Troopergate (Bill Clinton)

Troopergate is the popular name for a political controversy that emerged in the 1990s in which several Arkansas State Troopers claimed that they had arranged sexual liaisons for Arkansas governor Bill Clinton during his time in office (1979–81, 1983–92) and had helped deceive his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Core allegations

The allegations by state troopers Larry Patterson and Roger Perry were first reported by David Brock in the conservative magazine American Spectator, in a piece entitled "His Cheatin' Heart" that was released in December 1993 with a magazine publication date of January 1994.

Brock had learned of the story from a major donor to GOPAC who connected him with Cliff Jackson, a longtime critic of Governor Clinton.

Brock's story also included material from two other troopers who wished to remain unnamed. The same four troopers were also interviewed and their charges written about at length by the Los Angeles Times in a story published in December 1993 a day after the Spectator story came out. They also spoke on air to CNN in the same month.

The core allegations that the troopers made were that, while on official duty, they:

Scouted women and asked them for their phone number to give to the governor;

Secured motel rooms and other assignation points;

Drove Clinton in state vehicles to these assignation points and kept watch while Clinton was inside;

Lent Clinton their own state cars to make his escapes less noticeable;

Delivered gifts to the women afterward; and

Informed Clinton about where his wife was and lied to his wife about where he was.

The troopers said that these episodes involved dozens of women, from long-running mistresses to single encounters. As far as they were aware, all of the women involved had consented to the relationships and no alcohol abuse or drug abuse had been part of the encounters. One of the long-running mistresses was Gennifer Flowers, who had come forward with her tale of a 12-year relationship with the governor at the start of the Bill Clinton 1992 presidential campaign; this had caused an early crisis in that endeavor which Clinton and his wife had to address in a televised and much-discussed 60 Minutes interview.