Former White House aide Dick Morris has come forward with new details of ex-President Bill Clinton's violent side, explaining how, as governor, he once tried to "beat me up."
Morris has told the story before, but never in such vivid detail - and his account undermines claims that Clinton was incapable of inflicting violence on some of his female victims.
Writing in National Review Online, the renowned political consultant says he was prompted to speak out after New York Sen. Hillary Clinton mischaracterized his reluctance to rejoin the Clinton camp in 1994 in her book "Living History."
In an open letter addressed to the former first lady, Morris says:
"You correctly note that when you asked me to help you and Bill avert defeat in the congressional election of 1994 I was reluctant to do so. But then you assert, incorrectly, that my reluctance stemmed from difficulties in working with your staff. You even misquote me as telling you: 'I don't like the way I was treated, Hillary. People were so mean to me.'"
Instead, says the former White House adviser, his reasons for leaving were far more dramatic.
"The real reason I was reluctant was that Bill Clinton had tried to beat me up in May of 1990 as he, you, Gloria Cabe, and I were together in the Arkansas governor's mansion."
Angry that polls showed his primary opponent was gaining on him, Bill Clinton "verbally assaulted me for not giving his campaign the time he felt it deserved."
Morris says that the verbal attack prompted him to stalk out of the room. That's when the future president became physically violent.
"Bill ran after me, tackled me, threw me to the floor of the kitchen in the mansion and cocked his fist back to punch me."
Morris says that Hillary "grabbed his arm and, yelling at him to stop and get control of himself, pulled him off me."
Addressing Mrs. Clinton, he recalls, "Then you walked me around the grounds of the mansion in the minutes after, with your arm around me, saying, 'He only does that to people he loves.'"
Morris adds that "when the story threatened to surface during the 1992 campaign, you told me to say it never happened.'"
The top consultant concludes: "I continued to work for Bill since I felt a responsibility to do so until Election Day in 1990. But our relationship was never close and never the same. After the 1990 campaign we parted ways as a direct result of the altercation
Morris has told the story before, but never in such vivid detail - and his account undermines claims that Clinton was incapable of inflicting violence on some of his female victims.
Writing in National Review Online, the renowned political consultant says he was prompted to speak out after New York Sen. Hillary Clinton mischaracterized his reluctance to rejoin the Clinton camp in 1994 in her book "Living History."
In an open letter addressed to the former first lady, Morris says:
"You correctly note that when you asked me to help you and Bill avert defeat in the congressional election of 1994 I was reluctant to do so. But then you assert, incorrectly, that my reluctance stemmed from difficulties in working with your staff. You even misquote me as telling you: 'I don't like the way I was treated, Hillary. People were so mean to me.'"
Instead, says the former White House adviser, his reasons for leaving were far more dramatic.
"The real reason I was reluctant was that Bill Clinton had tried to beat me up in May of 1990 as he, you, Gloria Cabe, and I were together in the Arkansas governor's mansion."
Angry that polls showed his primary opponent was gaining on him, Bill Clinton "verbally assaulted me for not giving his campaign the time he felt it deserved."
Morris says that the verbal attack prompted him to stalk out of the room. That's when the future president became physically violent.
"Bill ran after me, tackled me, threw me to the floor of the kitchen in the mansion and cocked his fist back to punch me."
Morris says that Hillary "grabbed his arm and, yelling at him to stop and get control of himself, pulled him off me."
Addressing Mrs. Clinton, he recalls, "Then you walked me around the grounds of the mansion in the minutes after, with your arm around me, saying, 'He only does that to people he loves.'"
Morris adds that "when the story threatened to surface during the 1992 campaign, you told me to say it never happened.'"
The top consultant concludes: "I continued to work for Bill since I felt a responsibility to do so until Election Day in 1990. But our relationship was never close and never the same. After the 1990 campaign we parted ways as a direct result of the altercation