpoena documents _ or in this case tapes _ to allow respondents to make copies of what they send us.