Tripp indicted for taping Lewinsky

THE WOMAN who nearly brought down President Clinton by recording the confessions of his discarded mistress was indicted yesterday on two counts of illegal taping. Linda Tripp, the Pentagon employee who secretly recorded the tawdry ramblings of Monica Lewinsky, was charged by the state of Maryland with two criminal offences: taping conversations with Ms Lewinsky without her permission and divulging the contents of the conversations to Newsweek magazine.

If convicted, Ms Tripp could become the only player in the Lewinsky drama to go to prison.

The two charges each carry maximum penalties of five years in prison or a fine of $10,000 (pounds 6000).

The information passed to Newsweek provided evidence that President Clinton had lied under oath when he denied an affair with Monica Lewinsky and unleashed a White House scandal that dominated last year's news and culminated in Mr Clinton's impeachment trial in the Senate.