Tuesday 3 June 2008

Purdum defends article slamming Bill Clinton

(CNN) – The Vanity Fair journalist who infuriated the Clinton campaign over the weekend with an explosive article that questions former President Bill Clinton's business dealings and behavior since leaving the White House strongly defended his reporting Monday in an interview with CNN.Todd Purdum, the national editor of Vanity Fair, stood by his article's most controversial assertions in an interview with Wolf Blitzer, including charges that aides to the former president believe his 2004 heart surgery fundamentally altered the 61 year-old's state of mind.

In a response of nearly 2,500 words–a quarter the length of the actual story–former president Bill Clinton's office fails to address a single factual mistake in Todd Purdum's Vanity Fair article. Purdum, who has covered President Clinton on and off for 16 years beginning with his 1992 presidential campaign when Purdum was with The New York Times, spoke with dozens of current and former senior Clinton aides during the course of his reporting. Purdum also contacted the Clinton office long before the article's completionand had several conversations with staff regarding the president's participation. Vanity Fair stands behind the article and Purdum's reporting.

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