Uncovering Clinton: A Reporter's Story

by Michael Isikoff

A quarter of a century after All the President's Men stunned the nation, Newsweek reporter Michael Isikoff gives us an equally explosive behind-the-scenes account of the scandals that rocked the Clinton presidency in his critically acclaimed New York Times bestseller, Uncovering Clinton.

As a reporter for the Washington Post and Newsweek, Michael Isikoff established himself as an astute observer of the Clinton presidency. But as he investigated allegations of presidential misconduct, he unwittingly became a primary character in the unfolding drama. This is a story he alone could tell -- not only a gripping narrative populated by an entertainingly bizarre cast of characters, but also a nuanced and scrupulously fair account of the major players and events in the Clinton scandals. It is surely the definitive account of our nation's biggest political scandal since Watergate.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction, Biography, American History, Us Presidents, Presidents

416 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Michael Isikoff is an investigative journalist who has worked for the Washington Post, Newsweek, and NBC News. He is the author of two New York Timesbestsellers, Uncovering Clinton: A Reporter’s Story and Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War (co-written with David Corn). He is a frequent guest on MSNBC, CNN, and other TV talk shows. Isikoff is currently the chief investigative correspondent for Yahoo News.

Reviews

[Luke Baldridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best non-fiction books by a journalist I've ever read, up there with Dave Cullen's "Columbine" and Thomas Bass's "The Eudaemonic Pie." A hybrid of a really good newsmagazine article and a legal thriller, a la Grisham, centering around the almost-certain-to-be future First Gentleman and a reporter who ended up caught between his manipulations and the manipulations of his enemies. Like "House of Cards," without the murder.

[Geoffrey Kelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The enigma of Bill Clinton remains intriguing. Described by many as the ablest politician of his generation, capable of great speeches and policy initiatives, he also had a private side where hitting on women seemed to be an irresistible sport. Michael Isikoff, first as a reporter with the Washington Post, then with Newsweek, found himself at the heart of the controversies around Clinton’s sexual misconduct and subsequent lying to the American people. From the initial lawsuit filed by Paula Jones to the murky Kathleen Willey story to the twisted friendship(?) between Linda Tripp and Monica Lewinsky, these tawdry tales are laid bare. And almost a quarter of a century later, they still make for depressing reading. The thought that continually crossed this reader’s mind was “What was he thinking?” Then the efforts to cover up, to exchange jobs for silence, to try to fabricate and coordinate sanitized versions of the events— all make for sad reading.
Two takeaways from the book: First, given the high political stakes involved, all the way to an impeachment vote and trial, is the extent that these women were used and exploited all the way through. From the initial behaviour of Bill Clinton, to the coterie of lawyers, political aides, investigators ( even Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr),and journalists who all swarmed around these stories, the emotions of the women were most often ignored in the race to obtain a “gotcha” moment.
Second, Isikoff offers some reflection on the extent that as a journalist, he became part of the story. As a rule, journalist want to report on events, and not become newsmakers themselves. He had access to information from Linda Tripp and others, but was it reliable? Did he have enough reliable information to go to print? To what extent was he being manipulated? To what extent did his desire for a huge scoop colour his judgment? The book is interesting in that regard, but the messy facts of the president’s behaviour remain so difficult to understand.

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

The reporting in this book explains the reason why we have Donald Trump as president. Bill Clinton is a sexual predator and a brazen liar. His team obscured the truth and wickedly blamed the victim(s). Clinton was impeached in the US House in a trial in which noted hypocrite Lindsey Graham was the chief prosecutor and Newt Gingrich, who was cheating on his wife, was Speaker of the House. But the US Senate preserved his presidency and did not vote to impeach. Clinton reclaimed his standing and has been an honored statesman both in this country and abroad since he finished his presidency.
The public trust in our government was damaged by Clinton’s two terms as president. And the Democratic strategists could not clearly see that Hillary Clinton was a deeply scarred and damaged presidential candidate. Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey, and Juanita Broderick all deserved better from this country and from Bill Clinton.
The author Michael Isikoff describes his multi-year reporting on Clinton and his affairs, Monica Lewinsky, the Starr report, and Linda Tripp. The amazing thing to note is that back in the 1990s, Isikoff’s employers both the Washington Post and Newsweek decided not to run the stories of Clinton’s lies and affairs. It wasn’t until The Drudge Report emerged and started publishing rumors and unsubstantiated stories that these mainstream media companies were forced to go with the stories that weren’t all buckled up.
This book is agonizing to read. Michael Isikoff maintains his honor as a reporter in his telling of this story. The same CANNOT be said for Linda Tripp as friend and Bill Clinton as President.

