June 21, 2016

"People familiar with West Wing security laugh at the idea that Byrne or any uniformed officer ever would have walked in on Bill Clinton anywhere..."

"... whether in a meeting or, as a New York Post article over the weekend claims, in the middle of a make-out session in the Map Room with the late daughter of former Vice President Walter Mondale. The Secret Service presidential detail would have stopped him.... 'The inner perimeter is 100 percent controlled by the presidential protective division,' said a former supervisor of the presidential protective division, who asked not to be identified by name. And if Byrne or any uniformed officer had been posted near a room the president entered, he would have been moved at least 15 yards away, to the outer edges of the security bubble — not quite what Byrne describes in his book: 'I stood guard, pistol at my hip, outside the Oval Office, the last barrier before anyone saw Bill Clinton,' according to the Post, which has been teasing excerpts of the book."

From "Secret Service veterans denounce anti-Clinton tell-all book" (in Politico).

ADDED: If what these Secret Service veterans are saying is true — and Byrne as a uniformed officer couldn't possibly been in the position he claims he was in and to have seen what he says he saw — then Bill Clinton should sue. Bill Clinton could show that Byrne knew that what he was saying was false, and that would meet the "actual malice" standard that applies when a public figure sues for libel.

BUT: I'm assuming that if Byrne didn't see what he says he saw, the stories are false. It's possible that the stories are true, but Byrne isn't a first-hand witness. And I can see why Bill Clinton wouldn't want to get embroiled in those questions (and others, like what damage do these additional stories do to his reputation).

34 comments:

Ignorance is Bliss said...

As much as I enjoy hating on the Clintons, this book sounds like a load of crap.

David Begley said...

Events in this book NEVER could have happened? All this coming from the very same Secret Service that let some guy jump the White House fence and run around inside the building?

ndspinelli said...

This book is consistent on Hillary w/ the other Secret Service tell all that covered Carter to Obama.

Michael K said...

What would we expect them to say ?

It took a small child to point out that the Emperor had no clothes.

The SS was complicit with Kennedy and his "Fiddle" and "Faddle" antics. That is now history.

Alexander said...

The Secret Service hasn't exactly covered itself in glory under this administration. It's not exactly difficult to imagine that things weren't necessarily done strictly according to code.

MayBee said...

Yeah, and many of the Secret Service would have publicly told us no guy can jump the WH fence and get into the House, and no Secret Service officials would release embarrassing information about a Congressman heading SS oversight.

But we know both of those things happened.

Once written, twice... said...

But the right wing hillbillies will lap it up.

MayBee said...

And nobody can just talk their way into a State Dinner!!!

tim in vermont said...

Remember when Democrats used to pretend to care about downtrodden hillbillies? Jackie Kennedy even made them one of her causes. Now all right thinking liberals are required to hate them.

SteveM said...

Didn't Byrne Contemporaneously report his concerns about Bill Clinton- Monica Lewinski interactions to his superiors and wasn't Byrne deposed by the Impeachment Committee about that. If so, isn't that corroboration of what is stated in his book.

hiawatha biscayne said...

a make-out session? i remember those from parties in the ninth grade.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

Wikipedia has a link entitled "List of notable brain tumor patients."

I did not click.

Once written, twice... said...

Today's hillbillies are no longer downtroddened. They are just dumb Limbaugh/Hanity listeners who are easily manipulated. Donald Trump has now become king of the hillbillies.

Roger Sweeny said...

I suspect this is "truthiness." Yes, Bill Clinton was sexually avtine with Eleanor Mondale at the same time he was sexually active with Monica Lewinski. Yes, that woman Ms. Lewinski was jealous. But no, this incident never happened.

mockturtle said...

It is widely reported that JFK SS covered his shenanigans and JFK was Bill Clinton's idol. The big difference was that JFK had the press in his confidence.

Virgil Hilts said...

Fake but accurate? If there were not several other books out that sound consistent with this one I probably would be more skeptical -- Unlimited Access, First Family Detail, Within Arm's Length. . . The Monica story about being kept waiting at the gate certainly sounds true.

The BubFather said...

To the public, Secret Service is Secret Service. But there are two types....one is a uniformed officer, such as this guy. They sit at posts throughout the White House. I have no doubt they see and know of things that took place. You'd have to be a total moron not to see what went on.

