With Hillary Clinton poised to make a presidential run, some people are recalling the time that she and the former President spent in the White House. While the country viewed the Clinton presidential years from the outside, dozens of people had a first-hand look at how the First Family conducted themselves.
Now, the observations of many White House ushers, florists, cooks, and other staffers have been compiled in a new book by Kate Andersen Brower, entitled The Residence: Inside the Private World of The White House.
Here are some of the more eyebrow-raising tidbits from the book:
During the Monica Lewinsky era, Hillary hit Bill with a book hard enough to bloody their bed and require stitches in his head. The staff was called in to clean up the remnants of a lamp that Hillary apparently hurled in Bills direction after exclaiming, G*dd**n b*****d! Hillary instructed Usher Worthington White that no one was to be in her sightline during one particular visit to the pool, forcing Secret Service agents to abandon protocol and not walk in front of her. After declining butler service, White said: Okay, maam, White replied. Its twelve oclock now, and I get off at one and someone else will be in.
Clinton looked intently at him. Ill call you when Im done.
Yes, maam, White replied, knowing that that meant he would have to stay until whenever she chose to leave. He didnt get the call until nearly three-thirty that afternoon. Florist Ronn Payne overheard this exchange between Chelsea Clinton and her Secret Service escort to school: Chelsea [on the phone]: Oh, Ive got to go. The pigs are here.
Secret Service agent [turning crimson]: Ms. Clinton, I want to tell you something. My job is to stand between you, your family, and a bullet. Do you understand?
Chelsea: Well, thats what my mother and father call you. The staff believed that Hillary knew about Lewinsky for much longer than she admitted. During some of the most tense times of the ordeal: For three or four months in 1998, the president slept on a sofa in a private study attached to their bedroom on the second floor. Most of the women on the residence staff thought he got what he deserved. As of today, The Residence is available for purchase in bookstores and online.