[Robert P. Hoffman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the third time I have read this and I think I was biased against the write the first few times I read it. The author does a great job in writing about how he worked to uncover stories about Clinton. He appears to be quite honest in talking about mistakes he made, misjudgments, and how he handled difficult choices.

The portrayal of Clinton is damning. What an awful person who surrounded himself with enablers. The person who comes across the worst is George Stephanopoulos who comes across as a bully, a liar, and someone who was willing to do just about anything to protect Clinton.

Another person who comes across quite poorly is Toobin who Isikoff eviscerates in a footnote accusing him of being a liar, a plagiarist, and a two faced schemer.

This is, as one reviewer noted, the type of reporter Woodward used to be (although this book is better than All The President's Men's.

[Jim Twombly · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much information that I either didn't know or forgot. Isikoff gives a meticulous accounting of his involvement in the coverage of President Clinton's scandalous behavior and the danger of becoming a part of the story when reporting it. It's a good, quick read.

[Patrick Farrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Isikoff is a complete blow hard but this book was enjoyable for the different perspective on the Lewinsky affair. This book serves as a good companion to other books on the subject as it reveals much of what was happening from the journalistic point of view.

[Jim Trela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book about slick willie

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was more interesting from the perspective of how he did his reporting than it was about Monica or Linda. But the whole thing was an interesting perspective on the story.

[John Streit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clinton’s a sleaze ball

[zhelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

so boring

[Christian Bauman · Rating 3 out of 5]

The investigation is fascinating, and Isikoff is a good writer; you want to keep turning the pages here. I guess what it is that I reject is his justification/premise, so familiar from those of us who remember the 90s: the cheating and the lying about the cheating call into question Clinton's ability to be a good leader (very simplified, but you get the point). The problem is that I don't believe that. Take for example FDR and Ike, two of the greatest presidents of the 20th Century, and one from each party. (Oh, and yes, I do believe Ike was one of the greatest, even though I'm a fairly liberal Democrat...more on that when I get around to writing review of Ike biography I recently read.) Both of these men cheated on their wives, and both lied about it, and both also used others to assist in their lying. I'm sorry, I just don't believe that f+++ing and lying about it make you a bad president. Maybe you're not going to get into heaven, but that's not my problem. It's a very simple, head-nodding, believable argument to make that f+++ing and lying about it is a major ding on your moral compass and therefore calls into question your ability to be president. But unfortunately for Isikoff (and everyone else who makes that argument) there is zero evidence to support this when you view our presidents through history. We have had no shortage of men who dipped their wick (some of the widely) and lied about it, and absolutely no connection between that fact and those who were bad presidents. In fact, one of the strongest moral compasses (and a man I am in many ways a big fan of) was one of our worst leaders: Jimmy Carter. Anyway, this is a long way of saying that Isikoff spends a lot ink justifying why he followed and pushed so hard on this story, but I don't buy the justification; he's not as pure as he would like to believe. Still and all, not a bad book. But I really wish someone would capture Clinton in all of his complexity, both the brilliance and the problems, and not just these black and white portraits we keep getting.

[Kevin Kirkhoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story was told by the Newsweek writer who was uncovering the Lewinsky scandal as it was happening. In fact Isikoff goes to great lengths to point out how the investigators would ask him to sit on a story for a day or two until they can question witnesses so as not to give out information that could sway testimony. He breaks down his reporting into Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey, Monica Lewinsky, and Ken Starr. He was very close to this investigation, at times feeling like he was more involved in it than reporting it.

[Robert Luebke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Isikoff,a Newsweek reporter does an excellent job of covering many of the Bill Clinton scandals and how he was able to cover up most of then for years until the Paula Jones lawsuit and finally with Monica Lewinsky's story. He presents a reporter's view of sources and information that was used to cover these stories. Most disturbing was how our leaders in government covered up the indiscretions of the President.