However, the type of Secret Service we mostly think of are the Presidential Protection details. I know one of these guys very well. They hate the public eye, they are extremely dedicated. Like many of the uniformed guys, they came from police departments, but are trained to take bullets, to extradite the president from dicey attacks, where two guys lay down fire while two guys cover the president front and back.....they are loath to talk about what they do. The regularly track known enemies of the president....usually daily they know where these guys are...they hated Ken Starr for making them testify, since they are so close to the president, they can hear all sorts of secret, delicate and difficult conversations. I've never heard the guy I know say anything about what he heard. What he does?? Sure, some of it is gum shoe, boring advance work.

All that said, I have no doubt those uniformed guys heard a lot of stuff and wouldn't doubt much of what they said.

Sebastian said...

OK, so the specific tales here are hype. But how did the SS vet Monica to make sure it was safe for Bill to be alone with her?

Bob Boyd said...

"But how did the SS vet Monica to make sure it was safe for Bill to be alone with her?"

They checked her tonsils with a flash light. The flashlight check was standard procedure for all women coming and going from the Clinton's White House.
As you may recall, Monica came along only a couple years after the famous Tonsil Bomber, who's improvised device fizzled on a trans-Atlantic flight from Paris, filling the cabin with smoke and sparking a coughing fit in the bomber that continues to this day, but otherwise causing no damage.

LakeLevel said...

Sebastian: "OK, so the specific tales here are hype."

Bullshit. The Clintons have forfeited any right for anyone to be skeptical of any tales. They are Jedi masters of the telling the press "These are not the Droids you are looking for" and the press dutifully repeating it. Donald Trump just had an assassination attempt. Imagine the 24/7 coverage if this had happened to Hillary. Believe any negative thing you hear about Hillary because if even an inkling gets through with the press (and others) running interference for her, it's probably true.

David said...

"The Secret Service presidential detail would have stopped him.... 'The inner perimeter is 100 percent controlled by the presidential protective division,'"

Just like at the White House fence? The Secret Service is a mess of an organization. They are lax and morally corrupt (a phrase I seldom use.) The book may not be accurate but not for the reason that these things could "never" happen.

Apparently the Mondale relationship was real. No denials. Not even non-denial denials.

bgates said...

The Left has to attack "hillbillies" to defend that hillbilly Billy, and Hill.

mockturtle said...

The Left has to attack "hillbillies" to defend that hillbilly Billy, and Hill.

That's right! Wow! HILL-BILLies!

hombre said...

Denials?

Attacking the messenger through the discredited Billy Clintonesque Secret Service doesn't quite cut it.

Anonymous said...

Of course it wasn't true, none of it. Why would anyone have thought it was?

Roy Lofquist said...

Trained to take a bullet? I'll bet that hurts.

Wilbur said...

Politico LEAPS to the defense of Good Ol' Hil.

20 years ago I had occasion to interview a couple of SS agents on a case I was handling. Afterwards we quietly chatted about the then-occupants about the White House. They readily talked about what was essentially an open secret in Washington, that Hillary went bat-shit crazy in her rages, directed at her husband (including lamp throwing) or some unfortunate staffer. She treated them as less than human, as indicated in the book excerpts.

Sure, the events in the book may be completely fabricated. If so, I was lied to (with no motive to do so) 20 years ago.

I'm sure the Clinton damage control machine is pulling out all the stops. It reminds of the smear campaign against Jefferson Smith in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

tim in vermont said...

"Downtroddened"? LOL

tim in vermont said...

This is the same Hillary that called Foster a "hick lawyer" in a staff meeting a week before he killed himself.

dwick said...

Maybe the events depicted in the book happened - maybe they didn't... (Maybe they were 'composite' events?) But I'd bet the security procedures around the president since 9/11 are considerably tighter than they were back when His Slickness was prowling the White House.

Missy Vixen said...

The Uniformed Secret Service is responsible for guarding the gates and outside perimeter of the White House, including the White House fence.

Shawn Levasseur said...

Bill Clinton would never sue. Discovery is what got him into the impeachment problem to begin with. Why would he voluntarily put himself in the same position again?

Fight in the court of public opinion with a PR campaign? Yeah. But not in a court of law, if he can help it.

mockturtle said...

Fight in the court of public opinion with a PR campaign?

Hell, the whole MSM is a Clinton PR campaign!

Robin Goodfellow said...

Yeah, NOBODY ever got through Whitehouse security ...