Flowers sues ex-Clinton aides in LV federal court

Gennifer Flowers, one of several women who has been romantically linked with President Clinton, has filed a defamation lawsuit against James Carville and George Stephanopoulos.

Carville, a former top advisor to Clinton and his 1992 campaign manager, and Stephanopoulos, senior counselor to Clinton until midway through the president's second term, "have continuously libeled and slandered" Flowers since 1992, the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas was filed by Judicial Watch on behalf of Flowers, who is a Nevada resident.

Carville told the Sun this morning he wasn't worried about the lawsuit, which was written by Larry Klayman, chairman and general counsel for Judicial Watch.

"This guy would sue his own mother. I'm sure I'm probably the fourth person he's sued this week," Carville said. "No one is paying any attention to it in Washington."

Much of the lawsuit focuses on Stephanopoulos' 1999 book, "All Too Human: A Political Education," and a series of interviews on CNN's "Larry King Live" program.

Also named in the lawsuit is Little, Brown and Co., the publishing company owned by Time Warner Inc. that published Stephanopoulos' book.

A spokesman for Little, Brown and Co. said today, "At this point we have no comment."

Stephanopoulos and Carville appeared on the King show to discuss stories that appeared in the Star magazine concerning Flowers' allegations of a lengthy affair with the president.

In one interview, Stephano-poulous said, "I don't have the Star story in front of me right now, but she was making up trips when he was in other states. There was an awful lot there that was probably untrue," the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit refers to instances in which Carville and Stephanopoulos insisted that a videotape that showed Flowers and Clinton together had been "doctored."

The two men meant to depict Flowers as a "dishonest, loathsome and unsavory person," and intended to "damage and/or destroy her personal and professional reputations, and career, and subject her to public hatred, contempt and, or ridicule," the lawsuit states.

archive