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Linda Tripp, whose tapes exposed Clinton scandal, dies at 70

Linda Tripp, whose secretly recorded conversations with White House intern Monica Lewinsky led to the 1998 impeachment of President Bill Clinton, has died at age 70.

FILE--Linda Tripp is shown in this July 29, 1998, file photo.
FILE--Linda Tripp is shown in this July 29, 1998, file photo.Read moreAP
    by Associated Press and Associated Press, The Associated Press
    Updated 
    Published 

WASHINGTON — Linda Tripp, whose secretly recorded conversations with White House intern Monica Lewinsky led to the 1998 impeachment of President Bill Clinton, died Wednesday at age 70.

Her death was confirmed by attorney Joseph Murtha. He provided no further details.

In August 1994, Tripp became a public affairs specialist at the Pentagon, where Lewinsky worked after being a White House intern. The two reportedly became friends.

Tripp made secret tapes of conversations with Lewinsky, who told her she had had an affair with Clinton. Tripp turned almost 20 hours of tapes over to Kenneth Starr, the independent prosecutor investigating the president, prompting the investigation that led to his impeachment.

As news broke Wednesday that Tripp was near death, Lewinsky tweeted that she hoped for her recovery “no matter the past.”