Monicagate

"Monicagate" left a complex legacy:

The case was handed to Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr, a conservative Republican who had been investigating the Clintons for years (most notably over a failed Arkansas real estate deal called Whitewater). Starr’s team aggressively pursued Lewinsky, eventually granting her immunity in exchange for her testimony and, crucially, a piece of physical evidence: a navy blue dress stained with Clinton's semen. monicagate

By April 1996, Lewinsky’s superiors, concerned about the amount of time she was spending near the president, transferred her to the Pentagon. While there, she confided in a colleague and new friend, Linda Tripp, about her secret relationship with the president. Unbeknownst to Lewinsky, Tripp began secretly recording their phone conversations, hoping to gather evidence of what she considered an abuse of power and potential perjury. "Monicagate" left a complex legacy: The case was

The mainstream media initially ignored the story. But on January 17, 1998, the little-known online gossip columnist Matt Drudge of The Drudge Report published a bombshell headline: Drudge revealed that Newsweek magazine had reporters on the story but had held it back for fact-checking and legal concerns. While there, she confided in a colleague and