Sidney Blumenthal

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Sidney Blumenthal briefing President Bill Clinton in the Oval Office, 1998

Sidney Blumenthal (born November 6, 1948) is a widely published American journalist, especially on American politics and foreign policy.

Born in Chicago, he started his career in Boston as a journalist who wrote for The New Republic. Over a career of twenty years, he became editor of several departments and wrote for several publications including The Washington Post, Vanity Fair, and The New Yorker. His writings are sometimes seen as controversial. In recent publications he has been critical of some of the failings of the Republican administration under George W Bush.^[1] ^[2] ^[3] ^[4]

1 The Clinton years
2 Blumenthal v. Drudge
3 Post-Clinton career
4 Sources
5 References or notes
6 External links

[edit] The Clinton years

Sidney Blumenthal served as assistant and senior adviser to Bill Clinton from August 1997 until January 2001. His roles included advising the President on communications and public policy as well as researching information in the general media about the White House. Because of Blumenthal's previous career in journalism he was able to pass on positive stories about the Clinton White House (from state and local sources) that were otherwise missed in general mass circulation. His role in the White House was significant enough for him to be crucial in the legal proceedings of the 1998/1999 Impeachment of President Clinton.

During the investigations by White House independent counsel Kenneth Starr, Blumenthal was called to the Grand Jury to testify on matters related to what Clinton had told both Blumenthal and his senior staff in regards to Monica Lewinsky. It was on this occasion that Blumenthal was accused by the independent counsel of seeking to discredit the office of the counsel by passing stories to the media about Starr and his aides. The resultant statement by Blumenthal on the steps of the Grand Jury about the freedom of the press after his testimony resulted in a public fall of support for Starr and his investigations of the President.^[5]

Nevertheless, enough evidence existed in regard to the Paula Jones case and Lewinksy for impeachment proceedings to begin in December of 1998. After the House Judiciary Committee and the United States House of Representatives impeached Clinton on December 19, the matter then passed to the United States Senate. Blumenthal was one of only four witnesses called to testify before the Senate. (Although no live witnesses were called, the four were interviewed on videotape.) Blumenthal's testimony addressed the key "lie": that Clinton was allegedly pressuring Betty Currie and Blumenthal himself to state that it was Lewinsky who initially pursued Clinton, not vice versa. Unfortunately for the prosecution, Lewinsky herself stated that she was the one who instigated the relationship. With the assistance of other evidence and arguments, the Senate acquitted Clinton of perjury and impeachment proceedings ended.

Blumenthal also served as key organiser and supporter of the Third Way conferences, aimed at creating a movement for progressive governance throughout the world. He was present at the two original conferences, both in the U.K. and America in which he became friends with the newly elected Labour leader Tony Blair.

[edit] Blumenthal v. Drudge

In 1997 Blumenthal instigated a libel lawsuit against Internet journalist Matt Drudge stemming from a report in which Drudge said that Blumenthal beat his wife and was covering it up. Drudge retracted the story later, saying he was given bad information, and according to the opinion in Blumenthal v. Drudge, 992 F. Supp. 44 (D.D.C. 1998), he later publicly apologized to the Blumenthals. Blumenthal then filed a $30 million libel lawsuit against Drudge. After a long process, Blumenthal was forced to drop his lawsuit. In his book, The Clinton Wars he comments on how he was induced to settle because he could no longer financially afford the suit. He agreed to a settlement that required him to pay $2,500 to Drudge's attorneys to resolve the matter for "family and financial reasons".

The case was widely seen as portentous because of its First-Amendment and libel-law implications for journalists. ^[6]^, ^[7]

[edit] Post-Clinton career

Sidney Blumenthal promoting How Bush Rules at the Texas Book Festival in Austin.

Following the end of the Clinton presidency, Blumenthal subsequently wrote a book titled The Clinton Wars published in 2003. The book includes a small biography of Blumenthal, but focuses on his years with the Clintons and in the White House. Other books by Blumenthal include The Permanent Campaign, The Rise of the Counter-Establishment, Pledging Allegiance: The Last Campaign of the Cold War, and How Bush Rules: Chronicles of a Radical Regime.

Blumenthal was recently the Washington bureau chief for Salon.com, for which he has written over 1800 pieces online. He is also a regular contributor to openDemocracy.net, as well as being a regular columnist for the UK newspaper, The Guardian. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife and two sons. He is currently a senior fellow for the New York University Center on Law and Security.