Former President Bill Clinton has addressed a bizarre claim that his staff deliberately tore the letter ‘W’ off White House keyboards to hinder his successor, President George W. Bush – and admitted that the long-running accusation may be true could be.
In his new memoir, Citizen – My Life After The White House, Clinton, 78, recalls how a media frenzy marred the handover to Bush in 2001, amid claims that departing staff had trashed the West Wing.
It was said at the time that filing cabinets were glued shut, obscene messages were left on answering machines and pornographic images were placed on office printers.
The presidential entourage was accused of destroying dishes on Airforce One. Bill and Hillary Clinton themselves were involved in stealing bedroom furniture.
But nothing captured the public imagination more than the claim that official keyboards were systematically mutilated to remove the letter “W” – the incoming president’s middle initial and the name by which he was often known.
“There are dozens, if not hundreds, of keyboards with these missing keys,” a White House source said at the time. “In some cases, the ‘W’ keys have been taped to the doorways, which are 12 feet high. In other cases they were glued in place with superglue, all the way up or upside down.’
Today, recalling the furor, Clinton writes: “The first thing that struck me were the stories that when we left the White House I had taken two large bedside tables from the bedroom;
“That the “W” key had been removed from typewriters and computers in the West Wing;
“And that our passengers on my flight to New York on former Air Force One after the inauguration of President George W. Bush destroyed government plates and other kitchen utensils.”
Former President Bill Clinton has addressed a bizarre claim that his staff deliberately ripped the letter “W” off White House keyboards to hinder his successor, President George W. Bush
The presidential entourage was also accused of destroying dishes on Airforce One. Bill and Hillary Clinton themselves were involved in stealing bedroom furniture
Clinton flatly denies two of these suggestions, saying, “The White House staff asked me to take the tables and said they didn’t want to keep or store them.
“And no one from Airforce One destroyed government items.”
When it comes to the destroyed keyboards, however, the former president seems less certain.
“I knew nothing about the alleged removal of the ‘W’ keys, but the whole thing bothered me because I had made it clear that I wanted a smooth, cooperative transition, and that was exactly what we had done,” he wrote.
Are keyboards damaged?
“Within a few days, some people finally went on record saying that either no damage had been done or that the accusations of ‘W’ evil had been grossly exaggerated,” he concludes, an open-ended comment that most will take as a recognition that the claims were in fact true.
A year-long investigation by the General Accounting Committee later found that Clinton’s staff had caused about $15,000 worth of “damage, theft, vandalism and pranks,” although no prosecutions occurred.
Clinton’s new memoir was published in November
At the time, a Clinton spokesman responded that the White House had been left “in good condition” with no more damage than could be expected from such a major change of occupancy.
Clinton’s comments on the keyboard controversy come amid a slew of confessions surfacing in his new memoir.
Among them were comments about his relationship with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Clinton has long faced questions about his association with Epstein, who committed suicide in 2009 while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking of minors.
In his book, he admits to flying on Epstein’s private jet, the Lolita Express, in 2002 and 2003, but dismisses allegations that he ever visited the disgraced financier’s private island, Little Saint James. visited the US Virgin Islands.
Clinton claims Epstein offered the plane to support his foundation and they talked about economics and politics.
He writes, “The bottom line is that even though I was able to visit my foundation’s work, traveling on Epstein’s plane wasn’t worth the years of doubt afterwards. I wish I’d never met him.’
Clinton added: “I always thought Epstein was strange, but had no idea of the crimes he committed.
“He hurt a lot of people, but I didn’t know about it, and by the time he was first arrested in 2005, I had stopped contacting him. I’ve never visited his island.’
The former president also opened up about his affair with Monica Lewinsky.
Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives in 1998 when it emerged that he had lied about a sexual relationship with the then 22-year-old intern.
In his book, he recalled a 2018 NBC “Today Show” interview in which he was asked if he had ever apologized to Lewinsky.
A year-long investigation by the General Accounting Committee later found that Clinton’s staff had caused about $15,000 worth of “damage, theft, vandalism and pranks,” although no prosecutions occurred.
Clinton claims in his memoir that Epstein, seen here with associate Ghislaine Maxwell, had offered the plane in support of his foundation
A photo showing former White House intern Monica Lewinsky meeting with President Bill Clinton at a White House function submitted as evidence in documents by the Starr investigation and released by the House Judicary Committee on September 21 1998
Clinton writes, “I said, ‘No, I felt terrible then.’
“Have you ever apologized to her?” I said I apologized to her and to everyone else I had wronged. I was blown away by what came next.
“But you haven’t apologized to her, at least not according to the people we talked to.”
“I fought to contain my frustration as I responded that while I had never spoken to her directly, I had said publicly that I was sorry on more than one occasion.”
The 42nd president subsequently admitted that the interview “was not my finest hour.”